Charlie Manby picked up his first PDC ranking title on Wednesday, after defeating Maik Kuivenhoven 8-2 in the final of Players Championship 31, as the Pro Tour double header commenced in Den Bosch, Netherlands.
Manby – who picked up his PDC Tour Card back at Qualifying School in January after a memorable run to the Last 16 of the 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship – reached his first ranking final firstly by recording victories against Karel Sedlacek, Dennie Olde Kalter, Adam Leek, Dominik Gruellich, Alan Soutar and Beau Greaves, to set up a clash with Kuivenhoven.
The final began with Manby racing into a 5-0 lead with winning legs coming in a total of 79 darts before Kuivenhoven ended the drought in Leg Six with an 18 dart hold of throw before following it up with an 18-dart break of throw to trail 5-2 in a race to eight. Manby then took control of the remainder of the tie with the 21-year-old rattling off three successive legs and sealing an 8-2 victory in Leg 10 with a 13 darter to pick up a first ranking title, £15,000 in prize money and a spot at next month’s Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts.
Kuivenhoven’s run to a second final of the season saw the Dutchman record victories on the day against Filip Bereza, Darius Labanauskas, Owen Bates, Rob Owen, Mike De Decker and Dirk Van Duijvenbode, before being denied by Manby.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for 2026 Players Championship title winners Kevin Doets and Jeffrey De Graaf, whilst the likes of Nathan Aspinall, Peter Wright and Jermaine Wattimena were amongst the high profile first round casualties. The day also saw Spain’s Cristo Reyes fire in a nine-dart finish during his first-round victory against Cor Dekker.
The PDC Pro Tour double header concludes on Thursday with Players Championship 32 taking place in Den Bosch, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £150,000 in prize money, with play beginning at 13:00 CET (12:00 GMT). 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 31
Last 16
Dirk Van Duijvenbode 6-4 Tommy Morris
Jeffrey De Graaf 6-4 Martin Schindler
Maik Kuivenhoven 6-5 Rob Owen
Mike De Decker 6-4 Ricardo Pietreczko
Kevin Doets 6-2 Michael Van Gerwen
Beau Greaves 6-5 Keane Barry
Charlie Manby 6-3 Dominik Gruellich
Alan Soutar 6-5 Kim Huybrechts
Quarter Finals
Dirk Van Duijvenbode 6-5 Jeffrey De Graaf
Maik Kuivenhoven 6-2 Mike De Decker
Beau Greaves 6-5 Kevin Doets
Charlie Manby 6-3 Alan Soutar
Semi Finals
Maik Kuivenhoven 7-6 Dirk Van Duijvenbode
Charlie Manby 7-5 Beau Greaves
Final
Charlie Manby 8-2 Maik Kuivenhoven
