Simon Whitlock quarter-finals. He then beat Brian Woods to reach the final, where he lost to the number one seed Mark Webster 7–5. He was the first Australian to reach the final since Tony David won the tournament in 2002. Whitlock entered the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship as the number 12 seed and reached the second round by beating Mark Barilli, but lost to Darryl Fitton. After many weeks of speculation, Whitlock returned to the PDC on 19 March 2009. He began playing in the AGP circuit where he won eight tournaments. He qualified for the Las Vegas Desert Classic but
Alan Norris (darts player) Smith 2–1 and was a leg away from knocking out Simon Whitlock in a deciding set, before the Australian won the match. Norris won his first European Tour title by narrowly defeating Jelle Klaasen 6–5 in the final of the German Darts Championship. The win gave him entry into the Grand Slam of Darts, but he failed to win any of his games to finish bottom of the group. Norris earned £35,000 for throwing a nine-dart finish in his first round win over Michael Smith at the Players Championship Finals. He reached the third round, where he lost 10–5 to