“Happy Feet” makes headlines again after World Championship shock: highest average for Justin Hood at Players Championship 1

In the German city of Hildesheim, the first Players Championship of the year was completed yesterday. Michael van Gerwen came closest to the title among the Dutch contingent. ‘Mighty Mike’ lost 7-5 in the semi-finals to the Englishman James Wade, who then walked away with the title after an 8-6 win in the final against his compatriot Nathan Aspinall.

For Wade, it was already the twelfth Players Championship title of his career. ‘The Machine’ is known more for his consistency than for sky-high averages, and that showed again yesterday. Wade does not appear once in the top 10 averages at the first Players Championship of the year, yet still impressively took the title.

Justin Hood tops this list. The 32-year-old Englishman, who very surprisingly reached the quarter-finals at the last World Darts Championship and was eventually stopped only by Gary Anderson, proved too strong for World Championship finalist Gian van Veen with a 6-1 win in the second round. ‘Happy Feet’ posted a 108.47 average in that match. Hood ultimately fell a round later after a 6-4 defeat to the Austrian Mensur Suljovic.

The second-highest average went to Cam Crabtree. The Englishman beat his compatriot Luke Woodhouse 6-1 in the second round and recorded a 107.68 average. For Crabtree as well, the third round proved the end of the road after a 6-4 loss to Beau Greaves.

The top three is completed by Wesley Plaisier. The 35-year-old Dutchman swept aside Austrian Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 6-0 in his opening match. Plaisier averaged 107.36 in that game. He eventually bowed out in the last 16 after a 6-2 defeat to the German Gabriel Clemens.

The Players Championship resumes this afternoon with the second event of the year. That also takes place in Hildesheim.