Leicester Sees Trio of Perfection and a Hollywood Ending

Chris Dobey picked up his third PDC Pro Tour title on Monday, after defeating Josh Rock 8-4 in the final of Players Championship Seven, on a day that saw three nine-dart legs at the Mattioli Arena, Leicester.

Former Masters Champion, Dobey, who lost out in the finale of Players Championship Four back in February, went a step further in Leicester, as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against Vincent Van der Voort, Mike De Decker, Mickey Mansell, Kim Huybrechts, Daryl Gurney and Ross Smith, to set up a clash with Rock.

Rock’s run to the final saw the 22-year-old record victories on the day against Darren Beveridge, Scott Williams, Nathan Aspinall, Ryan Searle, Thibault Tricole and Luke Woodhouse, before being denied by Dobey.

Hollywood Dobey was also one of three players to achieve perfection at the Mattioli Arena, before going on to register the second-highest average of his career in the semi-finals. The other two nine-dart legs hit in Leicester were struck by ‘Superchin’ Daryl Gurney and ‘The Bronzed Adonis’ Steve Beaton.

The final began with back-to-back breaks of throw between the pair, before Rock won back-to-back legs in a total of 29 darts to move 3-1 ahead in a race to eight. Dobey then stormed in front by rattling off three successive legs, which was ended by Rock in Leg Eight with the Northern Irishman holding throw in 14 darts to square the tie up at 4apiece.

Dobey then dominated the remainder of the final, with ‘Hollywood’ rattling off four consecutive legs, which saw him seal the victory in Leg 12 with an 11-dart break of throw to clinch the £15,000 top prize and a fourth PDC title of his career.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Ian White and Ryan Meikle, with the duo defeating Premier League Stars Michael Van Gerwen and Michael Smith respectively on their way to reaching the last eight, whilst the likes of Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson were amongst the high-profile names to suffer first round exits.

The PDC Pro Tour double-header concludes on Tuesday with Players Championship Eight taking place in Leicester, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £125,000 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.