Gerwyn Price made it back-to-back ProTour titles in Hildesheim with a crushing 8-1 victory over Gian van Veen in Sunday's Players Championship 18 decider.
The Welshman defeated Josh Rock to triumph in Saturday's showpiece, and he defeated another of the game's brightest young stars in Van Veen to cap off a perfect weekend at Halle 39.
Price came through the 128-player field to claim his fifth title of 2023, saving his best performances for the latter stages to scoop the £12,000 top prize.
Van Veen missed darts at double for 130 and 120 combinations in the opening exchanges, and he was punished by a ruthless Price, who converted two-dart 84 and 88 checkouts to establish an early buffer.
The Dutchman then capitalised on errors from Price to open his account in leg four, although Price responded by winning the next five legs without reply to complete a comprehensive victory.
“Gian is a great player. He missed a couple of chances, and I didn’t let him off in that game,” admitted Price, the first player in 2023 to win back-to-back ProTour titles.
“My game wasn’t the best apart from a couple of games at the end. I was scoring well all day, missing loads of doubles but getting away with it.
“I would rather play really well, even if I lose sometimes. Scraping games doesn’t give you that much confidence, but winning is what matters.
“If I’m winning tournaments when I’m playing my C-game, when my A-game comes out, hopefully that’s good enough as well, because some people turn me over when I’m playing my best!
“When there are ranking points at stake, it means a little bit more, and luck was on my side this weekend.”
Price displayed his battling qualities in early wins over Jimmy Hendriks and Pascal Rupprecht, before recovering from 5-4 down to deny Ireland’s Keane Barry with a 99 average.
The 2021 world champion then breezed through to the Event 18 decider in emphatic style, conceding just three legs in his next three matches.
After easing past James Wade in a scrappy last 16 tie, Price whitewashed a struggling Rob Cross in the quarter-finals, and continued his charge with a 7-2 demolition of Stephen Bunting in the last four.
Price won ten consecutive legs during this three-game spell; averaging almost 102 to dispatch Bunting and set up a showdown against World Youth finalist Van Veen.
2023 Players Championship 18 results
Last 16
- Stephen Bunting 6-4 Ryan Meikle
- Richard Veenstra 6-5 Tony Martinez
- Gerwyn Price 6-1 James Wade
- Rob Cross 6-1 Ricky Evans
- Gian van Veen 6-2 Ian White
- Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-1 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
- Darryl Pilgrim 6-5 Cam Crabtree
- Joe Cullen 6-4 Andrew Gilding
Quarter-finals
- Stephen Bunting 6-3 Richard Veenstra
- Gerwyn Price 6-0 Rob Cross
- Gian van Veen 6-2 Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Joe Cullen 6-0 Darryl Pilgrim
Semi-finals
- Gerwyn Price 7-2 Stephen Bunting
- Gian van Veen 7-1 Joe Cullen
Final
Gerwyn Price 8-1 Gian van Veen
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