Scott Williams the number 1 on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit, stormed to winning Players Championship 17 beating former UK Open Champion Nathan Aspinall 8-5 in the Final.
Shaggy enjoyed a memorable run in Niederhausen beating mentor and 2018 World Champion Rob Cross 6-4 in the Quarter Finals.
The 32-year-old from Lincolnshire raced into a 2-0 lead in the Final and missed a dart at tops for a second break, which was punished by The Asp who hit double sixteen for his first leg of the match. Aspinall reeled off three legs to take the initiative, but Williams held his nerve to find double six and level the match at 3-3.
He becomes only the third player without a Tour Card to win a Players Championship event since the system was introduced in 2011. Joe Murnan and Krystopf Rajatski have also claimed the feat.
In fairness to Williams, his effort seems more remarkable as The Polish Eagle was already a World Master and Murnan’s victory came between two 4 year spells as a tour card holder.
The CT Number 1 missed a dart for a 170 checkout and a break in the seventh leg, again seeing his fellow countryman punish him as the Stockport ace found double twelve with his last dart to finish 72 and lead 4-3. The elusive break of throw came in the ninth leg, with the Lincolnshire thrower finding double ten with his last dart in hand to finish 91 and lead 5-4.
The World Number 18 struggled to get going from there, missing five darts at double in the next leg and another in the following as Williams won the three legs in a row to take a 7-4 lead. The Englishman sealed the title on double two with his eighth match dart to join the likes of Krzysztof Ratajski to win an event on the Pro Tour without holding a tour card, averaging 91.79 in Niederhausen.
Williams also beat the likes of Jonny Clayton 6-5 in the Third Round before a 7-4 victory over Chris Dobey in the Semi Finals, finding double twelve with his last dart to seal a win over Hollywood who took yesterday’s runner up Dirk van Duijvenbode out in the previous round.
Peter Wright will head into the World Cup on the back of a Quarter Final appearance in the Pro Tour like fellow Red Dragon and Scotland partner John Henderson, who reached the same stage in Event 16 yesterday. Snakebite beat the likes of former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks 6-5 in the opening round, and Ross Smith 6-3 in the Last 16 despite falling 2-1 down in the match.
The Scotsman’s run would come to a halt at the hands of Kim Huybrechts, with The Hurricane averaging 107.36 in a whitewash victory ahead of the World Cup on Thursday where he and Dimitri van den Bergh will once again team up for Belgium.
Jonny Clayton despite losing in the Third Round, put up two fantastic averages ahead of Thursdays opener with the Philippines for Wales. The Ferret averaged 111.33 in a 6-0 demolition of Florian Hempel before beating Jimmy Hendriks 6-2 with a score of 108.79 in the Second-Round tie.
Simon Whitlock ended Michael Smith’s hopes of a fourth straight Pro Tour Win, with the Australian winning 6-2 hitting checkouts of 80 on tops to take his fifth leg, before a brilliant ton plus checkout of 110 on double sixteen sealed his sixth and final leg, averaging 95.01 in the contest against Bully Boy. The Wizard and Damon Heta begin their World Cup campaign on Friday, with Australia facing Lithuania in the opening round.
Steve Beaton rolled back the years in Niederhausen, as the Winmau man sent the tournament number 1 Luke Humphries out, with the Bronzed Adonis averaging 98.08 in a 6-1 victory over Cool Hand.
The Cazoo World Cup of Darts begins on Sky Sports tomorrow from 6pm with Denmark facing Paul and Harith Lim for Singapore as your first match of the tournament.
Players Championship 17 Results:
Last 16:
Mike de Decker 6-4 Steve Beaton
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Jim Williams
Peter Wright 6-3 Ross Smith
Kim Huybrechts 6-4 Damon Heta
Chris Dobey 6-5 Simon Whitlock
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Martin Lukeman
Rob Cross 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Scott Williams 6-3 John Henderson
Quarter Finals:
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Mike de Decker
Kim Huybrechts 6-0 Peter Wright
Chris Dobey 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Scott Williams 6-4 Rob Cross
Semi Finals:
Nathan Aspinall 7-4 Kim Huybrechts
Scott Williams 7-4 Chris Dobey
Final:
Scott Williams 8-5 Nathan Aspinall
—–ENDS—–
Image: PDC Europe
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