Gary Anderson claimed his fifth PDC title of 2018 with a 6-5 win over Gabriel Clemens in the final of Players Championship Eleven at Arena MK in Milton Keynes on Saturday.
The two-time world champion held his nerve in a thrilling deciding leg to complete a miraculous comeback from 4-1 down against Clemens, who was playing in his first ever ProTour final.
Anderson recorded wins over Josh Payne, Peter Hudson, Jermaine Wattimena, Ryan Joyce, Adrian Lewis, Darren Webster and Clemens en route to clinching the £10,000 top prize.
The Flying Scotsman looked anything put a player nursing a hangover of disappointment as he averaged 106 in both of his triumphs over Lewis and Webster.
The Scotland World Cup star had already won two Players Championship events in 2018, before making it a hat-trick of victories in Saturday’s Players Championship Eleven.
"It was a hard old day but I’m happy to get the win," said Anderson, who will face Clemens again on Friday in the first round of the German Darts Masters. "Gabriel made me work hard for that win, I had to fight right until the end so I’m pleased that I managed to scrap out the result.
"On Thursday in the Premier League it felt like there was nothing there so to win today was a good way for me to put that behind me. Now I’m going to focus on winning more titles this year and I’ll see how far I can go in the big tournaments."
Anderson won 4 deciding legs, and averaged 113.43 in those 4, en route to the PC11 title.
— Christopher Kempf (@ochepedia) May 19, 2018
Anderson broke the Clemens throw in the opening leg of the final with an impressive 14-dart leg before the German broke straight back to level the match.
Clemens then rattled off the next three legs to take a commanding 4-1 lead as he dreamed of landing his maiden PDC title.
However, Anderson roared back with two more 14-darters and a 15-darter to level the pulsating tie at 4-4.
Clemens held throw to regain the lead and go within a leg of glory, only for Anderson to take the final two legs in thrilling fashion, surviving two-match darts from Clemens, to seal the Players Championship Eleven title.
Clemens impressed throughout the day at Arena MK as he claimed a series of impressive scalps.
The German ace edged past Richard North 6-5 in his opening game of the day, before seeing off Steve Hine, Simon Whitlock, Paul Nicholson, Brendan Dolan and Peter Wright to book his place in the final.
Elsewhere, Daryl Gurney went down to Lewis in the last 16, while Mensur Suljovic was defeated by Paul Nicholson in the second round.
Dave Chisnall lost 6-1 to Ricky Evans in the last 16, Michael Smith went out at the quarter-final stage to Darren Webster and James Wade suffered a first round exit at the hands of Richie Burnett.
Players Championship 11 Results
Saturday May 19, Arena MK, Milton Keynes
Last 128
- Peter Wright BYE-
- Zoran Lerchbacher 6-4 Jose Justicia
- Jason Lowe 6-5 Cristo Reyes
- Ross Smith 6-5 Mario Robbe
- Stephen Bunting 6-1 Ryan Meikle
- Davy Van Baelen 6-5 Kevin Burness
- Steve Beaton 6-3 George Killington
- Adam Hunt 6-5 Joe Murnan
- Dave Chisnall 6-5 Kirk Shepherd
- Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Madars Razma
- Steve Lennon 6-3 Mark Wilson
- Vincent Kamphuis 6-4 Sven Groen
- Richie Burnett 6-5 James Wade
- Bradley Brooks 6-4 John Davey
- Keegan Brown 6-4 Simon Preston
- Ricky Evans 6-2 Prakash Jiwa
- Mensur Suljovic 6-5 Ross Twell
- Paul Nicholson 6-4 Diogo Portela
- Justin Pipe 6-4 Ron Meulenkamp
- Simon Stevenson 6-3 Jamie Caven
- Simon Whitlock 6-4 Jeffrey de Graaf
- Ritchie Edhouse 6-1 Mark Webster
- Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Richard North
- Steve Hine 6-3 Toni Alcinas
- Joe Cullen 6-4 Dawson Murschell
- Brendan Dolan 6-4 Eddie Dootson
- Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Steve West
- Robert Marijanovic 6-3 Dennis Nilsson
- Mervyn King 6-2 Robert Owen
- Michael Barnard 6-2 Chris Quantock
