Gerwyn Price: "I gave myself a kick up the backside and it worked. I was going to take these two days off, but I wanted to punish myself. I couldn't hit anything early on [vs Chisnall]. When you do turn up you're under pressure, but thankfully I did the business today"
Thursday 2 November 2023 11:02, UK
Gerwyn Price stormed to an emphatic 8-3 victory over Dave Chisnall in Wednesday's Players Championship 29 decider to secure his seventh PDC title of 2023.
Price produced a series of dominant displays to scoop the £12,000 top prize in Barnsley, dispatching top seed Chisnall to triumph in the year's penultimate Players Championship event.
The Welshman came into Wednesday's action fresh from a chastening quarter-final defeat to Danny Noppert at last weekend's European Championship, where he remarkably surrendered a 7-0 lead.
However, he returned to winning ways at the Barnsley Metrodome, clinching his fourth Players Championship title of 2023 to move top of the Order of Merit with just one event remaining on Thursday.
Chisnall punished a sluggish start from Price to establish an early lead in the final, only to spurn six darts for a 3-0 advantage, which ultimately proved decisive.
Price put in an inspired mid-match burst to turn the contest on its head, following up a magical 170 checkout with back-to-back 11-dart legs to move 5-3 in front.
Chisnall was unable to respond and Price continued the procession to wrap up victory, firing in back-to-back 15-darters before converting a clinical 105 checkout on tops to cap off a fine performance.
"I gave myself a kick up the backside and it worked," reflected Price, who produced three ton-topping averages throughout the afternoon.
"I was going to take these two days off, but I wanted to punish myself. I was so poor towards the end of the game against Danny [last weekend].
"I couldn't hit anything early on [against Chisnall], so I was trying to throw a little bit quicker and get my arm in, and thankfully I found it towards the end of that game.
"It's not easy when you're playing in all the big tournaments and you're trying to pick and choose your events. When you do turn up you're under pressure, but thankfully I did the business today."
Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen was beaten in round one by Lee Evans on his return to Players Championship action, with Anderson, Jonny Clayton, Joe Cullen and Dimitri Van den Bergh exiting at the same stage.
Newly crowned European champion Peter Wright was also beaten in his opener by Jamie Hughes, leaving the Scot £3,500 adrift of Players Championship Finals qualification ahead of Thursday's final event.
Meanwhile, Mensur Suljovic, Vincent van der Voort, Mervyn King and Alan Soutar are among the players outside of the provisional qualification places for the World Darts Championship, which sets up an intriguing finale to the 2023 ProTour season.
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