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Markham’s Gerwyn Price made it back-to-back ProTour titles in Hildesheim, Germany, with a crushing 8-1 victory over Gian van Veen, on Sunday August 27, in the 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.

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 – on top of his £12,000 winnings from the previous night.

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.”