Dolan ends five-year title drought at Players Championship 22

Brendan Dolan ended a five-year wait for a PDC ranking title at Players Championship 22 in Hildesheim with an 8-5 victory over Jermaine Wattimena in the final.

Dolan, who enjoyed a prolific spell in 2013 and 2014 with five ranking titles, had dropped out of the world’s top 32 in recent years, but returned to the winner’s enclosure on an emotional Sunday in Germany.

The Northern Irishman had shown glimpses of a return to form in last December’s World Championship, where he reached the Quarter-Finals for the first time, and proved he still has what it takes to win titles at the top level on a memorable day at Halle 39.

“I just can’t believe it,” admitted a tearful Dolan. “It’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

“I’ve worked so hard and I haven’t got results out of it. Yesterday, the way I played was unbelievably bad and I sent my wife a text. She told me to wise up.

“I used to always say that if I get past the first round then I’m dangerous. I’ve tried really hard this last 18 months and not got the results, but I’ve performed really well.

“I think I’ve got the luck on the day today and it’s just great to get a win.

“This game’s all about pressure, mental pressure. I pressurise myself all the time, and my wife told took all the pressure off me and told me just to play darts.”

Dolan immediately registered a ton average in edging past Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-5, and after seeing off Alan Norris and Chris Dobey, ‘The History Maker’ then averaged almost 107 to deny Dave Chisnall in a deciding leg.

Dolan repeated that scoreline in a narrow Quarter-Final win over Glen Durrant and averaged above 100 again in a commanding 7-3 win over Cody Harris in the Last Four.

The opening stages of the final proved tight as Dolan and Wattimena shared the opening four legs, before a 13-darter saw the Northern Irishman break in leg five.

Wattimena finished 86 to break back and level, but a superb 11-darter from Dolan sparked a run of four straight legs as he moved one away from victory at 7-3.

Wattimena landed 180s in the next two as legs of 13 and 14 darts saw the Dutchman battle back, but Dolan finished 108 to emotionally secure the title.

Wattimena’s run on the day saw him reach a second Players Championship final of the year, but the World Cup representative was again left waiting for his first ranking title.

He overcame fellow countrymen Christian Kist and Jelle Klaasen in his opening two games, before seeing off Ryan Joyce and Gabriel Clemens.

Wattimena then missed double 12 for a nine-darter during his 6-2 Quarter-Final win over Steve Beaton, before coming from 4-0 down to prevail 7-6 against Mensur Suljovic – claiming a first victory over the Austrian at the seventh attempt and avenging his recent World Matchplay thrashing.

Suljovic had won through to his first Players Championship Semi-Final for nearly two years, while New Zealand’s Harris was appearing in the Last Four on the ProTour for the first time.

Harris recently won his second Challenge Tour title, and warmed up for his appearance in the forthcoming New Zealand Darts Masters, with five wins on Sunday, including a 6-4 Quarter-Final defeat of Saturday’s winner – Krzysztof Ratajski.

Ratajski, Beaton and Durrant were joined in the Quarter-Finals by top seed Ian White, while 2019 Players Championship winners Chisnall and Harry Ward reached the last 16 alongside World Matchplay finalist Michael Smith and German Darts Masters runner-up Gabriel Clemens.

Sunday August 4

Ian White 6-2 Mario Robbe

Reece Robinson 6-2 Michael Barnard

William O’Connor 6-3 Bradley Brooks

Gavin Carlin 6-4 Callan Rydz

Mike De Decker 6-5 Danny Noppert

Adrian Gray 6-3 Vincent Van der Meer

Jamie Hughes 6-3 Justin Pipe

Harry Ward 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Mensur Suljovic 6-1 Berry van Peer

