Whittingham is hot stuff in Benidorm

From Barnsley to Benidorm – it has been a hell of a week in the life of young Shropshire darter Darren Whittingham.

The 20-year-old, from Market Drayton, started in Yorkshire by coming through qualifying school to earn a place on the potentially lucrative PDC Pro Tour.

And the factory production operative followed up in the first Players Championship of 2012 last weekend at the Spanish resort - where he reached the quarter-finals on the first day, beating former two-time PDC world champion John Part along the way.

Whittingham said: "It was a great feeling, especially beating John Part. I have got a win over a world champion under my belt and I will be looking to push on and see what else I can do now.

"My next goal for this season is to qualify for the UK Open and then I'd like to have a go at getting into the world championship at the end of the year."

Whittingham's unlikely run in Benidorm started with a 6-2 win over Toon Greebe in the first round.

He followed up with that famous win over Part, by the same scoreline, before defeating Jerry Hendriks 6-5 and Steve Brown 6-2 to reach the last eight.

His run finally came to an end at the hands of Stoke's Ian White in the last eight, also by a 6-2 scoreline.

Whittingham added: "Ian's a good friend of mine, so it was funny to play him in the quarters.

"I practice with him all the time and play in the leagues with him on Tuesday and Thursday nights."

Whittingham's form couldn't be repeated in the Sunday Players Championship event, as he this time beat Juan Carlos Albaladejo in the preliminary round but then lost 6-3 to Mensur Suljovic in the first round.

But the Shropshire ace pocketed £1,000 for his efforts on Saturday – the second-biggest pay cheque of his fledgling career.

He said: "I won £1,250 getting to the last eight of the world youth championship in November but, other than that, this is the most I have won.

"I want to try and make a living as a professional darts player – there's a lot of money in the sport now."