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
Split in darts and Stephen Bunting, as well as other top players such as Mervyn King, Kevin Painter, Ronnie Baxter, James Wade, Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen, Wayne Mardle, Dave Chisnall and Simon Whitlock. The most recent high-profile switch was 2014 BDO champion Stephen Bunting, who thus did not defend his BDO title in the 2015 competition. By comparison, relatively few players have switched from the PDC to the BDO. 2004 BDO world champion Andy Fordham switched to the PDC in 2009, before returning to the BDO in 2013. Two-time BDO champion Ted Hankey moved to the PDC in 2012 and switched back