WORLD championship semi-finalist Mark Webster is now Premier class!
 

Denbigh destroyer Webster repeated the feat of 12 months ago as he once again reached the last-four of the Ladbrokes.com World Professional Darts

Championship, and the highlight of the run to the semi-finals was Webster’s 5-2 quarter-final defeat of 15-time world champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor.
 

The run at the world championship saw Webster climb into the world’s top-16 for the first time.
 

He is now ranked 13th in the PDC order of merit, climbing 12 places on the back of his recent displays.
 

To complete a memorable week for the Denbigh ace, he is now Premier class as well!
 

Gary Anderson and Webster will make their debuts in Premier League Darts in 2011 after being confirmed amongst the eight-player field for the tournament.
 

World number one Phil Taylor, the reigning Premier League Darts champion, is joined by new Ladbrokes.com World Darts Champion Adrian Lewis and Bodog.com World Grand Prix winner James Wade and Anderson as the automatic selections.
 

Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, 2010 world championship runner-up Simon Whitlock, 2007 Premier League Darts finalist Terry Jenkins and Webster are the four wildcards.
 

The league stage of Premier League Darts will see the eight players face each other twice before the top four players progress to play in the play-offs at the Wembley Arena on May 19.
 

This year’s Premier League Darts season will open at the O2 in London on February 10.
 

As a result of his achievements, Clwyd county darts manager Steve Gierke believes that Webster deserves a prize from Denbigh pubs!
 

“It has been tremendous,” he said
 

“In the Masons the atmosphere was tremendous.
 

“The lad deserves an award from the Denbigh chamber of trade!
 

“They had an extended New Year.
 

“The reports I have had were that just about everywhere was packed.”
 

Gierke added: “I think the one thing most people enjoyed was the Taylor one.
 

“It proves what everybody’s known.
 

“It wasn’t Taylor at his worst and it wasn’t Taylor at his weakest.
 

“I think Mark just handled it so maturely.”
 

Webster admitted to being confident of victory ahead of the quarter-final, and afterwards he said: “I’m not surprised that I’ve won, I genuinely believed I could do it.”
 

Webster has revealed that the heartache of missing out on October’s World Grand Prix fired his ambition at the world championships.
 

He missed out on qualification for the Dublin tournament when victory for Steve Farmer in the final Players’ Championship before the cut-off for the event saw Webster edged out of the 32-player field.
 

“It got me pumped up for the rest of the year and it’s going well at the minute.”
 

As for the rest of 2011, Gierke is expecting Webster to embark on a memorable year.
 

“I think he is going to have a fantastic year.”