Gilding's glory: Goldfinger downs Premier League star to claim Players Championship title

Andrew Gilding

Gilding's glory: Goldfinger downs Premier League star to claim Players Championship title originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding picked up his maiden PDC Pro Tour title on Wednesday, after defeating Premier League Contender Jonny Clayton 8-3 in the final of Players Championship 16, as the midweek double header concluded at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena.

The popular player, known as Goldfinger, finally claimed one of the PDC's tour titles after 442 previous attempts and many near misses!

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Gilding – a six-time runner-up on the Pro Tour – went a step further at the seventh time of asking as he reached Wednesday’s Finale firstly by recording victories against Wesley Plaisier, Arno Merk, Dirk Van Duijvenbode, Jermaine Wattimena, Joe Hunt and Ian White, to set up a clash with Clayton.

The final began with the Suffolk star racing into a 3-0 lead with winning legs coming in a total of 43 darts, before Clayton ended the drought in Leg Four to pick up his first leg of the tie in 18 darts. Gilding then rattled off three successive legs again to extend his lead at 6-1 before there was a run of four straight holds of throw between the pair, which resulted in ‘Goldfinger’ sealing an 8-3 victory in Leg 11 with a 19 darter to pick up a first Pro Tour title as well as £15,000 top prize.

Clayton’s run to the final saw the Welsh starlet record victories on the day against Marvin Van Velzen, Mervyn King, Derek Coulson, Andy Boulton, Gabriel Clemens and Niko Springer, before being denied a first ranking title of the year by Gilding.