Superb Smith fightback sinks Anderson at Players Championship 13

ProTour

Jun 12 2023

Michael Smith fought back brilliantly from 5-1 down to defeat his former mentor Gary Anderson and claim his first ProTour title of 2023 in Monday's Players Championship 13 final in Hildesheim.

2023 Betfred World Matchplay qualification race ahead of PC13-14

Betfred World Matchplay

Jun 09 2023

The race to qualify for the 2023 Betfred World Matchplay will continue at next week’s Players Championship double-header in Hildesheim.

2023 Players Championship 13-14 entries confirmed

ProTour

Jun 07 2023

Player entries have been confirmed for next week's Players Championship double-header in Germany, as the 2023 ProTour season continues in Hildesheim.

Clayton claims first Players Championship title in over two years at PC12

ProTour

May 21 2023

Jonny Clayton won a first Players Championship title in over two years in Leicester on Sunday, defeating Josh Rock 8-5 in the final of Players Championship 12.

Cross claims first title of 2023 in Leicester

ProTour

May 20 2023

Rob Cross secured his first PDC title of 2023 with an emphatic 8-3 victory over Mike De Decker in Saturday’s Players Championship 11 final in Wigan.

2023 Players Championships 11-12 entries confirmed

ProTour

May 16 2023

Player entries have been confirmed for this weekend's Players Championship double-header in Leicester, as the 2023 ProTour season continues in the East Midlands.

Players Championships to feature two additional streaming boards

ProTour

May 15 2023

Darts fans will be able to enjoy more action than ever before from Players Championship events, with two additional streamed boards broadcasting live matches from this weekend onwards.

Paul Nicholson: 2023 ProTour finalists reflect darts' global growth

Comment

May 11 2023

Former Players Champion and current darts pundit Paul Nicholson discussed how this year's ProTour finalists so far reflect darts' global expansion over the last two decades.

PDC Order of Merit changes following Players Championships 9-10

News

Apr 17 2023

Jonny Clayton has regained seventh spot on the PDC Order of Merit following last weekend's 2023 Players Championships 9-10.

Third title of 2023 for Van Duijvenbode with PC10 success

ProTour

Apr 16 2023

Dirk van Duijvenbode picked up a third PDC ProTour title of 2023 with victory in Sunday's Players Championship Ten in Wigan.

Players Championship events are held throughout the year, with prize money won counting towards the ProTour Order of Merit

All Players Championship events will be streamed live for PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide with coverage from two boards throughout each event.

JAMES WADE picked up his fourth PDC ranking title of 2019 at Players Championship 18 in Wigan on Sunday, defeating Jose de Sousa 8-5 in the final.

The second day of the ProTour double-header weekend saw Wade follow-up his hat-trick of Players Championship titles in April to equal his best ever tally of ranking titles in a calendar year, having also won four in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The former Premier League champion grew into the tournament, steadily increasing his average in every round, before posting ton-plus averages in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Wade's day began with victories over Dutch pair Benito van de Pas and Yordi Meeuwisse, followed by a narrow 6-5 win over Keegan Brown to reach the Last 16 where he overcame Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4.

In the quarter-finals Wade averaged 101.5 to defeat rising star Callan Rydz 6-3, before edging past Players Championship 17 winner Krzysztof Ratajski 7-5 and then getting the better of De Sousa to secure the £10,000 top prize.

"Yesterday after I lost I looked at a picture of my son on my phone and that inspired me to win today," said Wade.

"The final wasn't a great game, in fact I wouldn't say I played very well today which is ironic really.

"But maybe today will boost me into a bit of form and I can do some damage at the World Matchplay."

De Sousa got off to a flying start in his first PDC final, taking out 160 to hold throw in the opening leg, as the first four legs all went with throw.

Wade hit his favourite double ten with his last dart in hand to land the first break of the match, then doubling his lead witha calm 68 checkout after De Sousa piled on the pressure with his 21st 180 of the day.

De Sousa came roaring back with back-to-back legs of his own, including a 12-dart break which ended with an 88 checkout.

Despite averaging over 11 points more than Wade after eight legs, De Sousa was left to rue his missed chance to go ahead, as Wade clinically found double seven with his last darts in hand for an 86 checkout to break throw and make it 5-4.

From there, Wade produced a dominant end to the contest, dropping only one more leg to run out a convincing 8-5 winner.

De Sousa, who won his PDC Tour Card for the first time in January, backed up his run to the quarter-finals of the Danish Darts Open on his European Tour debut in Copenhagen last weekend.

The Portuguese number one defeated Nathan Aspinall, Jeffrey de Zwaan on his way to the semi-finals, where he ran out a 7-5 victor over Dimitri Van den Bergh to reach his first PDC ranking final, ending Van den Bergh's hopes of qualifying for the Betfred World Matchplay in the process.

A number of players were vying for the 16 ProTour Order of Merit places in the Blackpool event ahead of the cut-off on June 30, with 14 players in contention for three places at the conclusion of Sunday's event.

Vincent van der Voort, James Wilson and Kyle Anderson currently occupy the final three spots, but Anderson's hopes were dealt a blow as he suffered an opening round loss to Ryan Searle.

Drawboard