Van Gerwen Breaks ProTour Title Record

Michael van Gerwen (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN continued his record-breaking exploits by overtaking Phil Taylor as the winner of the most PDC ProTour titles with his Players Championship 3 victory in Wigan on Saturday.

World number one Van Gerwen, who won his first ProTour title in February 2012, defeated Ian White to claim his 71st ProTour win in the final of Saturday's event, surpassing the record held by 16-time World Champion Taylor.

Taylor's wins comprised of four European Tours, 45 Players Championships and 21 UK Open Qualifiers, while Van Gerwen has claimed 28 European Tour crowns, along with 27 Players Championships and 16 UK Open Qualifiers.

Gary Anderson ranks third in the list of ProTour title wins with 30, while Peter Wright and James Wade make up the top five.

Sunday's Players Championship 4 was also a landmark day as the 500th event since the PDC ProTour structure began in 2002.

The next Players Championship events will be held across the weekend of February 23-24 at Wigan's Robin Park Tennis Centre, with live streaming from two boards simultaneously in the new-look PDCTV-HD.