Clayton Comeback Thwarted

Josh Rock picked up his third PDC title of the year on Thursday in Players Championship 30, as Jonny Clayton came close to completing his welcome return to form with a Pro Tour title at the seasons conclusion but fell foul of an 8-7 defeat in the final match up.

The Pro Tour season concluded at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena when Rock, a winner at PC17 back in August, went all the way once again to claim the £15,000 top prize.

Nothern Ireland’s ‘Rocky’ reached the final firstly by recording victories against Alexander Merkx, Karel Sedlacek, Jim Williams, James Wade, Wessel Nijman and William O’Connor, to set up a clash with Clayton.

The final began with Rock racing into a 3-0 lead, with winning legs coming in 13,16 and 17 darts respectively, before Clayton picked up his first leg of the tie in Leg Four with a 12 dart hold of throw. Rock then extended his lead to 6-2, by winning three of the following four legs to move within two of victory.

Clayton went on to produce a remarkable fightback, by winning five of the following six legs to send the tie to a 15^th and decisive leg, in which Rock would have the advantage of throwing first. Winning the bull prior to the match commencing proved to be vital, as the Northern Irish starlet, Rock, sealed the victory with a 15 darter and a stunning 118 checkout to pick up a third title of the year and a fourth ranking victory of his PDC career.

Clayton’s run to the final saw the Welsh Number one record victories on the day against William Borland, Nick Kenny, Jermaine Wattimena, Thibault Tricole, Arron Monk and Ryan Searle, before being denied by Rock.

Backstories:

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Finals runs for Australia and Latvia’s Premier players in Damon Heta and Madars Razma respectively, whilst Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall and Ross Smith were amongst the high profile first round casualties.

Steve Lennon, Graham Hall, Thibault Tricole and Darren Beveridge also produced strong runs to the later stage and the day also saw Dave Chisnall fire in a nine-dart leg during his first-round defeat against William O’Connor.

Following the conclusion of PC30, the 64-player field for the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals was confirmed, with Northeast star Chris Dobey heading to Butlins Minehead as the Number One Seed, after a successful Pro Tour campaign, which saw him pick up three Players Championship victories.

Places were also secured at the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship via the Pro Tour Order of Merit, with the last chance for Tour Card Holders who missed out being at the PDPA Qualifier on November 25^th.