MICHAEL VAN GERWEN defeated Andy Hamilton 6-1 in the final of the sixth Players Championship event of the year at the K2 Centre in Crawley.
The victory on Sunday marked the world number two’s 12th victory of an incredible 2013 so far, and takes him above £100,000 prize money won this year in ProTour events alone.
Van Gerwen, who reached the last four of Saturday's Players Championship, began his run to victory with a 6-2 win over Kevin Dowling before edging out Welshman Richie Burnett in a deciding leg to reach the last 16.
The Dutchman powered into the semi-finals as he defeated Ronny Huybrechts 6-0 before dropping just one leg to Andy Smith at the last eight stage.
In his semi-final clash against Brendan Dolan, van Gerwen found himself 5-2 down but took the next three legs to level, which included a missed dart at double 12 for a nine-darter in the ninth leg.
Van Gerwen then took the deciding leg to deny the Dolan a place in the final, and he continued that good form as he left Andy Hamilton trailing 3-0 at the start of the decider.
Hamilton landed double 18 to get a leg on the board, only for van Gerwen to restore his three-leg advantage thanks to a superb 11-darter.
Van Gerwen took out a 68 finish to move a leg away from victory, which was completed in the next as he hit double ten to end the match with an average of 104.25 as he claimed the £10,000 first prize.
Hamilton who played superb darts at the Speedy Services UK Open to reach his third major final a fortnight ago, put Saturday’s first round exit behind him as he overcame Jerry Hendriks in his opening game before securing a narrow 6-5 win over Darren Webster.
The Premier League star continued to progress as he defeated Stuart Kellett 6-1 before beating Jon Jukes in a last leg thriller to reach the last eight, having trailed 5-3.
The Stoke star defeated a resurgent Jamie Caven 6-4 in the quarter-finals before confirming his place in the final with a 6-2 win over Robert Thornton.
That victory put Hamilton through to his first ProTour final of the year, but he was unable to claim the £10,000 first prize – continuing his wait for a first ranking title since 2007.
Dolan also put behind the disappointment of a first round loss in Saturday’s Players Championship by reaching the semi-finals, where he suffered a heart-breaking defeat at the hands of van Gerwen, having held a 5-2 lead before the Dutchman struck back in devastating fashion.
Former UK Open champion Thornton was the other player to reach the last four in Crawley, with his run including a superb 6-5 win over Phil Taylor – defying a 108 average from the 16-time World Champion.
The Scotsman backed up that win with an excellent 6-3 triumph over world number three James Wade before falling to Hamilton at the semi-final stage.
Wade, Jamie Caven and Andy Smith all earned £1,500 in prize money for reaching the quarter-finals along with Saturday's runner-up Wes Newton, whose hopes of victory were ended by Dolan.
Peter Wright, who played superbly to claim his second ranking title on Saturday, began the day brightly with wins over Matthew Dicken, Dennis Smith and Dan Russell to secure a last 16 spot.
However, any hopes Wright had of achieving a double victory over the weekend were extinguished as he lost 6-3 to Wade.
Sunday’s action marked the cut-off point for final qualification for next month’s PartyPoker.net European Championship, where Simon Whitlock will be defending the title.
Colin Lloyd held on to the final remaining spot from the ProTour Order of Merit after Andy Smith’s run to the quarter-finals was not enough to nudge the Colchester thrower out of the 32 player field - with the Studley ace having needed to defeat van Gerwen and reach the last four to qualify for the Muelheim event.
Players Championship 6
K2 Centre, Crawley
Sunday June 23
First Round
Michael van Gerwen (1) Bye
Kevin Dowling 6-1 Gaz Cousins
Richie Burnett (32) 6-3 Michael Smith
Jarkko Komula 6-0 Jyhan Artut
Ronnie Baxter (16) 6-2 Peter Hudson
Ronny Huybrechts 6-2 Michael Blake
Jim Walker 6-4 Gary Anderson (17)
Chris Aubrey 6-5 Lee Palfreyman
Kim Huybrechts (8) 6-2 James Hubbard
Bernd Roith 6-2 Darron Brown
Tony West 6-2 Kevin Painter (25)
Shaun Griffiths 6-3 Jelle Klaasen
Daryl Gurney 6-5 John Part (9)
Scott Rand 6-1 John Scott
Andy Smith (24) 6-3 Kevin McDine
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Terry Temple
Wes Newton (5) 6-5 Mark Cox
Jamie Lewis 6-4 Johnny Haines
Stephen Hardy 6-5 Colin Osborne (28)
Nick Fullwell 6-4 David Dodds
Ian White (12) 6-0 Colin Fowler
Matthew Edgar 6-2 Dean Winstanley
