Darts results: Glen Durrant wins maiden PDC title at Players Championship Four

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Mon February 18, 2019 · 6y ago

Glen Durrant claimed his first PDC title at just the fourth attempt as he defeated Dimitri van den Bergh 8-3 in the final of Players Championship Four in Wigan.

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The three-time Lakeside king, who equalled Eric Bristow's record of three successive BDO World Championship titles in January before earning his PDC Tour Card seven days later at Q School, had already reached a final in his second tournament last Sunday - only to lose 8-7 to Dave Chisnall.

But it's taken just a week to go one better as he continues to take to the PDC like a duck to water - even if getting here in the first place via Q School wasn't without its difficulties.

The 48-year-old, who also made his Premier League Darts bow in Glasgow on Thursday night, averaged 100+ in four of his his six matches en route to the final including a stunning 109.3 in his 7-3 triumph over Gerwyn Price in the semis.

Duzza's average of 96.2 against the two-time World Youth champion, who was featuring in his first senior PDC ranking final, was actually his lowest of the day but that didn't stop him romping away to a landmark title and the top prize of £10,000, which helps his rapid ascent up the Order of Merit (scroll further down for more details).

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🏆🎯 Glen Durrant's winning moment and interview after clinching his maiden PDC title at just the FOURTH attempt.

👏 This was also his second final in the space of a week. And to think there were doubters!

👍 Congratulations @Duzza180 pic.twitter.com/xyZHarPNb9
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) February 18, 2019

Durrant stormed into a 3-0 lead with the help of a 95 checkout on the bullseye in the very first leg and although van den Bergh finally got on the board with a 13-darter, that was as close as he got.

The 23-year-old Belgian missed double 11 for a 124 checkout in the 10th leg but the Teesider punished him on two 16s for a 12 darter which put him one away before finishing the job.

Durrant said: "That's as a good as it gets, it's a wonderful feeling. I'm a very proud BDO champion. I've just had the best two weeks and I'm so grateful to the PDC for the opportunity of the Premier League.

"Since the beginning of December, everything is just going so perfect. People who doubted me in the BDO - now I'm a PDC champion."

In the opening three rounds, Durrant saw off Jamie Lewis (6-3), Ritchie Edhouse (6-5) and Joe Cullen (6-3) before averaging 99.2 in a highly impressive 6-2 victory over Mensur Suljovic while the 97.7 he posted in beating teenager Bradley Brooks in the quarter-finals was his lowest until his clash with van den Bergh.

The Belgian's day began with 6-2 and 6-3 wins over Chris Dobey and Toni Alcinas respectively before he posted a superb average of 101.5 in seeing off James Wade 6-4.

He edged out Stephen Burton and Matthew Edgar by the same scorelines before brilliantly defying Rob Cross' 105.4 average to defeat the former world champion 7-5.

As for Saturday's nine-dart hero Michael van Gerwen, his hopes of a fourth title in five events were brutally ended in the last 16 by Nathan Aspinall, who crushed the world number one 6-1 in an incredible performance.

The World Championship semi-finalist averaged less than MVG's 103 with a mark of 101.8 but punished his opponent for poor finishing as he inflicted a rare one-sided scoreline on the Dutchman.

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MvG has suffered his seventh 6-0 or 6-1 defeat of the past five years:

Gary Anderson (2015)
Nathan Aspinall (2019)
Adrian Lewis (2015)
William O'Connor (2018)
Michael Smith (2018)
Ian White (2016, 2017)
— Christopher Kempf (@ochepedia) February 17, 2019

The Asp's bid to win a second PDC career title came to a halt as Price gained a measure of revenge for that dramatic clash at the Ally Pally in December with a 6-5 win.

The Iceman averaged 105 but he nearly squandered a big 5-1 lead in what was so nearly another memorable comeback.

Interestingly Durrant's first final last weekend came 24 hours after a first-round defeat in Players Championship One and this success also followed an exit at the earliest possible opportunity in Players Championship Three.

He's now moved up to 74th in the Order of Merit while he's now inside the qualification places for the prestigious World Matchplay this summer.

Glen Durrant's first PDC title—becoming the 124th person I have record of winning a PDC senior title—lifts him up to #74 in the world. pic.twitter.com/WgpzSfUZzs
— Burton DeWitt (@bsd987) February 17, 2019

Glen Durrant provisionally moves into the Matchplay qualification spots after only 4 events. Countback tiebreakers not applied, as Chris Dobey is actually ahead of Mervyn King for the final spot. pic.twitter.com/BY3ajuvA1n
— Burton DeWitt (@bsd987) February 17, 2019

"I'm a very proud BDO champion. I've had the best two weeks and I'm so grateful to the PDC for the opportunity of the Premier League. Everything is just going so perfect. People doubted me in the BDO but now I'm a PDC champion." pic.twitter.com/UbdjDH4LpV
— Live Darts (@livedarts) February 17, 2019