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
Paul Nicholson (darts player) all year, the 13th Players Championship, by beating Nathan Aspinall, Kyle Anderson (the player who has replaced him in Australia's World Cup team) and Simon Whitlock, but he then lost 6–1 to Benito van de Pas. He began commentating for the PDC during European Tour events and also for the BBC in the inaugural Champions League of Darts. Nicholson was a studio analyst and commentator on Channel 4's coverage of the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship. He was ranked 84th after the 2017 PDC World Championship and played in Q School to try and win his place on the tour