Dobey clinches dramatic 17th Players Championship

World number seven Chris Dobey came out on top in a last-leg decider to beat Dirk van Duijvenbode and win the 17th Players Championship of the year.

The 35-year-old Englishman hit a 70 checkout in the shootout to clinch a dramatic 8-7 victory in the final in Leicester.

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.