Midults Dominate As Heta Takes Title

Damon Heta picked up his first title of the year on Tuesday, after defeating Chris Dobey 8-4 in the final of Players Championship Four, as the second double header of the 2024 PDC Pro Tour season concluded at the Morningside Arena, Leicester.

Former World Cup of Darts winner, Heta, who enjoyed success twice in finals on the Players Championship circuit in 2023, returned to the winners’ circle, with the Aussie Number One recording victories on the day against Aden Kirk, Oskar Lukasiak, Luke Woodhouse, Jim Williams, Brendan Dolan and Christian Perez, to set up a clash with Dobey.

Many of the headlines from 2024 so far have been of teenage sensations breaking through or legendary figures rolling back the years. However, on the floor the third generation, those in darting middle age, have started the season strongly.

Ryan Searle has reached three finals from four events and event saw both Damon Heta, 36 and Hollywood Chris Dobey, 33, ensuring that they are not left out of the conversation.

The final began with Dobey racing into a 3-0 lead, before Heta ended the Englishman’s run in Leg Four with a 13 dart hold of throw. ‘The Heat’ then rattled off six successive legs, which included a run of four straight 12 dart legs to lead 7-3 and move within one of victory.

Dobey did pull one leg back, before Heta sealed the victory in Leg 12 with an 18 dart hold of throw to pick up the £15,000 top prize, as well as a ninth PDC title of his career.

Dobey’s run to the final saw the Former Masters Champion record victories on the day against Darryl Pilgrim, Callan Rydz, Michael Van Gerwen, Niels Zonneveld, Dirk Van Duijvenbode and Peter Wright, before being denied by Heta despite averaging over 106 in the finale.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for 5x World Champion Raymond Van Barneveld and Former Pro Tour Event winner Scott Williams, whilst the likes of 2x World Champion Gary Anderson, as well as Premier League Stars in Luke Littler and Rob Cross were amongst the high profile first round casualties.

The PDC Pro Tour returns on 18-19^th March in Hildesheim with Players Championship Five & Six taking place, with the 128 players competing for £125,000 in prize money each day.

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.