Chris Dobey Seals Third Title of the Season with Dominant Players Championship 33 Triumph

Chris Dobey produced an excellent level throughout the day at the Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan to claim the Players Championship 33 title in a thrilling 8-6 final victory over William O’Connor. 

Chris Dobey celebrating on the World Championship stage last year (Photo by: Simon O'Connor)

‘Hollywood’ averaged 102.18 for the day and registered twenty-five maximums en route to his third Players Championship title of the season and eighth overall in his career.  

He collected the £15,000 top prize, climbing three places to world No.8 in the Werner Rankings Ladder. This victory also sealed his spot in next month’s Grand Slam of Darts, crucially after disappointingly failing to qualify last year. 

With this being the penultimate Players Championship event of the season, pressure was on in terms of qualifying for the Players Championship finals in Minehead, while some players also had to keep an eye on World Championship qualification spots. 

The World No.1 Luke Humphries was stunned in the opening round, losing to World No.118 Adam Warner 6-5. Humphries sits in 57^th on the Players Championship Order of Merit, just £1,000 within the spots. ‘Cool Hand’ still has work to do to confirm his spot in Minehead in the final event. 

Elsewhere, Richard Veenstra helped his chances to qualify enormously with a last 16 run today, defeating Scottish duo Darren Beveridge and Alan Soutar as well as seeing off Pro Tour No.1 seed Stephen Bunting 6-3, before falling to Ryan Joyce 6-5.

This lifted Veenstra to 60^th from the final 64^th spot and now £500 within the qualifying cut-off. 

Meanwhile, Nathan Aspinall and Damon Heta both pinned the perfect leg in their opening round victories over Ian White and George Killington, respectively. 

Dobey started off his day with comfortable victories over Greg Ritchie and Rob Owen, dropping just three legs across both games.  

He then hit a sensational purple patch, averaging 108.76, 107.55, and 111.29 across his next three matches. This staggeringly consistent spell saw him defeat three 2025 Pro Tour winners in Jeffrey de Graaf, Damon Heta, and Nathan Aspinall in a row. 

Although his average dipped slightly in the semi-final, he still swept past another Pro Tour winner in 2025, in young Dutchman Wessel Nijman 7-2 to reach the final. 

In his six games to reach the final, Dobey had dropped just 12 legs, losing an average of just two per game, as no one came close to the Geordie star. 

His final opponent, William O’Connor, continues to make massive strides this year, sitting 26^th on the averages list across the course of the Players Championship season at 94.43, and backed up his two quarter-final and two semi-final runs on the tour this season with a final now. 

The Irish No.1 defeated the likes of France’s No.1 Thibault Tricole, Chris Landman, and recent European Championship quarter-finalist Ryan Joyce on his way to the showpiece match. 

For much of the final, momentum swung both ways, with Dobey and O’Connor exchanging leads and never separated by more than a leg. After eleven legs, O’Connor held a 6-5 lead after just landing a sensational 151 out. 

Dobey, however, produced a magnificent response to snatch the title away from ‘The Magpie’, with a hold of throw in 12 darts, before a crucial 16-dart break to lead 7-6, and closed it out with a stunning 15 darter with a 64 checkout. 

The wait for a second Players Championship title goes on for O’Connor, with his last coming in April 2019, however, the positive signs are there that another one can’t be far around the corner if he maintains this level. 

For Dobey, it was a successful day as he produced some world-class performances throughout the day and defeated some tough opposition, and when pushed in the final, he responded incredibly well for the first time in the day. 

Now up to world No.8 and qualification secured for the Grand Slam of Darts, ‘Hollywood’ will look to carry this form into the final three televised PDC events of the year.  

He is yet to make a quarter-final on TV in 2025, however, this could be the springboard for him to make an impression in the latter stages of the year.