Smith goes back-to-back in Wigan with PC15 success
Michael Smith made it a perfect midweek double on Wednesday, after an 8-3 victory over Callan Rydz in the final of Players Championship 15, to pick up a 16th PDC ranking title of his career, as the Pro Tour double header concluded in Wigan.
Smith, who picked up his 1st title of 2022 at Tuesday’s PC14, went all the way once more, as he recorded victories over Glen Durrant, John Michael, Ritchie Edhouse, Mario Vandenbogaerde, Florian Hempel and Alan Soutar, to set up a clash with Callan Rydz in the decider.
The final began with Rydz taking the opener in 12 darts, before Smith rattled off three on the spin to open up a two-leg gap over his opponent, with winning legs coming in 18,12 and 12 darts respectively. The tie then saw four straight holds of throw, with Smith leading 5-3, before rattling off three legs on the spin once more, which saw him seal the victory in leg 11 with a 14 darter to pick up back-to-back titles ahead of competing in Night 14 of the Premier League in Sheffield tomorrow.
Rydz’s run to a 1st final of the year saw him drop just 12 legs across the day, as he recorded victories over Kevin Doets, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Chris Dobey, Rob Cross, Dirk Van Duijvenbode and Ryan Joyce, averaging over 100 in five of his six victories.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Damon Heta and Josh Rock, with the likes of Dimitri Van den Bergh, Nathan Aspinall and Krzysztof Ratajski all suffering early exits, as Scottish Teenager Nathan Girvan fired in a perfect leg during his 1st round defeat to Adrian Lewis.
The PDC Pro Tour returns on 14-15th June in Niedernhausen with Players Championship Sixteen & Seventeen taking place, with the 128 players competing for £100,000 in prize money each day, with play beginning at 12:00 BST. Play will be broadcasted across two streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.
Players Championship 15
Last 16
Alan Soutar 6-4 Steve West
Josh Rock 6-4 Martijn Kleermaker
Michael Smith 6-5 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Florian Hempel 6-1 Jamie Hughes
Callan Rydz 6-1 Rob Cross
Dirk Van Duijvenbode 6-1 Robert Owen
Damon Heta 6-2 Adrian Lewis
Ryan Joyce 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Quarter Finals
Alan Soutar 6-4 Josh Rock
Michael Smith 6-2 Florian Hempel
Callan Rydz 6-4 Dirk Van Duijvenbode
Ryan Joyce 6-4 Damon Heta
Semi Finals
Michael Smith 7-3 Alan Soutar
Callan Rydz 7-1 Ryan Joyce
Final
Michael Smith 8-3 Callan Rydz
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
