Pro Tour Treble for The Iceman
Former World Champion Gerwyn Price added a 3rd Pro Tour Title to his PDC tournament wins for the year, after beating German international Daniel Klose 8-6 in the Final of Players Championship 21.
Red Dragon player Robert Owen struck perfection at the Barnsley Metrodome, hitting a perfect 9 dart leg in his 6-5 defeat against Ritchie Edhouse in the Last 32.
The Iceman continues what has been another successful PDC campaign in 2023, having reached his first Premier League Final and delivering Wales a 2nd World Cup of Darts back in June.
The Welshman has shown his capabilities in the floor events with a Pro Tour consecutive double at the end of August in Hildesheim where he beat Josh Rock and fellow Red Dragon player Gian van Veen in the Finals.
“I played pretty well today. I’m playing well even though sometimes I’m losing, but I was beating myself up in that final. I missed loads of doubles, but thankfully they didn’t cost me.â€_x009d_
“I thought I didn’t play particularly well in Germany [last weekend]. I just did enough to win, but today I played a lot better. It is nice to be back in the winner’s circle and it’s a boost of confidence ready for the big TV events.â€_x009d_
Price started his Players Championship 21 campaign in blistering fashion, recording his best average of the day (108.65) in whitewashing Cameron Menzies in the First Round at the Barnsley Metrodome.
The Markham born player edged out Vincent van Der Voort 6-4 in the 2nd Round before clinching a last leg decider in a repeat of the Players Championship 18 Final against young emerging talent Gian Van Veen.
The Welshman went on to make it a quadruple of victories against Dutch players in Barnsley, reaching the Semi Finals with victories over Niels Zonneveld in the Last 16, before a 6-1 Quarter Final win over former UK Open Champion Danny Noppert with a 99.84 average.
Gerwyn ended what was an impressive run to the Semi Finals by Daryl Gurney, who included a 160 checkout to beat Gary Anderson in the Last 16 with a 106.01 average. The Northern Irishman included 2 ton plus scores on Tuesday, after beating Ted Evetts 6-2 in the First Round with a score of 101.38.
The Iceman included 3 consecutive legs with his first dart finding double tops, in a 7-3 victory over Superchin in the Semi Finals of Pro Tour Event 21.
World Number 3 Peter Wright produced a strong run at the Barnsley Metrodome to reach the Semi Finals, including a 6-2 victory over yesterday’s Pro Tour winner Luke Humphries.
Snakebite fell short in the Semi Finals against Germany’s Daniel Klose, who produced a fantastic display to reach the Final with victories over World Number 1 Michael Smith and Masters Champion Chris Dobey.
Price found his favourite double tops to wrap up a difficult Final (8-6), with Dan the Man putting up a spirited fight to make it a hat-trick on the 2023 PDC Pro Tour. The World Number 4 joins Dirk van Duijvenbode as the only 2 players to win 3 Players Championship events, with 9 left to play before the end of the year.
Elsewhere, there was an impressive run from Players Championship 2 winner Danny Noppert who reached the Quarter Finals on Tuesday, including a 103.66 average to whitewash John O’Shea in the First Round.
Players Championship 21 winner Gerwyn Price will return to action this weekend, as he looks to add to his 2 PDC European Tour titles for the year. The German Darts Open starts this Friday from the Sparkassen Arena in Jena live on PDC TV and Viaplay.
By Harry Masterson
Image courtesy of PDC
Players Championship 21 Results:
Last 16:
Ross Smith 6-5 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Daryl Gurney 6-4 Gary Anderson
Gerwyn Price 6-3 Niels Zonneveld
Danny Noppert 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Luke Humphries 6-5 Martin Schindler
Peter Wright 6-3 Ritchie Edhouse
Chris Dobey 6-3 Ryan Searle
Daniel Klose 6-3 Adam Gawlas
Quarter Finals:
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Ross Smith
Gerwyn Price 6-1 Danny Noppert
Peter Wright 6-2 Luke Humphries
Daniel Klose 6-4 Chris Dobey
Semi Finals:
Gerwyn Price 7-3 Daryl Gurney
Daniel Klose 7-3 Peter Wright
Final:
Gerwyn Price 8-6 Daniel Klose