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 (losing to Mervyn King) and 2006 (defeating Phil Taylor, losing to Raymond van Barneveld). In 1999/2000 Kevin Berlyn Formed the DPA (Dartplayers Australia) and the Australian Grand Prix – a series of tournaments in Whitlock's native country, and Whitlock won the first two events. The eventual winner of the AGP would have received automatic qualification for the 2008 PDC World Championship; however, Whitlock remained a WDF/BDO player and chose to compete in the BDO World Championship instead. Whitlock showed great form throughout the tournament, beating Edwin Max and Fabian Roosenbrand before defeating former world champion Ted Hankey 5–0 in the