Luke Woodhouse celebrated his maiden PDC ranking title with a superb 8-4 victory over Andrew Gilding in Players Championship Eighteen last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to Tuesday’s action, Woodhouse was the highest-ranked player without a PDC title, but he rectified that statistic with a series of terrific performances at the Mattioli Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following early wins over Greg Ritchie and Jimmy van Schie, Woodhouse produced a ton-plus average in victory over William O’Connor, before surviving three match darts to sink Charlie Manby in the last 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 37-year-old then swept aside Welsh number one Jonny Clayton in the last eight, and averaged north of 99 to dispatch Harry Ward 7-3 in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This set up a bumper showdown against Gilding, who secured his maiden Players Championship crown in the East Midlands last Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former UK Open champion looked poised to extend his title tally after racing into a 3-0 lead, only for Woodhouse to reply with a three-leg burst of 14, 13 and 11-darters to restore parity at three apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilding regained the initiative with a 13-darter in leg seven, but Woodhouse produced another devastating burst in the closing stages, rattling off five legs straight to prevail with a 102.04 average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think relief is the big word really,”\u00a0reflected Woodhouse, who has established himself in the world’s top 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Today I’ve played some good stuff. To get that tag of highest-ranked player not to have won a title off my back, it’s lovely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I thought, get out early, and then I was 3-0 down. I also didn’t want to just collapse, so I thought stick in there, and I’ve shown what I can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I know I’m playing some really good stuff, so in my eyes it was a matter of when, not if.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’ve been playing some lovely stuff for maybe 18 months now. I want to go and do well in every tournament I play in… I want to do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think my game is in a great place, so who knows what can happen!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite missing out on his second title in the space of a week, Gilding maintained his excellent form to claim the \u00a310,000 runner-up prize in Leicester, which catapults him up to fourth on the Players Championship rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Suffolk star kicked off his campaign with a trio of 6-4 victories against Leon Weber, Brendan Dolan and Jack Tweddell, which he backed up with a deciding-leg win over Darius Labanauskas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having survived five match darts against the Lithuanian, Gilding dispatched Germany’s Niko Springer in the last eight, before converting a clinical 106 kill to deny James Wade in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wade eased past Scott Williams and Niels Zonneveld during his run to the last four, while also emerging through deciding-leg ties against Tommy Morris and Sebastian Bialecki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ten-time TV title winner was joined in the semi-finals by Challenge Tour representative Ward \u2013 who replaced Raymond van Barneveld in today’s event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 28-year-old grasped his unexpected opportunity superbly, exactly seven years to the day since he celebrated his maiden Players Championship title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ward overcame Kevin Doets in advancing to the semi-finals, despite the Dutchman producing sensational 110.21 and 107.5 averages in earlier wins against Niall Culleton and Ryan Joyce respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Premier League star Clayton was another high-profile star to feature in the last eight, with Springer and Poland’s number two Bialecki completing the quarter-final line-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, top seed Wessel Nijman suffered his first opening round exit on the Players Championship circuit in 2026, succumbing to a superb display from Belgium’s Mario Vandenbogaerde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dutch number one Gian van Veen also crashed out at the same stage, alongside his Premier League rival Stephen Bunting, second seed Chris Dobey and Monday’s runner-up Jermaine Wattimena. Quarter-Finals<\/strong> Semi-Finals<\/strong> Final<\/strong> Luke Woodhouse celebrated his maiden PDC ranking title with a superb 8-4 victory over Andrew Gilding in Players<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12987,"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-12986","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>Harry Ward 6-5 Joe Hunt
Kevin Doets 6-2 Ryan Joyce
Jonny Clayton 6-0 Chris Landman
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Charlie Manby
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Darius Labanauskas
Niko Springer 6-3 Ross Smith
Sebastian Bialecki 6-4 Jeffrey Sparidaans
James Wade 6-5 Tommy Morris<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry Ward 6-5 Kevin Doets
Luke Woodhouse 6-2 Jonny Clayton
Andrew Gilding 6-2 Niko Springer
James Wade 6-5 Sebastian Bialecki<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Woodhouse 7-3 Harry Ward
Andrew Gilding 7-6 James Wade<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Woodhouse 8-4 Andrew Gilding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"