Ruthless Radek sends Scutt packing to win maiden PDC title at PC27:
Radek Szaganski picked up his maiden PDC ranking title on Friday, after defeating Connor Scutt 8-5 in the final of Players Championship 27, as the four-day PDC Pro Tour header continued at the Barnsley Metrodome.
Szaganski, who’d previously only reached just one Pro Tour Semi Final back in May, went a step further, as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against Jacques Labre, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Jonny Clayton, Ryan Joyce, Maik Kuivenhoven and Ricardo Pietreczko, to set up a clash with Scutt.
The final began with Scutt hitting back-to-back 18 darters, before the tie saw a run of five consecutive holds of throw. The spell ended with Szaganski breaking his opponent’s throw in Leg 8 with a 13 darter to square the tie up at 4 apiece in a race to eight.
The Polish star then dominated the remainder of the final, winning four of the following five legs, which saw him seal the victory in Leg 13 with a 17 darter to scoop the £12,000 top prize and become just the second Polish player in history to win a PDC title, following in the footsteps of Krzysztof Ratajski.
Scutt’s run to a first PDC final saw him all but cement his spot at the Players Championship Finals and the World Championship, with the Englishman recording victories on the day against Adam Gawlas, Kim Huybrechts, Jamie Clark, Ross Smith, Gary Anderson and Gian Van Veen, before being denied by Szaganski at the final hurdle.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Ryan Searle and Niels Zonneveld, whilst the likes of Dave Chisnall and Joe Cullen were amongst the high-profile names to suffer first round exits, with Daryl Gurney hitting a nine-dart leg in his first-round tie against Nick Fullwell.
The PDC Pro Tour four-day header concludes on Saturday with Players Championship Twenty-Eight taking place in Barnsley, with 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 27
Last 16
Connor Scutt 6-3 Ross Smith
Gary Anderson 6-1 Darryl Pilgrim
Ryan Searle 6-5 Josh Rock
Gian Van Veen 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-5 Raymond Van Barneveld
Niels Zonneveld 6-1 George Killington
Maik Kuivenhoven 6-4 Andrew Gilding
Radek Szaganski 6-4 Ryan Joyce
Quarter Finals
Connor Scutt 6-4 Gary Anderson
Gian Van Veen 6-5 Ryan Searle
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-4 Niels Zonneveld
Radek Szaganski 6-1 Maik Kuivenhoven
Semi Finals
Connor Scutt 7-5 Gian Van Veen
Radek Szaganski 7-3 Ricardo Pietreczko
Final
Radek Szaganski 8-5 Connor Scutt
—–Ends—–
Image: WDF / Chris Sargeant
