"Need to seriously get my act together" - Chris Dobey apologises after 'an absolute sh*t show' in Players Championship Finals opening round

Chris Dobey came into the 2024 Players Championship Finals full of hope and optimism after topping the years Players Championship Order of Merit and taking top seed status. Sadly for 'Hollywood' though, the script was not in his favour as Nathan Aspinall took a resounding 6-1 victory in the opening round.

As mentioned, Dobey was the best player on the Pro Tour this year, earning more money than anyone else and earning himself the number one seed spot. Over the 2024 season though, the former Masters champion and Premier League Darts star has found good performances much harder to come by on TV, with this latest disappointing showing sadly continuing that trend.

Reacting to his performance on his official social media afterwards, Dobey put out a public apology to his fans. "That was an absolute shit show tonight. I apologise to everyone for making you sit through that," the Englishman writes. "Need to seriously get my act together before the Worlds. I dunno what’s happened to me, I just can’t seem to play on stage."

After a run to the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship last time out at Ally Pally, Dobey was famously defeated by one of the all time great comebacks from Rob Cross. It's fair to say 'Hollywood' is returning to London this December much less touted and fancied.

As for Aspinall, he now moves onto round 2 where Niels Zonneveld is awaiting on Saturday afternoon in Minehead.