Price outlines aspirations following ProTour double

ProTour

Aug 29 2023

Gerwyn Price enjoyed a stunning return to ProTour action last weekend, becoming the first player to win back-to-back Players Championship titles in 2023.

Double delight for prolific Price in Hildesheim

ProTour

Aug 27 2023

Gerwyn Price made it back-to-back ProTour titles in Hildesheim with a crushing 8-1 victory over Gian van Veen in Sunday's Players Championship 18 decider.

Price pips Rock to win Players Championship 17 in Hildesheim

ProTour

Aug 26 2023

Gerwyn Price celebrated his third title of 2023 with an 8-5 victory over Josh Rock in Saturday’s Players Championship 17 final in Hildesheim.

Top five players still awaiting a maiden PDC ranking title

ProTour

Aug 25 2023

Ahead of the resumption of the 2023 ProTour season, we take a look at the top five players on the PDC Order of Merit yet to have won a ranking title.

Van Veen aiming to build upon Development Tour success

News

Aug 23 2023

Gian van Veen believes his success on the Winmau Development Tour can provide the springboard for a strong end to the season on the senior PDC circuit.

Players Championships 17-18 entries and & ET11-12 seeds confirmed

ProTour

Aug 22 2023

Player entries have been confirmed for this weekend's Players Championship double-header in Hildesheim, along with the 16 seeded players for ET11-12.

Red-hot Heta wins Players Championship 16 in Leicester

ProTour

Jul 11 2023

Damon Heta produced a magnificent display to clinch his second ProTour title of the year, storming to an 8-4 victory against Ryan Joyce in Tuesday’s Players Championship 16 final in Leicester.

Nine-dart Humphries defies Chisnall fightback to claim PC15 title

ProTour

Jul 10 2023

Luke Humphries celebrated his second ranking title in the space of nine days after defying a superb fightback from Dave Chisnall to triumph in Monday’s Players Championship 15 final in Leicester.

2023 Players Championship 15-16 entries confirmed

ProTour

Jul 06 2023

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

Seventh heaven for Heta with PC14 success in Hildesheim

ProTour

Jun 13 2023

Damon Heta warmed up for Australia’s World Cup of Darts title defence with victory in Tuesday’s Players Championship 14 final in Hildesheim.

30 Players Championship events will take place across Europe in 2023.

Each tournament will feature a 128-player field made up of PDC Tour Card Holders and Associate Members taken from the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.

Prize money will stand at £75,000 per event, with all winnings counting towards the relevant PDC Orders of Merit.

All Players Championship events will be broadcast live on PDCTV.

Ross Smith claimed his second ranking title of 2023 as he landed a nine-dart finish on the way to glory in Saturday's Players Championship 28 in Barnsley.

Smith warmed up in style for his defence of the Machineseeker European Championship next weekend by scooping the £12,000 top prize to conclude four days of PDC ProTour action.

The Kent star landed a perfect leg during his second round whitewash of Robbie Knops, and completed a memorable day with an 8-6 triumph against Damon Heta in the final.

However, he was made to produce one of his best-ever spells of darts in the decider, reeling off five legs in a row of between 12 and 14 darts to come from 6-3 down and claim the title.

Smith will now travels to Dortmund in confident mood as he prepares to open his European Championship title defence on Friday night against Ricardo Pietreczko.

"I'm going in as a winner!" said Smith. "I'm reigning champion and the winner of this, so I'm really happy.

"I know I've got a hard game there, but I'm going to keep working hard on and off the board and do my best. That's all you can do.

"I'm playing really consistent darts. It's not often I feel like I drop below a 95 average and this week has been probably more 100-pluses than not.

"I feel nice and relaxed. I've played well this week and hopefully I can continue that into the Euros,"

"I'm going in as a winner... that makes a change"

Hear from Ross Smith as he picked up a second Players Championship title of the year and and found his form at the right time ahead of the 2023 European Championship pic.twitter.com/OpqF3bIcxg

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 21, 2023

Heta dominated the final's early exchanges, following a 12-darter with a 13-dart break on his way to a 4-1 advantage.

The next four legs went with throw to leave the Australian 6-3 up, but Smith's comeback began as he followed a 13-darter to hold with legs of 14, 12, 12 and 13 darts as he sealed the title.

Smith ended the final with a 104.68 average - which he bettered in his second round defeat of Knops, landing a nine-darter in leg five, and his fourth round win over Niels Zonneveld.

The European Champion also averaged over 100 in wins over Robert Owen and Ricky Evans, saw off Nathan Rafferty in round one and came from 5-2 down to win his semi-final with Dom Taylor in a deciding leg.

"I felt like I played really well all day but in the semi-final against Dom I was a bit nervy," added Smith. "I'm glad to get through that one and I dug deep.

"Damon took quite a bit of a lead [in the final] and maybe I relaxed a little bit instead of thinking about winning and maybe complicating it.

"I just thought about throwing and obviously it paid off there but Damon let me in."

Heta was bidding to win his third Players Championship of the year and produced a stroing of dominant wins on his way to the final.

The 2022 World Cup winner averaged over 101 in his 6-4 first round win over Alan Soutar in what proved his tightest match during his run to the final - subsequently defeating Karel Sedlacek, Scott Waites, Martin Schindler, Luke Woodhouse and Mickey Mansell.

Northern Ireland's Mansell defeated Thursday's Players Championship 26 winner Ryan Joyce, last weekend's German Darts Champion Ricardo Pietreczko and former World Youth Champion Josh Rock as he enjoyed his best run of 2022 to a first semi-final of the year.

Former Development Tour event winner Taylor, meanwhile, enjoyed his best-ever run on the ProTour in a memorable day at the Barnsley Metrodome.

The 25-year-old from Bristol defeated Simon Whitlock, Darul Gurney, Andrew Gilding, Darren Webster and Raymond van Barneveld to win through to the semi-finals, before seeing Smith deny him a spot in the decider.

Following this week's four Players Championship events, just two more tournaments remain at the start of November as players bid to secure qualification for the Cazoo Players Championship Finals and Paddy Power World Darts Championship.

Coverage of Players Championships 29-30 on November 1-2 will be shown on PDCTV, with coverage from four boards simultaneously throughout each event.

PDCTV subscription options include Event Pass and Day Pass packages, as well as Annual and Monthly Subscriptions.

Nine-Darter
Ross Smith hit a nine-dart finish during his 6-0 second round win over Robbie Knops.

Drawboard