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
Simon Whitlock lost in the first round of the televised stages against Terry Jenkins. He played in the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts and performed well in the Group stages winning all 3 of his games against Ted Hankey, Wayne Mardle and Scott Waites. In the Last 16 he thrashed 1996 BDO World Champion Steve Beaton 10–1 but lost to eventual runner up Scott Waites in a tight encounter. At the 2010 PDC World Championship, Whitlock made a great impression, beating Colin Osborne (3–1), Wayne Jones (4–0) and Terry Jenkins (4–2), before going on to beat James Wade 5–3 in an epic