Once more, the PDC’s travelling battalion of tungsten virtuosos swept through the doors of the Mattioli Arena armed with ambition, delusion, and varying degrees of self-belief. Every Players Championship morning begins the same way – polished darts, practised smiles, and the quiet internal monologue that insists this will be the day everything aligns.
Few carry the weight of expectation quite like Raymond van Barneveld and Dimitri Van den Bergh – two household names boasting a combined résumé that reads like a gilded anthology of modern darts. Yet reputation does not throw the dart, and the cruel arithmetic of the floor once again delivered its verdict. Across their eight combined appearances this season, they have mustered just two victories – one each – a stark return for players of such decorated lineage. For the pair, it was another early lunch, each a victim of stereotypical German efficiency.
Barney, averaging a respectable 90.63 against Arno Merk, still found himself eclipsed by his captive’s greater clinical edge. It was one of those matches where the numbers flatter, but the scoreboard betrays. Meanwhile, Van den Bergh encountered Deutschland’s current standard bearer, Martin Schindler, and succumbed 6-3. For The Dreammaker, the performance felt uncomfortably familiar – a season tracing the same exasperating silhouette as the previous campaign, rich in promise yet impoverished in progression.
Redemption, however, was sought and secured by Wales’ combative duo. Having endured opening round exits the previous day, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton returned with renewed ferocity. Price with a commanding ton plus average to repel the ever-capable Cristo Reyes, who will be quietly confident of preserving his admirable record when Euro Tour qualification resumes. Clayton, meanwhile, was dragged into the trenches by James Hurrell – fresh from dispatching Josh Rock a day earlier – but demonstrated granite resolve to prise open the decisive final leg. Speaking of Rocky, he decided yesterday was enough and instead headed home to Antrim to prepare for his Premier League homecoming.
There was only one merciless whitewash in the opening round, administered with ruthless efficiency by reigning Lakeside champion Jimmy van Schie. Niko Springer was escorted from the arena without registering meaningful resistance, the scoreboard left almost entirely undisturbed.
Elsewhere, a far less enviable statistic continues to loom ominously. Five players have now participated in all six Players Championship events this season without tasting victory. Oskar Lukasiak, Dennie Olde Kalter, Maximillian Czerwinski, Pero Ljubic and Sietse Lap form an unfortunate quintet still searching for their inaugural triumph – six attempts, six opening round exits, an exasperating sequence that grows heavier with each passing event.
Stefaan Henderyck came perilously close to joining that dubious fraternity, hovering on the brink of statistical infamy before finally arresting the slide. In a match laced with anxiety, he edged past Filip Bereza in a last leg decider, securing not only progression but a desperately needed financial reprieve. The sigh of relief was almost audible.
Perhaps the most curious subplot of the season thus far belongs to Damon Heta. The Australian has long been synonymous with floor excellence, his cabinet adorned with nine Players Championship titles. Yet across his first six appearances of 2026, The Heat has failed to capture even a board final, his deepest ventures stalling at the third round. For a player of such proven pedigree, the anomaly feels temporary rather than terminal – a statistical aberration rather than structural decline. History suggests correction is imminent.
At the Mattioli Arena, hope enters with every competitor. Reality, as ever, decides who remains.
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
