Variety Returns to Players Championship

Wessel Nijman picked up his first PDC ranking title on Tuesday, after defeating Stephen Bunting 8-5 in the final of Players Championship 24, as the Pro Tour triple header commenced at Wigan’s Robin Park Tennis Centre.

But, as DW often say, there were plenty of other reasons to pay attention in a remarkable day of darts. After the initial 14 different winners in the 2024 season there had been a spell of players – Luke Litter being first – adding to their totals. The 24th event returned us the variety and unpredictability of the early season.

Nijman, who was a beaten finalist at PC15 back in July, went a step further on Tuesday, with the Dutchman reaching the final firstly by recording victories against Radek Szaganski, Mervyn King, Ryan Searle, Jose De Sousa, Krzysztof Ratajski and Gary Anderson, to set up a clash with Bunting.

The final began with Bunting pinning back-to-back 12 dart legs to move 2-0 ahead, before Nijman stormed in front by rattling off five successive legs in a total of 72 darts to move 5-2 up in a race to eight. The Dutchman went on to win two of the following three legs, which saw him move 7-3 ahead and go within one of claiming a maiden ranking title.

Bunting did pull two legs back, before Nijman sealed the victory in Leg 13 with a 15-darter to clinch a first Players Championship title as well as collecting the £15,000 top prize.

The generational battle saw the extremes flourishing with the latest generation coming out on top with Nijman’s win and Luke Littler reaching the final four. Yet, the day also witnessed a barely believable run from Gary Anderson. The Flying Scotsman produced 5 averages of 104+ in -a-row from the L128 to the quarterfinals including a run of 108, 111 and 118! En route he fired in a nine-dart leg in his (second-round) victory over Jamie Hughes.

Bunting’s run to a second Players Championship final in the space of two weeks saw the reigning Masters champion record victories on the day against Danny Jansen, Stephen Burton, Jermaine Wattimena, Danny Noppert, Ted Evetts and Luke Littler, before being denied by Nijman.

Martijn Dragt impressed for the second time in recent events, as he reached the last 8 once more.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for 2024 PDC Qualifying School graduate Dom Taylor and former youth Champion Ted Evetts, whilst the likes of Michael Smith, Dave Chisnall and Josh Rock were amongst the high profile first round casualties.

One To Watch: Many will be pleased to see something of a resurgence from Jose de Sousa. The likeable Portuguese may not have recaptured his fluent best but he has begun to pick up regular wins and is consistently hitting solid mid 90s (averages). Only a bump into the flying Wessell Nijman stopped his run yesterday.

The PDC Pro Tour triple header continues on Wednesday with Players Championship 25 taking place in Wigan, 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.