Deadly De Decker sweeps to maiden ProTour title at PC16

ProTour

Mike De Decker secured his maiden senior PDC title with a brilliant success in Players Championship 16.

Seventh heaven for Littler with Players Championship 15 victory

ProTour

Luke Littler celebrated his seventh PDC title of 2024 on Wednesday, after closing out an 8-6 success against emerging Dutchman Wessel Nijman in a fascinating Players Championship 15 final.

BoyleSports World Grand Prix race latest ahead of PC15-17

BoyleSports World Grand Prix

The race to qualify for the 2024 BoyleSports World Grand Prix resumes with a Players Championship treble-header in Milton Keynes this week.

Stats Analysis: The unpredictability of the 2024 PDC ProTour

ProTour

With 14 different winners from 14 Players Championship events in 2024 so far, PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf examines the key numbers behind this remarkable record...

2024 Players Championship 15-17 entries confirmed

ProTour

Player entries have been confirmed for next week's Players Championship treble-header, as the 2024 PDC ProTour season continues in Milton Keynes.

Superb Clayton defies Plaisier to win Players Championship 14

ProTour

Jonny Clayton returned to winning ways with an 8-5 victory against Wesley Plaisier in Wednesday’s Players Championship 14 final in Milton Keynes.

Super Smith edges Plaisier for Players Championship 13 title

ProTour

Ross Smith won his fifth PDC ranking title by defeating Wesley Plaisier 8-7 to claim Players Championship 13 glory in Milton Keynes on Tuesday.

2024 Players Championships 13-14 Player entries confirmed

ProTour

Player entries have been confirmed for next week's Players Championship double-header, as the 2024 PDC ProTour season continues in Milton Keynes.

PDC Order of Merit update following PC11-12

ProTour

Dimitri Van den Bergh has regained his place in the world's top eight after claiming the third Players Championship title of his career in Hildesheim on Wednesday.

Van den Bergh doubles 2024 title tally with PC12 victory

ProTour

Dimitri Van den Bergh doubled his 2024 title tally at Players Championship 12 in Hildesheim on Wednesday, defeating Matt Campbell 8-3 in the final.

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

The Dutchman has already scooped two previous Players Championship wins this year, and added a further £12,000 to his rankings by seeing off Jose de Sousa in Sunday's final.

A high-quality day of darts from Van Duijvenbode also saw him see off UK Open champion Andrew Gilding and Premier League star Dimitri Van den Bergh on his way to the title.

"I wanted three [titles] and I have three," said Van Duijvenbode, who was also a runner-up on the European Tour in the European Darts Open last month.

"I think I was a bit lucky today. I shouldn't have been lucky but against Matt Campbell I should have won 6-3 or 6-2, and I didn't finish it off and at the end he was better.

"I was lucky that I won it at the end and now I won the tournament. In the final, I was so happy with the 156. Jose was about to come back.

"Sometimes I think that knowing what you're capable of, knowing you can hit two 180s in a row, you always feel confident. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not."

The 2020 World Grand Prix runner-up, Van Duijvenbode is now closing in on a spot in the world's top ten for the first time - sitting less than £50,000 behind Van den Bergh.

"Two years ago when I made the top 32, I wanted to maintain the top 32 position because I didn't think I was good enough to make the top 16 on a regular basis," added the world number 11.

"Now the top ten is my goal for this year. The gap was very big between me and the top ten, I'm closing it but you won't get it easily because they're all good.

"I'm trying my best, trying to keep improving and not be satisfied. I need to be eager to keep on winning and keep on improving. I need to work on my confidence and my game is getting better every week."

He found his heavy-scoring form from the start, opening with a near-106 average in seeing off Frenchman Jacques Labre 6-1, before edging out both Canada's Matt Campbell and former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks in deciding legs.

Van Duijvenbode followed up a 6-2 win over Gilding by defeating fellow countryman Martijn Kleermaker by the same margin in the quarter-finals.

He was pushed all the way by Van den Bergh in the semi-finals, but was an emphatic winner in the final after taking command against De Sousa by winning the opening five legs without reply.

The Portuguese ace took three of the next four to pull back to 6-3, despite Van Duijvenbode following up an earlier 113 checkout with a 156 combination, before the Dutch ace took the next two for victory.

De Sousa's run to the final was comfortably his best performance of 2023 in a confidence-boosting day for the former Grand Slam of Darts champion.

He overcame top seed Luke Humphries and Germany's Martin Schindler in deciding legs, and averaged over 100 in a 7-2 semi-final success over Ian White.

White's wins over Karel Sedlacek, James Wade, Ronny Huybrechts, Luke Woodhouse and Damon Heta saw him reach a first semi-final since August 2021 and enjoy his best run on the circuit for almost ten months.

White was joined in the last four by Belgian star Van den Bergh, who whitewashed fellow countryman Robbie Knops in the first round and also saw off reigning World Youth Champion Josh Rock and World Championship semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens on Sunday.

Rock was one of two players, alongside Schindler, to achieve a nine-dart finish in Sunday's event, while five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld posted a 113.58 average in his first round win over Mike De Decker.

The 2023 Players Championship season resumes on May 20-21 with Events 11-12 in Leicester, with the PDC European Tour continuing next weekend with the Interwetten Austrian Darts Open in Graz.

Nine-Darters!
Martin Schindler achieved a nine-dart finish in leg six of his last 32 tie with Boris Krcmar, before winning 6-5.
Josh Rock also enjoyed a perfect leg in the fourth leg of his 6-4 last 16 win over Jonny Clayton.

Drawboard