Clayton Continues Fine Form

Jonny Clayton picked up his second title of the year on Sunday, after an 8-5 victory over Josh Rock in the final of Players Championship 12, as the Pro Tour weekend concluded at the Morningside Arena, Leicester.

Clayton, who was victorious at the Austrian Darts Open last month, reached the final on Sunday firstly by recording victories against Karel Sedlacek, Jurjen Van der Velde, Kim Huybrechts, Pascal Rupprecht, Dave Chisnall and Damon Heta, to set up a clash with Josh Rock, in another episode of the ‘Battle of the Generations’ that is a regular theme this year.

The final began with Rock taking the opener in 15 darts, before Clayton charged in front by winning four of the following five legs to move 4-2 ahead in a race to eight. Rock then won three consecutive legs in a total of 41 darts to lead 5-4, which was then followed by four straight legs won by Clayton, with ‘The Ferret’ sealing the victory in Leg 13 with a 14 darter and an 8-5 success to pick up a second title of the year and make it perfect preparation ahead of Thursday’s Cazoo Premier League Playoffs, as the Welshman looks to win the title for the second time in three years.

Rock’s run to a second Pro Tour final of the year saw the Northern Irishman record victories against Harry Ward, Damian Mol, Gary Anderson, Michael Van Gerwen, Boris Krcmar and Andrew Gilding, before being denied by Clayton.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Joe Cullen and Chris Dobey, with the likes of Dirk Van Duijvenbode, Danny Noppert and Raymond Van Barneveld among the names to suffer early exits.

The PDC Pro Tour returns on 12-13^th June in Hildesheim with Players Championship Thirteen & Fourteen taking place, with the 128 players competing for £100,000 in prize money each day, with play beginning at 13:00 BST. Play will be broadcasted across four streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.