TERRY Jenkins refuses to give up on his dream of winning a major darts title, despite having to settle for the runners-up spot against an inspired Adrian Lewis in the Coral UK Open.

Appearing in his eighth televised final, the Ledbury thrower was left to rue his luck as ‘Jackpot’ cruised to a sensational 11-1 victory at the Butlins Minehead Resort.

However, a runners-up cheque of £25,000, as well as an outstanding 10-8 win over world champion Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals, will have eased the pain of defeat.

"I hope I can win a major title eventually," admitted the Herefordshire thrower, who also qualified for November’s Grand Slam of Darts by reaching the decider.

"I’m proud of what I did to reach the final. I’ve been playing well for the last few months and the small changes I’ve made to my darts are paying off.

"I’d always said I’d retire when I got to 50 and that would have been six months ago, so this is a bonus! I’ll always keep plugging away and hopefully it will happen for me next time.”

The Bull added: “Adrian was brilliant in the final and he never gave me a chance. He was relentless, he whacked everything in there and I couldn’t keep up with him.

"I was leaving a double after 12 darts in some legs and not getting a look-in.

“Fair play to him because he deserved the title with a performance like that."

Champion Lewis was full of praise for Jenkins’ plucky effort and backed the former antiques dealer to finally break his major championship duck.

Lewis said: “Terry’s been playing some awesome darts and he took the form of the last few months into this final. I had to hit him straight away and I knew I’d have to play that well – but if he keeps this going he could win a major this year.”

Lewis finished the final’s opening two legs by hitting double-top, before Jenkins opened his account in the third leg.

The pair traded 180s in the fourth, before a superb 121 checkout moved Lewis 4-1 up.

He hit an 11-darter to win a third successive leg and tops to win the next, before double 10 put him 7-1 ahead.

He then hit two 180s to Jenkins’ one as he took out 81 for a 12-darter to lead by seven legs and, when the Ledbury ace missed tops for a 116 finish in the next, a double eight checkout pushed the Stoke ace into a 9-1 advantage.