The 2026 Players Championship circuit continues to seemingly ricochet from one venue to the next at relentless velocity. On this occasion, it was Leicester’s turn to once again assume darts hosting duties for the third time this season.
Now, nobody enjoys enduring a losing streak. Aside from the rather inconvenient reality that departing at the very first juncture yields absolutely no financial recompense, it is hardly conducive to confidence either and inevitably amplifies the pressure surrounding the second event of a double-header.
But for quite a few arrow-smiths currently traversing a particularly barren stretch of form, the sequence they find themselves trapped within is far from enviable. With Mattioli Arena’s opening double-header barely an hour old, the statistics in the area for several competitors makes for distinctly grim perusal.
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After today’s exploits, two current tour card holders have now suffered seven consecutive first-round defeats: Yarik Hofkens and Tytus Kanik. Then, to provide them with at least some fragmented sense of solidarity – although that seems highly improbable – another half-dozen players currently find themselves marooned on sequences of five successive opening-match eliminations: Steve Burton, Tavis Dudeney, Adam Gawlas, Dominik Gruellich, Stefaan Henderyck and Wesley Plaisier.
Conversely, there are some who have become remarkably proficient at avoiding premature exits. Unsurprisingly, only Wessel Nijman is yet to depart in round one at all this season. Closely following him is Chris Dobey who, as an ever-present competitor throughout the campaign, possesses the best active sequence of avoiding immediate elimination. One has to travel all the way back to Hildesheim in February to locate the first and only occasion Hollywood failed to win a single match.
Elsewhere, Gabriel Clemens against Stephen Bunting produced the German’s finest impersonation of The Bullet himself – namely losing despite producing a ludicrously elevated average. Clemens registered north of 107 and still exited defeated. Frankly, that has become rather standard practice for the Liverpudlian during Premier League Darts duty.
Then, not wishing to leave Clemens isolated within the enormous average yet still defeated category, Richard Veenstra went one step further by smashing in a 110-plus average and also tasting defeat. In fairness though, Dobey was simultaneously producing pyrotechnic scoring of his own and edged the Dutchman out by the microscopic margin of 0.01.
Speaking of ton-plus spectacles, they were materialising all over Leicester throughout the afternoon session. At one stage it genuinely felt as though almost every other player was casually producing one. In reality, that may be a slight exaggeration – but not by much. But at last count, the tally was north of forty with those on the losing end hitting double figures.
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Oddly enough, it proved a rather underwhelming afternoon for the overwhelming majority of those who had reached the quarter-finals of the Austrian Darts Open just days earlier.
Of the eight players who lined up at the commencement of Sunday evening’s action in Graz, only the Northern Irish pairing of eventual champion Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney were still lingering when the action in Leicester reached round three. Rob Cross and Luke Woodhouse both departed in their opening assignments. Then, as far as Martin Schindler, Andrew Gilding, Kevin Doets and Cristo Reyes were concerned, they exited a round later.
Surprisingly, Rock’s eventual quarter-final appearance represented only his first on the Players Championship circuit this season. Considering this was already his eighth outing, that statistic feels mildly astonishing for the newly crowned Austrian Darts Open champion.
Yet, with his Premier League form steadily escalating as the campaign has progressed and continental silverware now secured, it appears the Northern Irish ace may finally be approaching optimum form.
Former European Champion Ritchie Edhouse also reached the quarter-finals, signalling his strongest floor performance of the season despite featuring in every event this year. Beau Greaves and Joe Cullen were the other two players eliminated just shy of the semi-finals. A particularly convenient strong run for The Rockstar considering he has already opted against competing on Wednesday.
Curiously, despite the avalanche of colossal averages detonating throughout the venue, there was no nine-darter – which, given the extraordinary standard on display, felt a slight eyebrow-raiser.
And that concludes day one at the Mattioli Arena. More of the same awaits tomorrow, where a considerable number of players will be desperately hoping to finally extinguish those increasingly painful first-round losing streaks.
2026 PDC Players Championship Darts (15)
Tuesday May 12th
Mattioli Arena, Leicester
Quarter-Finals
Martin Schindler 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Beau Greaves
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Josh Rock
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Joe Cullen
Semi-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 7-0 Martin Schindler
Dirk van Duijvenbode 7-5 Stephen Bunting
Final
Michael van Gerwen v Dirk van Duijvenbode
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
