The Winmau Masters is organized by the British Dart Organization (BDO) and one of the major tournaments of the BDO. 256 players from the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the United States among others, were bracketed in to 16 groups of 16 players each. The game format is best of 5 sets best of 3 legs.

Ilagan beat Lars Helsinghof of Denmark, 3-0; Aaron Williams of Wales 3-0; Brian Woods of England, 3-1, a semi-finalist of the 2008 Lakeside World Championships; Damien ODriscoll a top Irish player, 3-0; and Craig Baxter of Scotland, 3-1. The jam-packed audience at The Spa started to admire Ilagan’s spectacular skills and killer instincts including his various body-antics. Even referred to as ‘the one who illuminated the entire tournament’ by the announcers, Ilagan was all set to be at the top and performed better after every match. The spectators watched in amazement as The Gunner eliminated every player to reach the final 8 players of the elimination round and earned the right to face the top 8 waiting seeded players of the tournament.

Ilagan went up the stage to face Scott Waites of England, the number 2 seeded player of the tournament, the Open Dutch Open Champion of 2008 and the runner-up of 2008 Winmau Masters. The game proved to be a classic battle of two focused warriors each determined to take the game and advance to the next round. Waites was leading 2-1 sets before Ilagan made a 2-dart finish on his remaining 74 to even the match with 2-2 sets apiece, after Waites missed 6 chances to win the match. The deciding set went the distance for the deciding leg with both players going for the bull eye to determine the first thrower. Ilagan won the diddle for the bulls and scored 100-80-97-140 with 84 remaining Ilagan hit single 20 missed the 14 for a double bull set up and settled for 40 out set up. Waites scored 115-85-96-100 with 105 left and to win the match, Waites hit single 20, missed the triple 19, and with 66 left went for the double bulls for 16 set up. With one dart Ilagan hit double 20 for the win. With this impressive victory over BDO’s number 2 player; Lourence became an instant dart celebrity in Bridlington. The points per dart average (PPDA) of Ilagan was 29.59 vs PPDA of 28.69 of Waites.

In the Quarter-Finals – Top 8, Ilagan met Steve West, the number 7 seeded player of the tournament and a quarter-finalist of Winmau Masters 2008. The match was another classic going the full distance of the deciding set with Ilagan winning 2-0 in the deciding set. Ilagan won 3-2 with PPDA of 29.79 vs 28.49 of West.

Ilagan’s unbelievable string of victories came to an end in the semi-finals against Robbie Green of England, popularly known as “The Kong” and a member of Team Unicorn, losing 6-3. Green came all the way from the starting 256 and just like Ilagan, gradually made his way up the ladder.

By far, this has been the best showing of any Filipino and Asian darter in a prestigious international dart competition. Ilagan proved to the world that Filipinos are not mere pushovers in the sports of darts. Indeed, this is a milestone in Philippine dart history and an inspiration to the growing and expanding local darting community.

Ilagan is currently ranked number 13 in the National Darts Federation of the Philippines ranking and the back-to-back winner of last year’s NDFP organized Darterong Pinoy and the Philippine Qualifier to the World Darts Championship. He represented the Philippines as a wild card player in the World Darts Championship, the richest dart tournament in the world last December 2008 in Alexandra Palace, England.

Ilagan is a signature dart player of Monster Barrel Design of Japan, a dart accessory distributor in Japan, which has been sponsoring his international competitions including the 2009 Winmau Masters. He was born on February 11, 1978 and started playing darts back in 1993. He is married and living in Cainta, Rizal.

The National Darts Federation of the Philippines (NDFP) together with all its affiliate organizations nationwide and outside of the country, extend its congratulations to Lourence for a job well done. Let’s play darts!