Only Wessel Nijman has reached more: Jermaine Wattimena enters new territory in career-best 2026 ProTour season

Jermaine Wattimena has never reached PDC ProTour finals as regularly as he is in 2026, and his Players Championship 27 triumph has taken the Dutchman into territory he has not previously reached across a single season.

Wattimena defeated Kevin Doets 8-6 at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester on Tuesday to secure his third career Players Championship title and first of 2026. It was also the latest entry in a run of deep finishes stretching across both the floor and European Tour.

Tuesday marked Wattimena's fourth ProTour final of the season. Only Wessel Nijman, with an extraordinary nine, has reached more. Gerwyn Price, Ross Smith and Luke Woodhouse are the only other players to match Wattimena's tally of four.

Even during his breakthrough 2025 campaign, when he finally won his first PDC ranking title and later added a second, Wattimena reached three Players Championship finals across the entire season. He has already surpassed that total by August this year.

After victories over Stephen Rosney, Martin Lukeman and Daryl Gurney, Wattimena averaged over 102 to see off Carl Sneyd and set up a quarter-final against Luke Littler.

With the world champion making his first Players Championship appearance of 2026, Wattimena held his nerve in a deciding leg and produced a 115 checkout to seal a 6-5 victory.

Luke Woodhouse then led Wattimena 4-1 in the semi-final before the Dutchman exploded into life. He reeled off six consecutive legs, firing in finishes of 136, 135, 115, 127 and 128 during a remarkable spell to win 7-4.

Doets threatened another comeback in the final after Wattimena surged 6-2 ahead, closing back to 7-6 before an 11-darter finally secured the title and returned Wattimena to the winner's circle.

One of those four finals came at July's European Darts Open in Leverkusen, where Wattimena beat the likes of Luke Woodhouse and Damon Heta before losing 8-6 to Krzysztof Ratajski in the final.

His other two 2026 finals came on the floor. Wessel Nijman denied him 8-5 at Players Championship 12 after Wattimena had led 4-2, before Luke Humphries beat him 8-4 at Players Championship 17.

Together with Tuesday's victory over Doets, Wattimena's four finals have now been spread from April to August and across both strands of the ProTour. One has ended with silverware, while only the prolific Nijman has reached finals more frequently in 2026.