Price runner-up at Players Championship 26 after final loss

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Markham’s Gerwyn Price finished runner-up at the darts Players Championship 26 after losing to Ryan Joyce in the final.

Joyce came from 6-4 down to defeat Price 8-7 in Barnsley on Thursday October 19 – ending his three-year wait for a PDC title.

The Newcastle-born Joyce hailed the win “one of the best days of my career” as he now moves back inside the world’s top 40 players.

Price, who was bidding to become the first player to win four Players Championship titles this year, opened the event with a hard-fought win over Graham Usher.

He then saw off Ross Montgomery in the second round, before cruising past Mario Vandenbogaerde and Chris Landman to reach the quarter-finals.

The Iceman defeated Chris Dobey in the quarter-finals to set up a semi-final encounter with Luke Humphries, who recently beat Price in the World Grand Prix final.

Humphries fired in a 139 outshot to force a last-leg shoot-out, only for Price to conjure up his third 11-dart leg of the contest to exact revenge and progress with an average nearing 106.

However, world number five Price had to settle for another runners-up finish after falling short in the final.