Chris Dobey bulldozed his way to a second Players Championship title in 2026 with an 8-4 triumph over Justin Hood in a remarkable Event Nine final in Wigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dobey won seven straight matches at the Robin Park Tennis Centre across a dominant day to claim a landmark tenth career Players Championship win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former Masters champion began with a hard-fought 6-4 win over Dennie Olde Kalter, before hammering Rhys Griffin 6-1 with a glistening 109.74 average – his best of the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 35-year-old followed this up with a comfortable 6-2 win over Jim Long and a 6-1 thumping of Luke Woodhouse, recording a 104.38 average to reach his third consecutive Players Championship quarter-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There, Dobey saw off Richard Veenstra 6-3 before blasting past Andrew Gilding 7-1 with another stellar average of 103.45 to set up a showdown with Hood in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a spectacular final, Hood took a two-leg lead after two 12-dart finishes on the bullseye with checkouts of 121 and 167, before Dobey retaliated with five consecutive legs, including a fabulous 164 outshot to go 5-2 up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hood remained resilient, incredibly taking out another two finishes on the bullseye to keep the match alive at 7-4, but Dobey wrapped up the showpiece on double two to finish with a 105.28 average and secure his tenth ProTour title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The way I’ve been playing throughout the year, I’m hoping to pick up more titles,” announced Dobey, who defied a 102.91 average from Hood in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s hard just to win one of these, so to win ten is a great feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I remember that game Justin had at the World Championship when he was 11\/11 on the doubles. When those two bull finishes went in, I thought: ‘Not again!’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He put up a good fight with some great shots at crucial times, but I played some good stuff all day, and I’m delighted with another win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I just want to start doing it on TV and picking up some European Tour titles. I know I can do it, it’s just about being consistent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hood broke new ground in reaching his maiden career ProTour final after a memorable Monday at the Robin Park Tennis Centre, despite falling short in the showpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 32-year-old began his day with a comfortable 6-2 victory over Ryan Meikle before downing Rob Owen 6-4 in a hard-fought contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World Championship quarter-finalist then recorded his first ton-plus average of the day in seeing off Niall Culleton 6-3 and followed this with victory over Austrian stalwart Mensur Suljovic by the same scoreline to reach his second ProTour quarter-final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There, Hood produced his best performance of the day, whitewashing Tom Sykes with a 104.86 average, before seeing off Connor Scutt 7-3 to set up a showdown with Dobey in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the other quarter-finals, Scutt saw off Tom Bissell 6-4, reaching his first Player Championship semi-final since September 2024 in the process after a stellar day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilding also reached the semi-finals after downing Beau Greaves 6-3, as the 22-year-old became the first woman to reach a ProTour quarter-final in PDC history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greaves broke new ground thanks to a historic run to the last eight stage, which included victories over former World Champion Raymond van Barneveld and Premier League leader Jonny Clayton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also of note, Thomas Lovely struck perfection in his round three tie against Luke Woodhouse, hitting a nine-darter despite falling short in the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week’s double-header concludes with Players Championship Ten on Tuesday, as 128 players compete for the \u00a315,000 top prize. Quarter-Finals Semi-Finals Final<\/strong> Chris Dobey bulldozed his way to a second Players Championship title in 2026 with an 8-4 triumph over<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-11646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
RESULTS
Last 16
<\/strong>Tom Bissell 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Connor Scutt 6-3 Steve Lennon
Tom Sykes 6-3 Martijn Dragt
Justin Hood 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Beau Greaves 6-4 Joe Hunt
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Luke Humphries
Chris Dobey 6-1 Luke Woodhouse
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Kevin Doets<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Connor Scutt 6-4 Tom Bissell
Justin Hood 6-0 Tom Sykes
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Beau Greaves
Chris Dobey 6-3 Richard Veenstra<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Justin Hood 7-3 Connor Scutt
Chris Dobey 7-1 Andrew Gilding<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris Dobey 8-4 Justin Hood
Nine-Darter!
<\/strong>Thomas Lovely hit a nine-darter in his round three tie against Luke Woodhouse.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"