Perfect Treble at Players Championships

A perfect treble of Nine dart leg were struck at Players Championship 20 yesterday as Damon Heta picked up his second PDC title of the year on Tuesday, after defeating Stephen Bunting 8-7 in a spectacular final, as the Pro Tour double header commenced at the Mattioli Arena, Leicester.

Heta, who’s most recent PDC title came at PC13 back in April, went all the way once again, as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against Patrick Geeraets, Ted Evetts, Bradley Brooks, Madars Razma, Daryl Gurney and Gerwyn Price, to set up a clash with Bunting.

On a day where the youngest generation of starts threatened but did not come through it was the ‘midults’ who shone overall. Josh Rock, Keane Barry Owen Bates and more represented of the 20 somethings whilst Ross Smith, Gerwyn price, Daryl Gurney and Jonny Clayton as well as both finalists thrived for that middle generation of star names.

The final began with Bunting racing into a 2-0 lead, with winning legs coming in a total of 31 darts, before Heta fort back and rattled off six successive legs to charge in front and move 6-2 ahead in a race to eight. ‘The Bullet’ then hit back by winning back-to-back legs again in 10 and 17 darts respectively, before ‘The Heat’ moved within one of victory in Leg 11 with a 15 dart hold of throw.

Bunting then produced a remarkable fightback by winning three consecutive legs in a total of 41 darts to send the tie to a 15^th and decisive leg, in which Heta would have the advantage of throwing first. This proved to be vital, as the Aussie star sealed the victory with yet another 15 darter to pick up a ninth Players Championship success and a 12^th PDC title of his career.

Bunting, a finalist again on the World Series just last weekend in Poland, reached Tuesday’s finale by recording victories on the day against Richard Veenstra, Cam Crabtree, Haupai Puha, Danny Noppert, Ross Smith and Rob Cross, before being denied by Heta. It was in his Semi Final victory against Cross that Bunting fired in a nine-dart finish having wired Double 12 for perfection as well earlier in the day against Veenstra in Round One.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Former Premier League Champion Jonny Clayton and Newly Crowned World Cup of Darts Winner Josh Rock, who also fired in a nine-dart finish earlier in the day on route to a run to the Last Eight, whilst the likes of Michael Smith and Krzysztof Ratajski were amongst those who suffered early exits as their quest to reach the Betfred World Matchplay concludes during Wednesday’s event.

As well as Bunting and Rock, there was a third perfect leg hit in Leicester on Tuesday as Germany’s Leon Weber struck perfection during his run to the Last 32.

The PDC Pro Tour double header concludes on Wednesday with Players Championship 21 taking place in Leicester and the race for the Betfred World Matchplay coming to an end, 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.

Players Championship 20

Nine-Darters!
Josh Rock hit a nine-darter in his first round tie against Sebastian Bialecki
Leon Weber hit a nine-darter in his first round tie against Tytus Kanik.
Stephen Bunting hit a nine-darter in his semi-final tie against Rob Cross.

Last 16

Gerwyn Price 6-5 Dom Taylor

Jonny Clayton 6-2 Luke Woodhouse

Damon Heta 6-3 Madars Razma

Daryl Gurney 6-4 Chris Dobey

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Danny Noppert

Ross Smith 6-4 Owen Bates

Rob Cross 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena

Josh Rock 6-3 Keane Barry

Quarter Finals

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Jonny Clayton

Damon Heta 6-1 Daryl Gurney