Luke Humphries picked up his first Pro Tour title of the year on Thursday, after defeating Stephen Bunting 8-7 in the final of Players Championship 26 as the floor season reaches an intriguing dénouement.
Cool Hand’s Victory and The Bullet’s unusual hattrick of back-to-back final defeats were not the only stories to garner interest.
Robert Owen’s admirable effort to reach the end of season majors, and possibly retain his tour card, after injury and surgery, continued with the Welshman stacking up the points/pounds by reaching the last 8 , as the midweek triple header concluded in Wigan.
Quarter Final runs for Dutch duo in Danny Noppert and Christian Kist with their compatriot Raymond van Barneveld went one stage better reaching the final four.
Humphries, who’s last Players Championship title victory came back in September 2023, had reached the final firstly by recording victories against George Killington, Callum Goffin, Connor Scutt, Josh Rock, Dave Chisnall and Luke Woodhouse, to set up a clash with Bunting.
Nothing separated the pair in the early stages of the final, with the opening eight legs being shared between the English duo, before Humphries won back-to-back legs in 16 and 15 darts respectively to move 6-4 ahead and within two of victory.
Bunting fought back by rattling off three successive legs to take the lead once again at 7-6 and move within a leg of clinching victory. However, Humphries pinned a 14 darter to force a deciding leg, before following it up with a 12-dart break of throw to seal an 8-7 victory and pick up a fourth Players Championship title of his career.
Bunting, a runner-up at Tuesday’s PC24 and Wednesday’s PC25, reached a third final in as many days, as he recorded victories on the day against Joshua Richardson, Stefan Bellmont, Josh Payne, Radek Szaganski, Robert Owen and Raymond Van Barneveld, before being denied by Humphries.
The gripping final had capped of a remarkable spell of the final three matches, from the semi-finals onwards, going to a deciding leg.
Richie Edhouse sent out a warning, to his upcoming opponents in the World Grand Prix, when he averaged over 120 whilst whitewashing Graham Hall.
Meanwhile the likes of Dimitri Van den Bergh, Joe Cullen and Dirk Van Duijvenbode were amongst the high profile first round casualties.
The PDC Pro Tour returns on 15-16th October in Wigan with Players Championship 27 & 28 taking place, with the 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.
Players Championship 26
Last 16
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Ritchie Edhouse
Luke Humphries 6-2 Josh Rock
Christian Kist 6-4 Daryl Gurney
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Wessel Nijman
Raymond Van Barneveld 6-2 Luke Littler
Danny Noppert 6-5 Damon Heta
Robert Owen 6-1 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Radek Szaganski
Quarter Finals
Luke Humphries 6-5 Dave Chisnall
Luke Woodhouse 6-3 Christian Kist
Raymond Van Barneveld 6-5 Danny Noppert
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Robert Owen
Semi Finals
Luke Humphries 7-6 Luke Woodhouse
Stephen Bunting 7-6 Raymond Van Barneveld
Final
Luke Humphries 8-7 Stephen Bunting
—–ENDS—-
Images: PDC
