DISCUSSION | Players Championship 9 & 10 - Is Wessel Nijman ready for top 16 breakthrough? Beau Greaves and Scott Waites stand-out displays in Wigan?

It felt like deja vu in Wigan as like in Leicester last time out, the big names vanished from Players Championship 9 & 10 but in the end, it was Chris Dobey and Wessel Nijman who won yet more titles continuing their stranglehold on the ProTour.

Dobey claimed a 10th Players Championship title defying an excellent day from Justin Hood who also was a real success story in some of his best darts since that breathtaking Ally Pally run. But Dobey who it can be remembered was for a long while the best player without a title to his name a few years ago has now become a real winning force.

So has Nijman who defeated Scott Waites 8-2. 'Scotty 2 Hotty' was aiming to become one of only a few players to win a title without a Tour Card and it was Karel Sedlacek again in the semi-finals who continues to show some of his best form yet. A real good run for him as he looks to make the World Matchplay too and is in the spots to do so as of right now.

Waites though in losing to Nijman wasn't a huge shock. It was a third Players Championship of the season for the Dutch prodigy who is a real comeback story from his travails earlier in his career to now becoming a bonafide threat for bigger honours and achieving his real darting potential.

Beau Greaves also had a great double header and only lost to Nijman in the Last Eight with a 109.71 average for the winner. While Nijman also downed Niels Zonneveld and Adam Gawlas, the latter with a 110 average. The former of course is one of the best players on tour this season and like Nijman and also Kevin Doets continues to anchor Dutch darts outside of Van Gerwen and Van Veen.

In a world where Luke Littler and co dominate the top of the sport and it can be a bit boring to some, his absence as well as others from these events goes to surface that there is dominance under that surface level from others who are really ever improving.

Chris Dobey is absolute dynamite when it comes to the ProTour and has throw is very much on the end of a string. While Wessel Nijman is truly effortless and can throw in these absolute massive averages for fun. The fact he has now done it on a European Tour as well will do one of two things, he either joins the Van Veen's of the darting world in really emerging as he should or like Niko Springer for instance, he has his breakout then struggles to replicate it.

Either way he has shown with three titles already that he will be the player no-one wants to draw. Also superb to see Beau Greaves have such a great week, the pressure was heaped on her when she got her Tour Card and it is very much a school of hard knocks and she has managed to get into that groove. Same for Justin Hood who is a real character on the big stage and showed in that PC9 final run that he has the real talent on the floor too.

Also a word on Joe Hunt who has massively impressed during his forays on the ProTour after dominating the Challenge Tour at times so far this season. He will likely play the whole lot this year given absences and is the next player primed for that conveyer belt of darts that is the Challenge Tour. Really good again from him and showing that it isn't just that tour where he thrives.

Wessel Nijman once again showed why he is currently regarded as the most consistent player on the PDC Pro Tour. He claimed the title at Players Championship 10, already his fourth ranking title of the season. Nijman recently lifted a Euro Tour trophy as well, so the next step is delivering on the major stage. On current form, that breakthrough in the second half of the season feels inevitable.

In Nijman’s slipstream, Niels Zonneveld and Kevin Doets also impressed over the past few days. Zonneveld has now effectively secured qualification for both the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix, while Doets should no longer let his strong position slip away. It is encouraging to see several new Dutch names beginning to emerge on the major stage once again.

Beau Greaves also caught the eye with quarter-final appearances at both Players Championship 9 and 10. She is rapidly closing in on qualification for both the Players Championship Finals and the PDC World Darts Championship through the Pro Tour Order of Merit, which would be an outstanding achievement in her first full year competing at this level.

For me, Wessel Nijman has once again proven during this Players Championship week why he deserves to be ranked in the world’s top 16. Although he was knocked out relatively early on Monday, he showed on Tuesday why he holds a commanding lead in the Pro Tour Order of Merit. With two averages of over 109 and another of 108 over the course of the day, he literally swept past every opponent. He was a bit lucky to face a Scott Waites in the final who didn’t put up much of a fight, but all in all it was a well-deserved victory. His third of the year already, alongside a Euro Tour title. If he maintains this level, I dare say he will win a major tournament very soon.

