Luke Humphries reclaimed the world number two spot after clinching his third Players Championship title of 2026 in Leicester on Wednesday.
Humphries ran out an 8-6 winner against a resilient Brendan Dolan to seal Players Championship 28 success on an action-packed afternoon at the Mattioli Arena.The 31-year-old – featuring in just his ninth Players Championship event of the campaign – maintained his terrific ProTour form to secure his fifth individual title of the season.
Humphries suffered an opening round defeat against Cam Crabtree at Players Championship 27 on Tuesday, although he avoided a repeat in Wednesday’s opener, courtesy of a 6-4 victory against Mario Vandenbogaerde.
This was followed by his performance of the day in round two, as he powered in a magnificent 108.66 average in a 6-1 demolition of Tommy Lishman; sealed with an 11-dart hold.
However, Humphries was then forced to survive match darts against both Bradley Brooks and Danny Noppert, with the Dutchman spurning six match darts in the latter stages of their last 16 clash.
The 2023/24 World Champion capitalised on his reprieve, overcoming Owen Bates in the last eight, before averaging 99.97 to complete a 7-4 victory against a resurgent Mike De Decker in the semi-finals.
This set up a winner-takes-all showdown against Dolan in Wednesday’s showpiece, after the Irish veteran rolled back the years to stun world number one Luke Littler in the semi-finals.
Dolan was bidding to complete an audacious double against the sport’s premier players in Leicester, establishing an early 3-2 cushion to threaten another major upset.
Nevertheless, Humphries responded with a merciless three-leg spell, registering successive 12-dart holds and converting a two-dart 83 checkout to create a two-leg buffer at 5-3.
Dolan fought back valiantly to reduce the arrears to a solitary leg, only for Humphries to wrap up proceedings in style, following up his third 180 with another 12-darter to take the title.
“Three wins in a calendar year is really tough,” conceded Humphries, who leapfrogs Gian van Veen to regain his place in the world’s top two.
“I think this is three [Players Championship] titles out of nine, so I’m really pleased that I’ve come back after a long hiatus and I’m back playing well.
“I can’t lie and say today was easy. It was really tough and maybe I got away with a few results against Bradley [Brooks] and Danny Noppert.
“Sometimes I just think you’ve got to ride your luck and hopefully pick up the title, and today is a special day for me.
“This might give me some confidence going into the big majors, because Luke [Littler] is going to want to win everything, but I’m going to be the one trying to stop him!
“Hopefully in the next couple of weeks and months I can keep building on this.
“I’m going to get back on the practice board at home now and dedicate the rest of the year towards trying to be my best.”
Prior to his semi-final heroics against Littler, Dolan emerged through a host of gruelling encounters in the East Midlands, kicking off his challenge with a 6-4 win against Germany’s Yorick Hofkens.
The 53-year-old then edged past Scott Williams and Sebastian Bialecki in last-leg deciders, while also claiming the scalps of Karel Sedlacek, Luke Woodhouse and Littler.
Littler pocketed £6,500 in his bid to qualify for November’s Players Championship Finals, averaging 107 and 100 in impressive wins against Martin Schindler and Krzysztof Ratajski respectively.
Nevertheless, the World Champion was forced to recover from 4-2 down in his opener against Stephen Rosney, and he later survived six match darts to squeeze past Slovenia’s Benjamin Pratnemer.
Belgian number one De Decker completed the semi-final line-up, having recorded a first career victory over Dutch superstar Michael van Gerwen along the way.
The former World Grand Prix champion began Wednesday’s play with victory against Dirk van Duijvenbode, before coming out on top in his all-Belgian quarter-final against Kim Huybrechts.
Huybrechts, Woodhouse and Ratajski were joined in the last eight by Bates, who dumped out top seed Wessel Nijman and averaged almost 104 in dispatching Justin Hood to cap off an excellent campaign.
Elsewhere, Jermaine Wattimena’s hopes of back-to-back titles were thwarted in the early stages of Wednesday’s action, as the Dutchman succumbed to Thomas Lovely in their opening round encounter.
The 2026 PDC ProTour season will resume in the Netherlands next month, as Players Championships 29-30 take place on September 22-23 in Den Bosch.
Images: PDC