Wayne Jones 6-5 George Killington

James Wilson 6-2 Steve Lennon

Ryan Meikle 6-3 Jan Dekker

Michael Smith 6-2 David Pallett

Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-2 Richard North

Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Andrew Gilding

Christian Bunse 6-5 Jose De Sousa

Joe Cullen 6-2 Steve West

Luke Humphries 6-1 Kevin Burness

Kyle Anderson 6-4 Davy Van Baelen

Benito van de Pas 6-3 Robert Owen

Steve Beaton 6-3 Mark McGeeney

Danny van Trijp 6-3 Simon Stevenson

Keegan Brown 6-4 Ritchie Edhouse

Mike van Duivenbode 6-2 Jerry Hendriks

Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Carl Wilkinson

Mark Wilson 6-4 Cristo Reyes

Gabriel Clemens 6-1 Scott Taylor

Geert Nentjes 6-5 Kevin Garcia

Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Christian Kist

Jelle Klaasen 6-5 Jose Justicia

Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Mervyn King

Ryan Joyce 6-5 Ronny Huybrechts

Dave Chisnall 6-3 Kirk Shepherd

Peter Hudson 6-4 Tom Lonsdale

Andy Boulton 6-1 Ross Smith

Joe Murnan 6-4 Dave Prins

Brendan Dolan 6-5 Jeffrey De Zwaan

Alan Norris 6-3 Adam Hunt

Chris Dobey 6-5 Jonathan Worsley

Justin Smith 6-5 Zoran Lerchbacher

Ricky Evans 6-5 Scott Baker

Martin Schindler 6-3 Darius Labanauskas

Ryan Harrington 6-4 Ron Meulenkamp

Mark Webster 6-5 Vincent Kamphuis

Glen Durrant 6-3 James Richardson

Madars Razma 6-4 Tytus Kanik

Darren Webster 6-1 Arjan Konterman

Maik Kuivenhoven 6-4 Yordi Meeuwisse

Jonny Clayton 6-4 Toni Alcinas

Cody Harris 6-5 Kim Huybrechts

Wessel Nijman 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Patrick van den Boogaard 6-5 Brett Claydon

Simon Whitlock 6-3 Barrie Bates

Marko Kantele 6-2 Josh Payne

Mickey Mansell 6-4 John Henderson

Conan Whitehead 6-1 Robert Marijanovic

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 Alan Tabern

Devon Petersen 6-0 Jamie Lewis

Ryan Searle 6-3 Ted Evetts

Matt Clark 6-3 Diogo Portela

Stephen Bunting 6-0 Robert Thornton

Luke Woodhouse 6-3 Niels Zonneveld

Max Hopp 6-3 Matthew Edgar

Arron Monk 6-1 Tony Newell

Second Round

Ian White 6-5 Reece Robinson

William O’Connor 6-1 Gavin Carlin

Mike De Decker 6-1 Adrian Gray

Harry Ward 6-5 Jamie Hughes

Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Wayne Jones

Ryan Meikle 6-5 James Wilson

Michael Smith 6-1 Rowby-John Rodriguez

Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Christian Bunse

Joe Cullen 6-3 Luke Humphries

Kyle Anderson 6-1 Benito van de Pas

Steve Beaton 6-5 Danny van Trijp

Mike van Duivenbode 6-5 Keegan Brown

Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Mark Wilson

Gabriel Clemens 6-3 Geert Nentjes

Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Jelle Klaasen

Ryan Joyce 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld

Dave Chisnall 6-3 Peter Hudson

Andy Boulton 6-4 Joe Murnan

Brendan Dolan 6-2 Alan Norris

Chris Dobey 6-2 Justin Smith

Ricky Evans 6-3 Martin Schindler

Mark Webster 6-2 Ryan Harrington

Glen Durrant 6-3 Madars Razma

Darren Webster 6-5 Maik Kuivenhoven

Cody Harris 6-5 Jonny Clayton

Wessel Nijman 6-4 Patrick van den Boogaard

Marko Kantele 6-5 Simon Whitlock

Conan Whitehead 6-2 Mickey Mansell

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Devon Petersen

Ryan Searle 6-1 Matt Clark

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Luke Woodhouse

Arron Monk 6-2 Max Hopp

Losers: £500

Last 32

Ian White 6-3 William O’Connor

Harry Ward 6-1 Mike De Decker

Mensur Suljovic 6-3 Ryan Meikle

Michael Smith 6-3 Vincent van der Voort

Joe Cullen 6-2 Kyle Anderson

Steve Beaton 6-2 Mike van Duivenbode

Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Nathan Aspinall

Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Ryan Joyce

Dave Chisnall 6-0 Andy Boulton

Brendan Dolan 6-2 Chris Dobey

Ricky Evans 6-2 Mark Webster

Glen Durrant 6-1 Darren Webster

Cody Harris 6-5 Wessel Nijman

Marko Kantele 6-5 Conan Whitehead

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4 Ryan Searle

Arron Monk 6-4 Stephen Bunting

Losers: £1,000

Last 16

Ian White 6-5 Harry Ward

Mensur Suljovic 6-3 Michael Smith

Steve Beaton 6-1 Joe Cullen

Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Gabriel Clemens

Brendan Dolan 6-5 Dave Chisnall

Glen Durrant 6-2 Ricky Evans

Cody Harris 6-1 Marko Kantele

Krzysztof Ratajski 6-5 Arron Monk

Losers: £1,500

Quarter-Finals

Mensur Suljovic 6-5 Ian White

Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Steve Beaton

Brendan Dolan 6-5 Glen Durrant

Cody Harris 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski

Losers: £2,250

Semi-Finals

Jermaine Wattimena 7-6 Mensur Suljovic

Brendan Dolan 7-3 Cody Harris

Losers: £3,000

Final

Brendan Dolan 8-5 Jermaine Wattimena

Winner: £10,000

Runner-up: £6,000