Players Championship 18: Gerwyn Price crushes Gian van Veen 8-1 in final

Gerwyn Price crushed Gian van Veen 8-1 to win back-to-back ProTour titles.

The Welshman, 38, claimed his fifth title of 2023 in Sunday's Players Championship 18 final in Germany.

That followed Price's 8-5 win over Josh Rock of Northern Ireland in Saturday's Players Championship 17 final.

Price seized on any error by rising Dutch 21-year-old Van Venn with 84 and 88 checkouts in the first two legs, closing out the match in Hildesheim with a 14-darter in the ninth leg.

It was a successful return to ProTour action for Price, who won back-to-back European Tour titles in March.

"Gian is a great player. He missed a couple of chances, and I didn't let him off in that game," Price, the 2021 world champion, told the PDC website.

"My game wasn't the best apart from a couple of games at the end. I was scoring well all day, missing loads of doubles but getting away with it.

"I would rather play really well, even if I lose sometimes. Scraping games doesn't give you that much confidence, but winning is what matters.

"If I'm winning tournaments when I'm playing my C-game, when my A-game comes out hopefully that's good enough as well, because some people turn me over when I'm playing my best.

"When there are ranking points at stake, it means a little bit more, and luck was on my side this weekend."

The 2023 PDC ProTour season continues with Players Championships 19-21 set to take place at the Barnsley Metrodome from 3-5 September.