Luke Humphries’ struggle for form continued with a last-16 exit at the Player Championship 9 in Wigan as Chris Dobey romped to his second title of 2026.
Four days on from a quarter-final defeat to Jonny Clayton in Brighton that left his hopes of reaching the Premier League finals in jeopardy, Humphries was unable to muster a response in a 6-4 defeat to Andrew Gilding.
Gilding went on to beat Beau Greaves 6-3 after the 22-year-old registered victories over Raymond van Barneveld and Premier League leader Clayton to become the first woman in PDC history to reach a ProTour quarter-final.
Gilding’s run came to an end with a 7-1 semi-final defeat to eventual winner Dobey, who thrashed Luke Woodhouse 6-1 in the last-16 and Richard Veenstra 6-3 in quarter-finals before overcoming Justin Hood 8-4 in the final to land the £15,000 prize.
The 35-year-old from Northumberland lost the first two legs against Hood but then claimed six of the next seven legs to take control of the decider.
Dobey consistently produced ton-plus averages on his way to the final, where a 105.28 average was enough to see off a spirited challenge from Hood, who averaged 102.91 himself.
![Chris Dobey [Taylor Lanning/PDC]](https://e0.365dm.com/26/02/768x432/skysports-chris-dobey-darts_7152137.jpg?20260201133141)
Chris Dobey clinched his 10th Players Championship title in Wigan [Taylor Lanning/PDC]
“The way I’ve been playing throughout the year, I’m hoping to pick up more titles,” said Dobey. “It’s hard just to win one of these, so to win ten is a great feeling.
“He put up a good fight with some great shots at crucial times, but I played some good stuff all day, and I’m delighted with another win.
“I just want to start doing it on TV and picking up some European Tour titles. I know I can do it, it’s just about being consistent.”
Wigan witnessed a nine-darter, with Thomas Lovely producing a perfect leg of darts in his round three defeat to Woodhouse.
2026 Players Championship 9 – results
Last 16
Tom Bissell 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Connor Scutt 6-3 Steve Lennon
Tom Sykes 6-3 Martijn Dragt
Justin Hood 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Beau Greaves 6-4 Joe Hunt
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Luke Humphries
Chris Dobey 6-1 Luke Woodhouse
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Kevin Doets
Quarter-finals
Connor Scutt 6-4 Tom Bissell
Justin Hood 6-0 Tom Sykes
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Beau Greaves
Chris Dobey 6-3 Richard Veenstra
Semi-finals
Justin Hood 7-3 Connor Scutt
Chris Dobey 7-1 Andrew Gilding
Final
Chris Dobey 8-4 Justin Hood
Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.