Gerwyn Price (Photo by Kieran Cleeves/PDC)
Gerwyn Price powered his way to a first PDC ranking title of 2026 with a comprehensive 8-1 victory over Andrew Gilding at last night’s Players Championship Six.
Price – runner-up to Wessel Nijman in Players Championship Two earlier this month – went one better in Leicester, producing a tournament average of 102.82 to triumph.
The former World Champion conceded just 14 legs across his seven matches at the Mattioli Arena, overhauling Nijman to move top of the 2026 Players Championship rankings following Event Six.
“I thought I played decent today,” reflected Price, who will take on Michael van Gerwen on Night Four of the Premier League in Belfast on Thursday night.
“There were one or two games where I wasn’t at my best – even in the final – but I had enough in the tank.
“It’s a big night for me in the Premier League [on Thursday], so it’s great to get a bit of confidence by winning this and I’m looking forward to tomorrow now.
“I’m feeling good. Two years ago I had the worst year I’ve ever had in the PDC, so I’m defending absolutely nothing this year.
“Whoever is above me, I’m going to catch them!”
Price stormed into round three with successive 6-1 demolitions of Cristo Reyes and Maik Kuivenhoven, which he followed up with another emphatic win at the expense of Lukas Wenig.
The 40-year-old continued his procession with another outstanding display against Scott Waites, averaging 109.48 to run out a 6-1 winner in the battle of the former Grand Slam champions.
The relentless standard continued in his quarter-final clash against Kevin Doets, with Price averaging 108.59 to set up a showdown against his World Cup partner Jonny Clayton.
Clayton snapped his ten-match losing streak against Price in last week’s Premier League, but he was unable to repeat the feat, as Price averaged 104.47 to seal a 7-4 success.
The Welshman then raced into an early 3-0 lead against Gilding in Wednesday’s showpiece, backing up a clinical 104 checkout on tops with consecutive 15-darters.
Former UK Open champion Gilding opened his account with an 84 finish on the bull in leg four, only for Price to win the remaining five legs – including a spectacular 153 finish in the penultimate leg – to pocket the £15,000 top prize.
Gilding – featuring in his first Players Championship final since April 2022 – began Wednesday’s play with a series of attritional victories over Scott Williams, Leon Weber and Martijn Dragt.
The 55-year-old then fired in a ton-plus average in overcoming Kim Huybrechts, before converting a nerveless 105 combination to edge past Tuesday’s champion Ross Smith in the quarter-finals.
Gilding later came out on top in another last-leg decider in the semi-finals, accounting for French trailblazer Thibault Tricole to claim £10,000 in prize money.
Tricole also enjoyed an impressive run to his second PDC ranking semi-final, defying a nine-darter from Max Hopp to triumph in a high-quality affair earlier in the day.
In the last eight, Tricole then closed out victory over Scotland’s David Sharp, who defeated Peter Wright, Beau Greaves and Alan Soutar in advancing to his maiden Players Championship quarter-final.
Greaves also generated major headlines on action-packed afternoon in the East Midlands, becoming the first woman to produce a nine-darter on the PDC ProTour circuit.
After narrowly defeating Chris Landman in round one, Greaves achieved perfection in her round two clash against Mensur Suljovic, before surviving match darts to sink the Austrian in a dramatic finale.
Premier League table-topper Clayton was Wednesday’s other semi-finalist, registering a brace of whitewash wins along the way.
This was preceded by a 6-5 victory over James Hurrell in round one – aided by an 11-darter in the decider – while he also averaged 102 in his quarter-final win against Christian Kist.
Kist was appearing in his second quarter-final in as many days, completing the last eight line-up alongside Smith, Sharp and his Dutch compatriot Doets.
RESULTS
Last 16
Gerwyn Price 6-1 Scott Waites
Kevin Doets 6-4 Danny Noppert
Jonny Clayton 6-0 Jimmy van Schie
Christian Kist 6-2 Jurjen van der Velde
Ross Smith 6-5 Tom Bissell
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Thibault Tricole 6-2 Adam Lipscombe
David Sharp 6-2 Alan Soutar
Quarter-Finals
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Kevin Doets
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Christian Kist
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Ross Smith
Thibault Tricole 6-3 David Sharp
Semi-Finals
Gerwyn Price 7-4 Jonny Clayton
Andrew Gilding 7-6 Thibault Tricole
Final
Gerwyn Price 8-1 Andrew Gilding