Justin Pipe (21) 6-1 Ricky Evans
James Richardson 6-4 Kirk Shepherd
Dave Chisnall (4) 6-4 Co Stompe
Prakash Jiwa 6-2 Michael Mansell
Adrian Gray 6-4 Mark Walsh (29)
Joe Murnan 6-3 Vernon Sheppard
Paul Nicholson (13) 6-2 Veijo Viinikka
Steve Farmer 6-2 Joey Palfreyman
Brendan Dolan (20) 6-2 Keegan Brown
Nigel Heydon 6-1 Matt Clark
Jon Jukes 6-5 Simon Whitlock (2)
Steve Hine 6-1 Martyn Turner
Tomas Seyler 6-5 Wayne Jones (31)
Alan Tabern 6-3 David Pallett
Andy Hamilton (15) 6-2 Jerry Hendriks
Darren Webster 6-0 Reece Robinson
Stuart Kellett (18) 6-3 Mark Hylton
Roland Scholten 6-4 John Henderson
Jamie Caven (7) 6-2 Leon de Geus
Michael Barnard 6-4 Ryan De Vreede
Steve Beaton (26) 6-2 Ryan Harrington
Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Jani Haavisto
Mervyn King (10) 6-5 William O'Connor
Steve West 6-5 Josh Payne
Terry Jenkins (23) 6-2 Ted Hankey
Gino Vos 6-0 Richie Howson
Peter Wright (6) 6-1 Matthew Dicken
Dennis Smith 6-3 Steve Grubb
Dan Russell 6-5 Arron Monk (27)
Alex Roy 6-1 Keith Stephen
John Bowles 6-5 Adrian Lewis (11)
Campbell Jackson 6-5 Andrew Gilding
James Wade (22) 6-1 Ricky Sudale
Paul Barham 6-5 Connie Finnan
Robert Thornton (3) 6-1 Antonio Alcinas
Magnus Caris 6-2 Joe Cullen
Steve Brown 6-3 Mark Webster (30)
Ross Smith 6-5 Mark Jones
Phil Taylor (14) 6-4 Darren Whittingham
Paul Amos 6-5 Darren Johnson
Andy Jenkins 6-2 Colin Lloyd (19)
Mark Dudbridge 6-5 Mark Frost
Second Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Kevin Dowling
Richie Burnett 6-4 Jarkko Komula
Ronny Huybrechts 6-4 Ronnie Baxter
Chris Aubrey 6-5 Jim Walker
Kim Huybrechts 6-0 Bernd Roith
Shaun Griffiths 6-5 Tony West
Scott Rand 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Andy Smith 6-4 Mensur Suljovic
Wes Newton 6-4 Jamie Lewis
Nick Fullwell 6-5 Stephen Hardy
Ian White 6-1 Matthew Edgar
Justin Pipe 6-4 James Richardson
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Prakash Jiwa
Joe Murnan 6-4 Adrian Gray
Paul Nicholson 6-4 Steve Farmer
Brendan Dolan 6-1 Nigel Heydon
Jon Jukes 6-5 Steve Hine
Tomas Seyler 6-5 Alan Tabern
Andy Hamilton 6-5 Darren Webster
Stuart Kellett 6-5 Roland Scholten
Jamie Caven 6-2 Michael Barnard
Vincent van der Voort 6-4 Steve Beaton
Mervyn King 6-1 Steve West
Terry Jenkins 6-2 Gino Vos
Peter Wright 6-3 Dennis Smith
Dan Russell 6-5 Alex Roy
Campbell Jackson 6-1 John Bowles
James Wade 6-4 Paul Barham
Robert Thornton 6-3 Magnus Caris
Steve Brown 6-2 Ross Smith
Phil Taylor 6-0 Paul Amos
Andy Jenkins 6-4 Mark Dudbridge
Losers £250
Third Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Richie Burnett
Ronny Huybrechts 6-3 Chris Aubrey
Kim Huybrechts 6-0 Shaun Griffiths
Andy Smith 6-4 Scott Rand
Wes Newton 6-2 Nick Fullwell
Ian White 6-3 Justin Pipe
Joe Murnan 6-4 Dave Chisnall
Brendan Dolan 6-1 Paul Nicholson
Jon Jukes 6-3 Tomas Seyler
Andy Hamilton 6-1 Stuart Kellett
Jamie Caven 6-5 Vincent van der Voort
Terry Jenkins 6-5 Mervyn King
Peter Wright 6-2 Dan Russell
James Wade 6-3 Campbell Jackson
Robert Thornton 6-5 Steve Brown
Phil Taylor 6-0 Andy Jenkins
Losers £500
Fourth Round
Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Ronny Huybrechts
Andy Smith 6-2 Kim Huybrechts
Wes Newton 6-5 Ian White
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Joe Murnan
Andy Hamilton 6-5 Jon Jukes
Jamie Caven 6-3 Terry Jenkins
James Wade 6-3 Peter Wright
Robert Thornton 6-5 Phil Taylor
Losers £1,000
Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Andy Smith
Brendan Dolan 6-4 Wes Newton
Andy Hamilton 6-4 Jamie Caven
Robert Thornton 6-3 James Wade
Losers £1,500
Semi-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Brendan Dolan
Andy Hamilton 6-2 Robert Thornton
Losers £2,500
Final
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Andy Hamilton
Winner £10,000
Runner-Up £5,000
Final - Leg-By-Leg
Michael van Gerwen v Andy Hamilton
0-0 - van Gerwen wins the bullseye and throws first
1-0 - The Dutchman holds throw with a clinical 13-dart finish completed on double 18.
2-0 - van Gerwen doubles his lead by converting a 94 checkout with Hamilton waiting on 32.
3-0 - van Gerwen takes out 45 on double 16 to win his third leg in a row.
3-1 - Hamilton lands double 18 to get a leg on the board after van Gerwen misses one chance to go four legs clear.
4-1 - Both players record maximums before van Gerwen takes the leg with a fantastic 11-darter.
5-1 - van Gerwen hits two 140 scores before taking out 68 to move a leg away from victory.
6-1 - The world number two hits three ton plus scores to leave 40 after just 12 darts thrown, which he duly converts on double ten to wrap up the win.