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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I thought I played decent today,”\u00a0reflected Price, who will take on Michael van Gerwen on Night Four of the Premier League in Belfast on Thursday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There were one or two games where I wasn’t at my best – even in the final – but I had enough in the tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Whoever is above me, I’m going to catch them!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u00a315,000 top prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilding later came out on top in another last-leg decider in the semi-finals, accounting for French trailblazer Thibault Tricole to claim \u00a310,000 in prize money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Premier League table-topper Clayton was Wednesday’s other semi-finalist, registering a brace of whitewash wins along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quarter-Finals<\/strong> Semi-Finals<\/strong> Final<\/strong> Gerwyn Price powered his way to a first PDC ranking title of 2026 with a comprehensive 8-1 victory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9853,"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-9852","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>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<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Kevin Doets
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Christian Kist
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Ross Smith
Thibault Tricole 6-3 David Sharp<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gerwyn Price 7-4 Jonny Clayton
Andrew Gilding 7-6 Thibault Tricole<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gerwyn Price 8-1 Andrew Gilding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"