Luke Humphries picked up a second PDC ranking title in a matter of weeks on Monday.
Cool Hand claimed the event after defeating Dave Chisnall 8-7 in the final of Players Championship 15, as the midweek PDC Pro Tour double header commenced at the Morningside Arena, Leicester.
Humphries, who picked up his fifth European Tour title of his career at the beginning of July, began Monday’s play with a succession of victories against Thibault Tricole, Shaun Wilkinson and Matt Campbell, where he fired in a first perfect leg of his senior PDC career against the Canadian to reach the Last 16.
From there, ‘Cool Hand’ dropped just six legs in his remaining three victories prior to reaching the final, as he defeated Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Jonny Clayton and Brendan Dolan to set up a clash with his fellow compatriot, Chisnall.
The final began with Chisnall racing into a 2-0 lead, with winning legs coming in a total of 33 darts, before Humphries charged in front, by winning five successive legs, which included two 12 darters and a 121 checkout to move 5-2 ahead in a race to eight.
Chisnall ended the run of dominance from his opponent in Leg 8 with a 19-dart hold of throw, which was then followed by back-to-back legs won by Humphries to lead 7-3 and leaving ‘Chizzy’ needing to win five straight legs to keep his title hopes alive.
Chisnall remarkably rattled off four successive legs to force a decider, in which he survived multiple match darts along the way, however, the advantage of throwing first proved to be decisive for Humphries, as he sealed the victory in 13 darts to pick up the £12,000 top prize and a seventh PDC ranking title of his career.
Chisnall’s run to the final saw the Saint Helens Star record victories on the day against Damian Mol, Conan Whitehead, Luke Woodhouse, Owen Bates, Joe Cullen and Ryan Searle, before being denied the chance by Humphries of picking up a 20th PDC ranking title of his career.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Finals runs for Berry Van Peer and Radek Szaganski, with the likes of Nathan Aspinall, James Wade and Raymond Van Barneveld amongst the high-profile names to suffer first round exits.
The PDC Pro Tour double header concludes on Tuesday with Players Championship Sixteen taking place in Leicester, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £100,000 in prize money, 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.
Players Championship 15
Last 16
Dave Chisnall 6-0 Owen Bates
Joe Cullen 6-1 Dylan Slevin
Berry Van Peer 6-2 Ian White
Ryan Searle 6-3 Kevin Doets
Luke Humphries 6-1 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Jonny Clayton 6-1 Chris Dobey
Radek Szaganski 6-5 Damon Heta
Brendan Dolan 6-5 Josh Rock
Quarter Finals
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Joe Cullen
Ryan Searle 6-3 Berry Van Peer
Luke Humphries 6-3 Jonny Clayton
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Radek Szaganski
Semi Finals
Dave Chisnall 7-3 Ryan Searle
Luke Humphries 7-2 Brendan Dolan
Final
Luke Humphries 8-7 Dave Chisnall
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Images: PDC
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