Daryl Gurney won his first ranking title with a superb 6-3 defeat of Kim Huybrechts to claim Players Championship Seven in Barnsley last night.
The Northern Irish ace’s emergence continued as he claimed the £10,000 title in his first Players Championship final, following up last month’s run to the Coral UK Open semi-finals by going all the way on this occasion.
Wins over Germany’s Martin Schindler, Dutchman Vincent Kamphuis and Spain’s Cristo Reyes took Gurney into the last 16, where he knocked out in-form Australian Simon Whitlock.
Gurney then edged out Irish youngster Steve Lennon 6-5 in the quarter-finals and overcame Gerwyn Price in ten legs at the last four stage to book his spot in the final.
There, Gurney came from a leg down to lead 4-1 against Huybrechts, taking out 112 for one of two breaks of throw, and though the Dutchman pulled back two les, finishes of 76 and double five secured Gurney the title.
The 31-year-old’s only previous ranking final had been at the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters, where he lost out to Michael van Gerwen, while his win comes weeks after he was included in the World Series of Darts field for the PDC U.S. Masters in July.
“I’m nearly speechless!” admitted Gurney. “I’ve made so many semi-finals and quarter-finals, everything but getting to the final, and then I get to the final and the first chance I get I win it – I can’t believe it.
“Today I won a couple of 6-5s and I didn’t let it get to me. I played well today and it’s unbelievable.
“There’s a lot of players out there who believe they can win one of these, but you can’t say you’ve won anything until you step over that bit of ground that says you’re a winner.
“My consistency has been there probably since the start of the year, and the only thing that was really missing in my eyes was getting to a final. To get to a final and win it was the overall plan.”
Huybrechts’ run to the final was a strong response to his recent elimination from the Betway Premier League, as the Belgian fell one game short of claiming a fifth PDC ranking title.
He defeated Jim Brown, James Richardson and Mike De Decker before recording an impressive whitewash against world number five James Wade in the last 16.
Huybrechts then knocked out recent UK Open champion Peter Wright in the quarter-finals and fended off the challenge of Jermaine Wattimena in the last four as he claimed £6,000 in prize money with his best finish of 2017 so far.
Dutchman Wattimena produced some fine darts on a memorable day to reach only his second PDC semi-final, overcoming Dave Chisnall, Robert Thornton, Kyle Anderson and Benito van de Pas in his run to the last four.
He was joined at that stage by Welsh ace Price, who followed up his run to the UK Open final last month with another strong performance, which included a victory over number two seed Mensur Suljovic in the last eight.
Wright, Van de Pas and Suljovic were joined in the quarter-finals by emerging Irish youngster Lennon, as the two-time PDC Unicorn Development Tour event winner enjoyed his best day yet on the ProTour.
Lennon saw off Matthew Dennant, Ian White, Kevin Painter and Scott Taylor as he reached the last eight, having qualified on Friday night for the forthcoming HappyBet German Darts Open.
Andy Hamilton’s resurgence continued as he followed up his Friday night qualification with whitewashes in his opening two matches on Saturday, against Craig Gilchrist and Ronny Huybrechts, before he overcame Aden Kirk to reach the last 16.
Dutch duo Jelle Klaasen and Raymond van Barneveld were amongst the seeded players to miss out at the first round stage as they lost to youngsters Scott Taylor and Ryan Meikle respectively.
Today sees a second £75,000 Players Championship of the weekend take place, as 128 players compete for the £10,000 top prize.