Dolan Defeats De Graaf to Claim Latest Title

Brendan Dolan picked up his first PDC title in just under two years on Tuesday, after a dominant 8-4 victory over Jeffrey De Graaf in the final of Players Championship 10, as the Pro Tour double header concluded at Halle 39, Hildesheim.

Dolan, who’s last PDC title came at PC21 back in July 2022, reached the final firstly by recording victories against Robert Grundy, Franz Roetzsch, Peter Wright, Dom Taylor, Daryl Gurney and Graham Hall, to set up a clash with De Graaf.

The final began with Dolan racing into a 3-0 lead, with winning legs coming in 14,15 and 17 darts respectively, before De Graaf ended the run with a 20-dart hold of throw to win a first leg in his maiden ranking final. The tie then saw four straight holds of throw between the pair, before De Graaf broke Dolan’s throw in Leg Nine to move within one of ‘The History Maker’ at 5-4 in a race to eight.

Dolan then went on to win three consecutive legs, which saw the Northern Irishman seal the victory in Leg 12 with a 15-dart break of throw to pick up a tenth PDC title of his career as well as the £15,000 top prize.

De Graaf’s landmark run to the final saw the Dutch-born Swedish star record victories on the day against Owen Bates, Mike De Decker, Matt Campbell, Thibault Tricole, Scott Williams and Krzysztof Ratajski, before being denied by Dolan.

However, the current table topper of the Nordic & Baltic Order of Merit moved into the provisional qualifying places for the Players Championship Finals, taking place in November later this year.

Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Masters Champion Stephen Bunting and PC8 winner Danny Noppert, whilst Monday’s PC9 winner Michael Smith suffered an exit in the Last 16. Also, there was an early exit once again for Michael Van Gerwen, as well as for Former Masters Champions in Chris Dobey and Joe Cullen.

The day also saw Non-Tour-Card Holder Darryl Pilgrim fire in a perfect nine-dart leg during his first-round defeat to Jelle Klaasen.

The PDC Pro Tour returns on 11-12^th June in Hildesheim with Players Championship Eleven & Twelve taking place, with the 128 players competing for £125,000 in prize money each day, with play to commence at 13:00 CET.

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.