for a 9 set match with 38 180's hit in the match, 16 of them from Mason, marking the second consecutive year that he had lost to the eventual champion in the semi-finals. Mason's last appearance at Lakeside was a first round defeat to Mervyn King in 2001. He also reached the semi final of the BDO's other major tournament, the Winmau World Masters in 2000, losing to the eventual champion, John Walton. Mason hit the perfect 9 dart game in the last 32 stage of the Winmau World Masters, watched by good friend Bobby George, who said "it was OK apart from the treble 19 wasn't quite in the middle". PDC career In late 2001, the news came through that virtually all PDC televised tournaments would be closed off to players who did not play in the PDC World Darts Championship. As a result, Mason became one of the "Skol Six" who decided to play the PDC World Championship from 2002 onwards, so that they could continue to play in other PDC televised events. Mason lost in the first round of the 2002 PDC World Championship to Dave Askew, but reached the quarter finals in 2003 – losing to eventual champion, John Part. He missed most tournaments in 2003 and 2004 while he served a prison sentence – but he returned to play in the 2004 World Grand Prix in October, and reached the quarter-finals of the event for the third time, this time losing to Steve Beaton. Mason has many titles to his name including the Irish Masters and the Vauxhall Pro Open on 3 occasions. Mason won the Irish Masters which was screened by Sky and also has lifted the Scottish Open and the English Open titles to his impressive résumé. Mason was Taylor's opposition at the 2002 World Matchplay when Taylor hit the first PDC nine-dart finish to be televised live on British screens. Mason has reached the quarter-finals in a few other PDC events, including the 2005 UK Open, the 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic, and the 2006 World Matchplay. Retirement Whilst commentating on the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts, on broadcaster ITV, Mason announced that he intended to retire from darts following the forthcoming qualifying rounds of the 2011 PDC World Championship, declaring that "even if I do qualify, which is unlikely, the World Championships will be my swansong". It was later announced by