Dobey clinches dramatic 17th Players Championship
The 35-year-old Englishman hit a 70 checkout in the shootout to clinch a dramatic 8-7 victory in the final in Leicester.
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It is Dobey's second Players Championship title of 2025 and his seventh career victory on the Pro Tour.
Dutchman Van Duijvenbode had the superior average - 102.4 to 98.69 - but Dobey was far more clinical on the outer ring, making 38.1% of his darts at double to his opponent's 29.2%, and that proved the difference.
Dobey arguably produced his best performance of the tournament in the last 16 as he averaged 103.21 in beating recent World Cup winner Josh Rock 6-3.
He then saw off James Wade and Gian van Veen to book his place in the final.
Van Duijvenbode thumped former world champion 6-1 Michael Smith in the quarter-finals, and triumphed 7-6 in a one-leg shootout against Australia's Damon Heta in the semis, before being unable to repeat the trick against Dobey.
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