Nine-dart Ross Smith caps day of incredible form with second ranking title of the season at Players Championship 28
PDCSaturday, 21 October 2023 at 20:00
Ross Smith took the title at the 28th Players Championship tournament of the season in Barnsley on Saturday. He settled in the final match with Damon Heta, who gave away a lead in the final.
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This title could not have come at a better time for Smith, who will try to defend his title at the European Championship next week. He only faced a seeded player in the final.
The Englishman had successively defeated Nathan Rafferty (6-2), Robbie Knops (6-0), Robert Owen (6-2), Niels Zonneveld (6-2), Ricky Evans (6-2) and Dom Taylor (7-6) to reach the final. In four of these matches, he threw an average well above 100.
At the other end of the schedule, Heta managed to qualify for the final match after victories over Alan Soutar (6-4), Karel Sedlacek (6-1), Scott Waites (6-3), Martin Schindler (6-3), Luke Woodhouse (6-2) and Mickey Mansell (7-2).
Heta then managed to grab a 6-3 lead in the final after a 12-darter, 13-darter and a 104 finish, among others. However, thanks to a 13-darter and a 12-darter, Smith came back to 6-6. He then took over the lead with a 12-darter, before Smith managed to take the victory with a 13-darter.
Results Players Championship 28
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Last 16
Dom Taylor 6 | 1 Darren Webster
Raymond van Barneveld 6 | 5 Radek Szaganski
Ross Smith 6 | 2 Niels Zonneveld
Ricky Evans 6 | 3 Florian Hempel
Damon Heta 6 | 3 Martin Schindler
Luke Woodhouse 6 | 5 Jeffrey Sparidaans
Mickey Mansell 6 | 5 Josh Rock
Ricardo Pietreczko 6 | 5 Matt Campbell
Quarterfinals
Dom Taylor 6 | 2 Raymond van Barneveld
Ross Smith 6 | 2 Ricky Evans
Damon Heta 6 | 2 Luke Woodhouse
Mickey Mansell 6 | 1 Ricardo Pietreczko
Semi-final
Ross Smith 7 | 6 Dom Taylor
Damon Heta 7 | 2 Mickey Mansell
Final
Ross Smith (104.68) 8 | 6 (96.68) Damon Heta
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I loved Jan and loved his walk on music "Explode" by Jordan & Baker. I think if he stuck around the BDO he definitely would have been World Champion, should have won in 2014, he never really showed any of his talent in the PDC. I remembered he worked in a bank or in finance and maybe that was his priority, he was also a fan and interested in magic. Definitely should have achieved much more in darts than he did. Wherever you are nowadays Jan, hope all is well and I was always a fan.richieburnettrocks11-09-2026
- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
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