Gerwyn Price takes the title at Players Championship 26! Welshman holds off Van Veen fightback with 109+ average in incredible final

Gerwyn Price has taken the title at Players Championship 26 this Tuesday afternoon in Germany, ending a brilliant day of darts with an 8-5 victory over Gian van Veen, averaging 109.28 in an incredible final.

En route to the final, Price had taken victories over Dom Taylor (6-2), James Hurrell (6-5), Brendan Dolan (6-2), Andy Baetens (6-4), Wessel Nijman (6-5) and William O'Connor (7-6), producing a trio of ton-plus averages and a string of epic fightbacks.

Van Veen meanwhile, had a relatively more comfortable route to the final, seeing off Karel Sedlacek (6-3), Ricky Evans (6-2), Stephen Burton (6-2), Mickey Mansell (6-1), Ross Smith (6-3) and Gary Anderson (7-4), with that semi-final win over 'The Flying Scotsman' in particular a standout performance, averaging over 104 in victory.

The Welshman flew out of the blocks with a 12-dart opener, sealing it with a 122 checkout, and immediately broke throw with another ruthless leg to establish early control. By the time he powered through legs three, four and five – including a stunning 129 finish to double his advantage – he was averaging comfortably above 115 and threatening to run away with the contest.

Price made it six from six with a clinical tops, and even when he finally faltered on the outer ring in the seventh leg, Van Veen still needed a 63 finish to get himself on the board. The young Dutchman briefly silenced the crowd with a 98 checkout to trail 6–2, before conjuring up a magical 164 finish to cut the deficit further.

That sparked a remarkable surge from Van Veen, who rattled off four legs on the spin to pull back to 6–5. One of those came after Price had threatened a nine-darter with consecutive maximums, only to then bust 20 and allow his opponent to step in with a nerveless 74 finish.

Just as the momentum seemed to be swinging, however, Price dug deep. Still maintaining a three-figure average, he steadied himself to hold throw for 7–5, “getting to the hill” in style with more heavy scoring. In the 13th leg, two further 180s gave him the breathing space he needed, and this time he made no mistake on the doubles, pinning the winning dart to seal an 8–5 victory.

Match Stats