Darts results: Peter Wright beats Gerwyn Price with 170 checkout to win astonishing Players Championship Five final

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Tue February 25, 2020 · 5y ago

Peter Wright may not have hit a nine-dart finish but his full-day performance at Players Championship Five was almost as close to perfection as anyone can get.

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The world champion consistently produced darts from the gods en route to an epic final in Wigan, where both Snakebite and his opponent Gerwyn Price averaged 109 before he sealed an unforgettable 8-6 victory in style with a spectacular 170 checkout.

Wright's stunning 'Big Fish' finale capped a quite remarkable day in which he also came within one dart of breaking his own world record match average of 123.5 in a 6-0 thumping of Adrian Gray.

The 49-year-old, who now has 30 career PDC titles to his name, posted a mark of 120.2 during that second-round match - although he showed his frustration afterwards for missing a dart at tops on his final visit.

Imagine reacting like Peter Wright after averaging 120.2 in a 6-0 victory. Had Snakebite hit tops he would have beat his own world record of 123.5! pic.twitter.com/SYIH8OYI1a
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) February 22, 2020

Wright only failed to average over 103 once but his effort of 95.2 on that occasion was enough to thrash fellow Premier League table-topper Glen Durrant 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

The Masters champion also averaged 105.9 to beat Darren Webster 6-2, 106.6 in a 6-1 win over Scott Mitchell, 103.5 when defeating Ryan Joyce 6-3 and 104.9 during his 7-5 semi-final victory against Deven Peterson.

Wright's clash with his World Championship semi-final victim was his toughest of the day but after 13 successive holds of throw he finally clinched the elusive break, his second title of the season and a top prize of £10,000 with his show-stopping 170 checkout.

Peter Wright hits a 170 checkout to win the Players Championship 5 final

He told www.pdc.tv: "It’s just the start. I’m enjoying these darts and we’ve got something in the pipeline to improve them further.

"Who knows what I can win this year? I just take it a leg at a time and that’s all you can do.

"As World Champion, I’ve always got a target on my back but I feel like I’m giving some of the other players the belief that they too can win anything."

Price picks up the runners-up cheque for the second time in his last three Players Championship events having lost out to Nathan Aspinall two weeks ago although he was a tad fortunate to get that far after surviving four match darts from Steve Lennon in the last four.

The Irishman, who had hit the 10th PDC nine-darter of 2020 earlier in the day, was bidding to reach his first Pro Tour final but couldn't get over the finishing line and was duly punished by the two-time Grand Slam of Darts champion.

Price beat Lennon's World Cup team-mate William O'Connor 6-2 in the quarter-finals with a 106 average while he also posted an impressive mark of 105.1 when beating Damon Heta by the same scoreline. The Welshman's other victories came against Jamie Lewis (6-3), Mickey Mansell (6-5) and Kirk Shepherd (6-0.

🚨 NINE-DARTER! 🚨

Steve Lennon hits the TENTH nine-darter of 2020 in the PDC, in the fourth leg of his match with Kai Fan Leung! pic.twitter.com/yzkLHMGBOT
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) February 22, 2020

Wright's semi-final opponent Petersen also deserves singling out for special praise after best ever Players Championship run.

The South African edged out Rob Cross 6-5 with an average of 99.4 in the last eight but had earlier posted parks of 111.8 against Niels Zonneveld (6-3) and 105.2 against Dimitri Van den Bergh (6-2). He started the day by beating Harry Ward 6-05 before a 6-0 thumping of Stephen Bunting.

Meanwhile Michael van Gerwen continues to wait for his first title of 2020 after losing to Christian Bunse in the last 32.