Outsiders Oust Major Names in the Mattioli Arena

Bradley Brooks picked up a first senior PDC title of his career on Wednesday, after an 8-5 victory over Gerwyn Price in the final of Players Championship 21, as the Pro Tour double header concluded at the Mattioli Arena, Leicester.

Former World Youth Champion, Brooks, who regained his PDC Tour Card at Qualifying School back in January, reached the final firstly by recording victories against William Borland, Chris Dobey, Brendan Dolan, James Wade, Josh Rock and James Hurrell, to set up a clash with Price.

But Brooks, ‘Bam Bam‘, was not the only lower ranked players to have reached the final stages. James Hurrell, Wesley Plaisier and Kevin Doets all reached the quarterfinals of the final Players Championship before the World Matchplay in Blackpool.

The final began with Price taking the opener in 13 darts, before Brooks rattled off three successive legs in 14,15 and 13 darts respectively to go 3-1 ahead in a race to eight. The tie then saw eight straight holds of throw between the pair, ending with Brooks sealing the victory in Leg 13 with a 19-dart break of throw to defeat ‘The Iceman’ 8-5 and pick up a maiden ranking title as well as collecting the £15,000 top prize.

Price, the winner of the Poland Darts Masters last weekend, backed up his run to the Semi Finals of Tuesday’s PC20 with a run to the final 24 hours later as the Welshman recorded victories on the day against Colin Osborne, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Daryl Gurney, Dave Chisnall, Krzysztof Ratajski and Andrew Gilding, before being denied by ‘Bam Bam’ Brooks.

Elsewhere, the likes of Gary Anderson, Michael Smith and Ritchie Edhouse were amongst the high profile first round casualties.

The day also saw Dirk Van Duijvenbode fire in a nine-dart finish during his opening round victory against Jim Williams.

The PDC Pro Tour returns on 29-30^th July in Hildesheim with Players Championship 22 & 23 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.