- James Wilson 6-4 Tytus Kanik
- Kevin Painter 6-5 Luke Humphries
- Michael Smith 6-2 Scott Darbyshire
- Lee Bryant 6-1 John Goldie
- Christian Kist 6-3 Jamie Lewis
- Peter Jacques 6-4 Ronny Huybrechts
- Martin Schindler 6-2 Kim Huybrechts
- Benito van de Pas 6-2 Jimmy Hendriks
- John Henderson 6-4 Arron Monk
- James Richardson 6-2 Darren Johnson
- Ian White 6-3 Paul Rowley
- Stephen Burton 6-4 Aden Kirk
- Alan Norris 6-1 Robbie Green
- Danny Noppert 6-1 Jamie Bain
- Darren Webster 6-1 Scott Taylor
- Alan Tabern 6-3 Ronnie Baxter
- Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Ryan Searle
- Chris Dobey 6-2 Terry Temple
- Ryan Harrington 6-5 Jonny Clayton
- Ryan Joyce 6-4 Jason Cullen
- Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Cody Harris
- Mickey Mansell 6-4 Ted Evetts
- Gary Anderson 6-4 Josh Payne
- Peter Hudson 6-3 Rowby-John Rodriguez
- Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Adam Huckvale
- Tony Newell 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
- Daryl Gurney 6-3 Devon Petersen
- Wayne Jones 6-2 William O'Connor
- Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-1 Terry Jenkins
- Gary Eastwood 6-1 Luke Woodhouse
- Gerwyn Price 6-2 Martin Atkins (Wigan)
- Matthew Edgar 6-2 John Part
- Adrian Lewis 6-0 Mark Dudbridge
- Jan Dekker 6-1 Jim Brown
Last 64
- Peter Wright 6-4 Zoran Lerchbacher
- Ross Smith 6-4 Jason Lowe
- Davy Van Baelen 6-5 Stephen Bunting
- Adam Hunt 6-3 Steve Beaton
- Dave Chisnall 6-2 Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Steve Lennon 6-3 Vincent Kamphuis
- Richie Burnett 6-4 Bradley Brooks
- Ricky Evans 6-1 Keegan Brown
- Paul Nicholson 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
- Simon Stevenson 6-5 Justin Pipe
- Simon Whitlock 6-3 Ritchie Edhouse
- Gabriel Clemens 6-1 Steve Hine
- Brendan Dolan 6-1 Joe Cullen
- Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Robert Marijanovic
- Michael Barnard 6-5 Mervyn King
- James Wilson 6-5 Kevin Painter
- Michael Smith 6-3 Lee Bryant
- Christian Kist 6-4 Peter Jacques
- Benito van de Pas 6-5 Martin Schindler
- John Henderson 6-4 James Richardson
- Stephen Burton 6-5 Ian White
- Danny Noppert 6-4 Alan Norris
- Darren Webster 6-1 Alan Tabern
- Vincent van der Voort 6-4 Chris Dobey
- Ryan Joyce 6-2 Ryan Harrington
- Mickey Mansell 6-4 Jelle Klaasen
- Gary Anderson 6-5 Peter Hudson
- Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Tony Newell
- Daryl Gurney 6-3 Wayne Jones
- Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-3 Gary Eastwood
- Gerwyn Price 6-4 Matthew Edgar
- Adrian Lewis 6-2 Jan Dekker
Last 32
- Peter Wright 6-1 Ross Smith
- Adam Hunt 6-2 Davy Van Baelen
- Dave Chisnall 6-4 Steve Lennon
- Ricky Evans 6-3 Richie Burnett
- Paul Nicholson 6-2 Simon Stevenson
- Gabriel Clemens 6-3 Simon Whitlock
- Brendan Dolan 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
- Michael Barnard 6-4 James Wilson
- Michael Smith 6-4 Christian Kist
- Benito van de Pas 6-5 John Henderson
- Danny Noppert 6-1 Stephen Burton
- Darren Webster 6-4 Vincent van der Voort
- Ryan Joyce 6-2 Mickey Mansell
- Gary Anderson 6-1 Jermaine Wattimena
- Daryl Gurney 6-0 Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Adrian Lewis 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Last 16
- Peter Wright 6-1 Adam Hunt
- Ricky Evans 6-1 Dave Chisnall
- Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Paul Nicholson
- Brendan Dolan 6-3 Michael Barnard
- Michael Smith 6-0 Benito van de Pas
- Darren Webster 6-2 Danny Noppert
- Gary Anderson 6-3 Ryan Joyce
- Adrian Lewis 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Last Eight
- Peter Wright 6-1 Ricky Evans
- Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Brendan Dolan
- Darren Webster 6-4 Michael Smith
- Gary Anderson 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Last Four
- Gabriel Clemens 6-4 Peter Wright
- Gary Anderson 6-5 Darren Webster
Final
- Gary Anderson 6-5 Gabriel Clemens
