Menzies Making a Move?

Although Chris Dobey picked up his second title of the year on Thursday, after an 8-6 victory in the final of Players Championship 19. It was runner up Cameron menzies who caught the eye of many.

The Scott completed another profitable Pro Tour double header at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes. Menzies reached the semi final of event 18 and went one better yesterday. His season overall has impressed even those, such as the ‘DW Coach’ , who have long known ‘Cammy’ tobe a remarkable talent.

Dobey, who was victorious at PC7 back in April, went all the way once again, as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against Niels Zonneveld, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Luke Woodhouse, James Wade, Mensur Suljovic and Daryl Gurney, to set up a clash with Menzies.

The final began with four straight holds of throw between the pair, before Menzies produced the first break of throw in Leg Five with a 14 darter, which was then followed by a 16 dart hold of throw to move 4-2 ahead and halfway to victory. Dobey then hit back by rattling off three successive legs in 16,15 and 17 darts respectively to move back in front at 5-4, before Menzies levelled up the tie with a 13 dart hold to make it a 5apiece and a best of five contest.

Dobey’s previous experiences in finals proved to be vital in the latter end to the tie, as the North East star won three of the following four legs and sealed an 8-6 victory in Leg 14 with a 15-dart break to pick up a fifth PDC title and become just the third player to win multiple Players Championship titles in 2024, following in the footsteps of Premier League Champion Luke Littler and Wednesday’s PC18 winner Damon Heta.

Menzies’ landmark run to a maiden ranking final saw the quickfire Scotsman record victories on the day against Ricky Evans, Steve Lennon, Gian Van Veen, Stephen Bunting, Martin Lukeman and Thibault Tricole, before being denied by Dobey.

The form of Muirkirk man Menzies can be encapsulate din a quick look at his positions on the PDC order’s of merit. He is 43rd on the overall table, yet his off camera efforts see him ranked 22 on the Pro Tour rankings and, even more impressively, number 7 on the Players Championship table. Surely a first PDC title is not far away.

The 35-year-old is likely to be well seeded for both the Players Championships Finals and also the European Championships in the coming months and will be one to be avoided in major event draws.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Dutchman Danny Noppert and Northern Irishman Nathan Rafferty, whilst the likes of Peter Wright, Raymond Van Barneveld and PC18 Runner-Up Ryan Searle were amongst the high profile first round casualties.

The PDC Pro Tour returns on 17-18^th September in Wigan with Players Championship Twenty & Twenty-One taking place, with 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.