Bradley Brooks won his maiden PDC ProTour title with a sensational string of displays in Wednesday's Players Championship 21 in Leicester.
The former World Youth Champion won back his PDC Tour Card in January, and made a huge impression as the stand-out performer at the Mattioli Arena to scoop the £15,000 top prize.
Brooks is now set for a return to the Paddy Power World Darts Championship in December - having famously hit a nine-darter on the Alexandra Palace stage four years ago.
The 25-year-old starred in Players Championship 21 with a series of high-quality performances as he reached his first Players Championship final.
Brooks averaged over 108 in each of his first two games - defeating William Borland and Chris Dobey - before then edging out Brendan Dolan and James Wade in deciding legs.
He then cruised past Josh Rock 6-1 in a quarter-final tie between former World Youth Champions, before coming from 3-0 and 6-5 down to edge out James Hurrell in the semis.
Brooks secured an early break of throw in a high-standard start to the final with a 13-darter as he opened up a key 3-1 lead - an advantage which he would never relinquish against the former World Champion.
Price hit back to trail 4-3, 5-4 and 6-5 - landing a 12-darter along the way - but crucially was never able to level, despite hitting five doubles from seven attempts.
Brooks finished 79 to move to the brink of victory at 7-5, and when Price uncharacteristically missed eight darts at doubles in the next leg, the Blackburn-born ace swooped to close out victory on tops.
Price, last weekend's Superbet Poland Darts Masters winner, defeated Colin Osborne and Dimitri Van den Bergh in his opening two matches, and dropped only one leg in each of his next two victories against Daryl Gurney and Dave Chisnall.
He produced a finishing master-class in his 6-2 quarter-final win over Krzysztof Ratajski, before seeing off Andrew Gilding 7-4 in the semis.
However, he was unable to land a fourth Players Championship victory of 2025 as Brooks claimed victory in Wednesday's decider.
Hurrell also impressed in Leicester as he reached a first Players Championship semi-final, seeing off World Youth Champion Gian van Veen and in-form Cameron Menzies during five victories on the day.
Gilding, meanwhile, fired in a 105 average to defeat Tuesday's PC20 winner Damon Heta in the last 16, and also averaged over a ton against Dom Taylor during his run to a fourth Players Championship semi-final of the year.
Ratajski had kept alive his hopes of snatching qualification for the Betfred World Matchplay in his run to the quarter-finals, but Price proved too strong to deny the Polish ace a Blackpool appearance.
Grand Slam of Darts runner-up Martin Lukeman's World Matchplay chances were ended in the third round against Dave Chisnall, while former Blackpool finalist Michael Smith's first round loss to Thibault Tricole sees him miss out on a Blackpool spot for the first time in 12 years.
Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode powered in his second Players Championship nine-darter of 2025 during his first round win over Jim Williams, following a trio of perfect legs in Tuesday's event.
Wednesday's event concluded the Players Championship double-header in Leicester, with the European Tour returning to action this weekend with the Elten Safety Shoes Baltic Sea Darts Open in Kiel from July 11-13.
See full results in the Match Centre.
See match stats through DartConnect.
2025 Players Championship 21
Wednesday July 9
Mattioli Arena, Leicester
Last 16
Kevin Doets 6-3 Jermaine Wattimena
James Hurrell 6-5 Cameron Menzies
Bradley Brooks 6-5 James Wade
Josh Rock 6-3 Ryan Meikle
Andrew Gilding 6-2 Damon Heta
Wesley Plaisier 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Gerwyn Price 6-1 Dave Chisnall
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4 Jamai van den Herik
Quarter-Finals
James Hurrell 6-4 Kevin Doets
Bradley Brooks 6-1 Josh Rock
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Wesley Plaisier
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Krzysztof Ratajski
Semi-Finals
Bradley Brooks 7-6 James Hurrell
Gerwyn Price 7-4 Andrew Gilding
Final
Bradley Brooks 8-5 Gerwyn Price
Nine-Darters!
Dirk van Duijvenbode hit a nine-darter in his first round tie against Jim Williams.