The 30th Players Championship of the year was a triumph for Wessel Nijman last Thursday. The 25-year-old Dutchman defeated Australian Damon Heta 8-3 in the final to capture the second PDC ranking title of his career. Nijman's title is the third Dutch victory this year at the Players Championship, after Gian van Veen (PC 6) and Jermaine Wattimena (PC 23) triumphed earlier.
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Nijman's title was the 140th Dutch final victory on the PDC Pro Tour. 90 of those came in the name of Michael van Gerwen. Remarkably, Van Gerwen, who was absent for the 30th tournament last Thursday, has yet to win a single Players Championship this year. In fact, he is only 92nd in the Players Championship Order of Merit and is currently missing out on qualification for the Players Championship Finals.
'Mighty Mike' did win one Pro Tour title this year, specifically the German Darts Grand Prix. Van Gerwen then defeated his compatriot Gian van Veen 8-5 in the final.
With those Pro Tour titles, the Netherlands is in second place of all time. The ranking is still led unchallenged by England with 395 titles. Not entirely surprisingly, most of those titles were won by Phil Taylor. The Power' clocked up 70 final victories on the Pro Tour.
Phil Taylor provided the most English success on the Pro Tour
The top three is completed by Scotland with 87 titles, with Gary Anderson and Peter Wright the main contributors to these titles. Just outside the top three, we find Wales in fourth place with 45 titles, with Gerwyn Price providing the most success.
The top five is completed by Australia with 32 Pro Tour titles. Belgium in comparison be found in eighth place with nine titles, won by Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts and Mike De Decker.
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Three countries managed to capture only one Pro Tour title, Ireland (William O'Connor), South Africa (Devon Petersen) and Sweden (Jeffrey de Graaf).
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
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