Michael van Gerwen at his brilliant best in Barnsley on Friday
Monday 11 April 2016 21:09, UK
World No 1 Michael van Gerwen claimed his eighth title of the year, defeating Benito van de Pas 6-3 in the final to win Players Championship Three on Friday.
The third of the year's £75,000 Players Championship tournaments took place at the Barnsley Metrodome and Van Gerwen triumphed on a day when Adrian Lewis and Alan Norris both hit nine-darters.
Van Gerwen was in dominant form, securing wins over Paul Nicholson (6-1), Mark Walsh (6-3), Jeffrey de Graaf (6-2), Simon Whitlock (6-2), Mark Webster (6-0) and Robbie Green (6-1) to reach the final.
He then raced into a four-leg lead in the decider, landing an 11-darter, a 13-dart finish and two 14-dart legs in the process, before van de Pas hit back by winning three of his own to reduce the gap to 4-3, helped by a 121 checkout and legs of 13 and 12 darts.
However, Van Gerwen denied his rival the chance to level in leg eight with a brilliant ten-darter before taking the next in 13 darts to secure victory and the £10,000 first prize.
The Dutchman capped a superb day's work by averaging 111.29 and landing three 180s in the final, to his compatriot's 99.89 average and two maximums.
Norris managed his third nine-dart finish since joining the PDC circuit in January 2015 and reached the last four before losing 6-3 to Van de Pas.
And Lewis had earlier preceded Norris in achieving a nine-darter, scoring 180, 174 and 147 during his 6-1 first round win over Ray Campbell, although he was then defeated 6-5 by PDC Unicorn World Youth Champion Max Hopp in the second round.
World Champion Gary Anderson was joined by his Premier League rivals Robert Thornton and James Wade in suffering a first round defeat on the day, while Phil Taylor reached the third round before being edged out 6-5 by Mervyn King.
Two further Players Championship events will take place on Saturday and Sunday, with a further £150,000 prize money on offer over the PDC ProTour weekend.
