Luke Humphries has added a third title of the season to his collection after victories on the European Tour and now a second
Players Championship winning Event 20 on Monday evening in Barnsley.
It was an 8-6 win over maiden finalist, Kevin Doets which was anything but comfortable for 'Cool Hand Luke'. Despite it being a first final and a huge disparity in the rankings, Humphries didn't dominate like perhaps he would like. But always kept the Dutchman at arms length and pulled away when it mattered most.
Humphries eased to an opening hold. An early break on double eight saw him go 2-0 up. Humphries failed to hold with a 41 checkout on double eight but Doets missed 66 and ‘Cool Hand Luke’ returned for double four for 3-0.
Doets finally got on the board on double eight. Humphries missed the big number on 58 and Doets punished to break back at 3-2. 110 finish saw Doets make it 3-3. He missed 128 on double 10 to break again and Humphries retook the lead on double four and went 5-3 up.
Doets pinned 115 to make it 5-4 down and he looked for parity. He sealed it after Humphries missed a chance to break. Humphries held to make it 6-5.
Doets cleaned up 87 to make it 6-6. Humphries took the chance of a lead away from Doets with a 100 checkout. Doets couldn’t find 105, with Humphries scoring magnificently with a 180 and 140 before laying up double 20 from 100 and he sealed it.
Players Championship 20 Results
Last 16
Kevin Doets (96.16) 6 | 5 (94.08) Ross Smith
Gabriel Clemens (94.98) 6 | 5 (89.35) Cameron Menzies
Jermaine Wattimena (90.18) 6 | 0 (88.84) Jules van Dongen
Mike De Decker (86.34) 6 | 4 (87.38) Danny Noppert
Callan Rydz (95.05) 6 | 3 (94.84) Florian Hempel
Rob Cross (96.88) 6 | 5 (94.73) Stephen Bunting
Luke Humphries (102.70) 6 | 4 (98.22) Ryan Searle
Michael Smith (106.55) 6 | 3 (107.11) Josh Rock
Quarter-Finals
Kevin Doets (96.86) 6 | 1 (87.34) Gabriel Clemens
Jermaine Wattimena (93.22) 3 | 6 (90.22) Mike De Decker
Callan Rydz (95.06) 6 | 5 (104.42) Rob Cross
Luke Humphries (99.79) 6 | 2 (92.21) Michael Smith
Semi-Finals
Kevin Doets (91.08) 7 | 5 (89.49) Mike De Decker
Callan Rydz (97.78) 1 | 7 (107.14) Luke Humphries
Final
Kevin Doets (92.97) 6 | 8 (94.79) Luke Humphries