Gary Anderson
2015 PDC World Champion
The 2014 World Grand Prix is nearly here!!!
The 7-day tournament which starts Monday 6th October at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin will see four players from Team Target take to the stage including defending Grand Prix Champion Phil 'The Power' Taylor, Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis, Dave 'Chizzy' Chisnall & Stephen 'The Bullet' Bunting.
Phil Taylor kicks of his title defence on Monday night against Steve Beaton, then Adrian Lewis in the last match of the night against Daryl Gurney. Tuesday night sees Stephen Bunting take on Ronnie Baxter and Dave Chisnall faces Premier League Champion Raymond van Barneveld in their first round clashes
Picture and article from PDC site
WORLD CHAMPION Michael van Gerwen sealed his eighth PDC title of 2014 as he defeated Michael Smith to win the 14th Players Championship event of the year in Crawley.
After struggling at The K2 Centre in the first event of the weekend, where he was knocked out by Richie Burnett, van Gerwen returned to form on Sunday as he swept through the field before beating Smith 6-4 in the final.
Van Gerwen fired through the first three rounds as he saw off Glenn Spearing, Pete Dyos and John Henderson, only dropping three legs in the process.
Back-to-back 6-3 wins over Kurt Parry and Dean Winstanley followed for the world number one to set up a tasty semi-final matchup with Adrian Lewis.
Lewis had edged a tight quarter-final against Dave Chisnall 6-5 to seal his second semi-final spot of the weekend, but after being whitewashed by Gary Anderson 24 hours earlier, the Stoke ace once again faltered in the last four as van Gerwen sealed a 6-2 success over his great rival.
Smith had also enjoyed a good run to the final having beaten Steve Hine, Magnus Caris, John Bowles and Andy Smith in the first four rounds.
The St Helens ace then disposed of in-form youngster Benito van de Pas with a stunning average of 107.93 to seal a place in the semi-finals against Ian White, another man who had enjoyed an impressive day at the oche.
PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship runner-up Rowby-John Rodriguez had already beaten Saturday's champion Gary Anderson, as well as Paul Nicholson and Jamie Caven before being knocked out 6-1 by White in the quarter-finals.
However, it would be Smith who maintained his form as he quickly disposed of Stoke star White, running out a 6-2 victor to make it through to his second final in a week, having also reached the last two in Singelfingen last weekend.
But as was the case in Germany against Mervyn King and in two previous PDC ProTour finals this year, Smith missed out at the final hurdle as another senior title eluded him ahead of his 24th birthday on Thursday.
Although Smith took the final's opening leg, van Gerwen produced legs of 12, 15, 14 and 14 darts as he stormed into a 4-1 lead in the final.
He extended that to 5-2 before Smith took out 114 as he pulled back to 5-4, but van Gerwen hit his second 180 of the final before finishing double 16 for a 13-darter to secure the title and the £10,000 winner’s cheque.
After struggling at The K2 Centre in the first event of the weekend, where he was knocked out by Richie Burnett, van Gerwen returned to form on Sunday as he swept through the field before beating Smith 6-4 in the final.
Van Gerwen fired through the first three rounds as he saw off Glenn Spearing, Pete Dyos and John Henderson, only dropping three legs in the process.
Back-to-back 6-3 wins over Kurt Parry and Dean Winstanley followed for the world number one to set up a tasty semi-final matchup with Adrian Lewis.
Lewis had edged a tight quarter-final against Dave Chisnall 6-5 to seal his second semi-final spot of the weekend, but after being whitewashed by Gary Anderson 24 hours earlier, the Stoke ace once again faltered in the last four as van Gerwen sealed a 6-2 success over his great rival.
Smith had also enjoyed a good run to the final having beaten Steve Hine, Magnus Caris, John Bowles and Andy Smith in the first four rounds.
The St Helens ace then disposed of in-form youngster Benito van de Pas with a stunning average of 107.93 to seal a place in the semi-finals against Ian White, another man who had enjoyed an impressive day at the oche.
PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship runner-up Rowby-John Rodriguez had already beaten Saturday's champion Gary Anderson, as well as Paul Nicholson and Jamie Caven before being knocked out 6-1 by White in the quarter-finals.
However, it would be Smith who maintained his form as he quickly disposed of Stoke star White, running out a 6-2 victor to make it through to his second final in a week, having also reached the last two in Singelfingen last weekend.
But as was the case in Germany against Mervyn King and in two previous PDC ProTour finals this year, Smith missed out at the final hurdle as another senior title eluded him ahead of his 24th birthday on Thursday.
Although Smith took the final's opening leg, van Gerwen produced legs of 12, 15, 14 and 14 darts as he stormed into a 4-1 lead in the final.
He extended that to 5-2 before Smith took out 114 as he pulled back to 5-4, but van Gerwen hit his second 180 of the final before finishing double 16 for a 13-darter to secure the title and the £10,000 winner’s cheque.