The 25-year-old from Stoke picked up the £6,000 title in Gladbeck with a fine performance, coming from 4-3 down to take three successive legs in winning the final.

Van der Voort celebrated three years on the PDC circuit by claiming his first title in his fourth final, having lost two previous PDC ProTour events and the 2007 UK Open final.

Baxter took leads of 4-1 and 7-4 against the Australian, but almost allowed Whitlock to grab a draw when he missed ten match darts before finally nailing double ten for the win.

Whitlock, the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship runner-up to Phil Taylor in the New Year, made a nightmare debut in the Premier League Darts with an 8-3 loss to the Stoke legend at The O2 last mo

The Australian continued his gradual improvement in form over the opening three weeks to condemn van Barneveld to a second successive loss.

The first ever Professional Darts Corporation World Cup is part of a £1million revamp of the body - which is also starting a women's World Championship and one for under-21s.

Hazel From Napier on New Zealands north Island had a great 2009 winning the NZ national singles as well as qualifying for the TV stages of the Las Vegas Desert classic.He then competed at the Ladbroke

King backed up Saturday's Players Championship victory with another classy display to claim the £6,000 top prize from the first of eight UK Open Qualifiers to be held in the coming months.

Whitlock, who was defeated by Phil Taylor last week at The O2 in London, made a fine start to just his second Premier League game when he took leads of 3-0 and 5-2.