Ian White claimed his first title of the year at Players Championship 8 in Barnsley on Sunday, defeating James Wade 8-3 in the final.
White produced an incredibly consistent level throughout the day, averaging over 100 in all but one of his seven victories, including a 111.3 in his win over John Henderson in the last 32.
A winner of two European Tour events in 2019, White began the second day of the ProTour double-header with wins over William Borland, Diogo Portela and Henderson.
The 49-year-old then overcame Stephen Bunting in the last 16 before a 109.7 average was enough to see off Dave Chisnall in the last eight.
White defeated Kim Huybrechts 7-4 in the semi-finals and went on to brush Wade aside to pick up his first Players Championship title since June 2018 and a 13th PDC title of his career.
“I’ve been playing good darts through the year but not been getting the luck, so this title has been coming,” said White, who moves back up to tenth on the PDC Order of Merit.
“The form is coming on, I’ve had a few problems but I’m sorting myself out and everything is going well.
“A couple of weeks ago Peter Wright was hitting lots of 100-plus averages so that spurred me on to keep up with him.
“Everyone goes on about my TV form not being as good as my ProTour form but I play good darts on the TV stages, I’ve hit a few averages over 100.
“I’ve just run into top class players at their best a few times, I just think I’ve been unlucky.
“My heads on this year and I want to stay in that top ten.”
The eighth Players Championship event of the year also saw former TV finalist Huybrechts reach his first ranking semi-final in almost two years.
Dutchman Derk Telnekes, who was among the new Tour Card winners in January, also reached the final four having reached the quarter-finals at Saturday’s Players Championship 7.
The 2020 PDC ProTour continues with two Players Championship events at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes on Saturday March 28 and Sunday March 29, with live streaming on PDCTV.
Players Championship 8
Sunday March 15
Last 16
Derk Telnekes 6-2 Gavin Carlin
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Glen Durrant
James Wade 6-5 Josh Payne
Keegan Brown 6-2 Justin Pipe
Ian White 6-2 Stephen Bunting
Dave Chisnall 6-0 Christian Bunse
Kim Huybrechts 6-0 Peter Wright
Michael Smith 6-5 Ricky Evans
Quarter-Finals
Derk Telnekes 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
James Wade 6-4 Keegan Brown
Ian White 6-4 Dave Chisnall
Kim Huybrechts 6-4 Michael Smith
Semi-Finals
James Wade 7-2 Derk Telnekes
Ian White 7-4 Kim Huybrechts
Final
Ian White 8-3 James Wade