Kevin Doets also played another strong doubleheader. On Monday, he reached the fourth round and on Tuesday, he made it to the quarter-finals after defeating, among others, Peter Wright and James Wade. He too recorded three averages well over 100. Thanks to this performance, he is now in the top 5 of the Players Championship Order of Merit.

Beau Greaves also put in a fine performance with two quarter-finals in a row. In doing so, she demonstrated once again that she has everything it takes to win a major tournament one day. I don’t think it will be long before that happens.

For me, the story of this week’s Pro Tour block was written quite clearly by Beau Greaves. At a time when there is legitimate debate about whether the organisation and its regulatory framework still truly represents the sport we all value so highly, the greatest female darts player of all time could hardly have delivered a more fitting response.

Despite the physical disadvantages she – apparently – faces on the oche, Greaves reached the quarter-finals at both Players Championship 9 and Players Championship 10, once again setting another PDC milestone. As a result, the 22-year-old has moved up to 22nd place in the Players Championship Order of Merit and is therefore, for example, ranked higher than any German player in the standings.

This brings me directly to the second topic that, for me personally, defined the Players Championship week: the extremely disappointing German results. At Players Championship 9, only one of the 15 German participants — Dominik Grüllich — reached a board final, while none progressed to the last 16. At Players Championship 10, nine players were eliminated in the opening round, and only two competitors reached a board final. In the end, Gabriel Clemens and Daniel Klose at least advanced to the last 16.

It is almost symbolic that Klose — a replacement call-up making his first Pro Tour appearance in a year and a half — produced some of the strongest performances of the German Pro Tour week. A reality that fits seamlessly into the broader current situation of German darts as a whole.

If you are a player on the PDC who is not as recognisable of not having as much success as others at the top level, then Scott Waites run to the final of PC10 is a story that could motivate them to keep ploughing on. As unlikely of a finalist the former Grand Slam champion was, the Englishman defied the odds and blasted his way through a tricky run, eventually being thrashed by a rampant Wessel Nijman.

Despite not having a tour card, he proved that it is possible to make it that distance. With how string darts is currently, there are more of these scenarios occurring. It could have been Karel Sedlacek who would be getting the headlines after he lost to Waites in PC10 semi-final, still waiting for a maiden final. It shows the depth of talent the PDC currently has, and this is only going to continue.

While these types of scenarios are one-offs, Beau Greaves going deep on the floor could be a regular occurrence in the future. She seems at home at this level. While her level dropped off throughout the day in PC10, she proved too good for many of her opponents. That is a key skill: winning while not at your imperious best. The likes of Martin Schindler and Cameron Menzies could not cope as she made another quarterfinal.

What stands out most is how complete Wessel Nijman looks right now. Three titles plus another final is no longer a coincidence, but a sign of real consistency. Being within about £3,000 of the world’s top 16 says a lot: he’s entering that “danger zone” where opponents start to approach you differently. The next step will be mental—delivering on the big TV stages, where the pace and pressure differ from floor events.

Chris Dobey is showing something similar, but with one key difference: he has already proven he can win majors (Masters 2023). His current Players Championship form suggests he could be building toward another peak on the big stage. He looks a bit more stable than last year.

Justin Hood is the kind of player who thrives on confidence. His World Championship run wasn’t a fluke, but his struggles afterward show how difficult it is to maintain that level. That final at Players Championship 9 could be a turning point—but only if he finds consistency now. Otherwise, he risks remaining in that “dangerous outsider” category.

And what about Scott Waites… that might be the most remarkable story of all. Reaching a final without a Tour Card says everything about his quality and about the depth of the field. His BDO background (two world titles) still shows in his match management. It also raises the question: if he had a Tour Card, how often could he produce this level?

The broader conclusion, which you also pointed out, may be the most important one: the Pro Tour has become so deep that the difference between the top 16 and, say, the top 64 is sometimes barely noticeable on any given day.

Looking ahead to the majors, a few key questions stand out: Can Nijman translate this form to TV events? Will Dobey maintain this level heading into the big tournaments? Could we see another surprise run from players like Hood or Waites?