Preview Friday afternoon at Players Championship Finals: Wade, Clayton, Cross among leading lights in opening session

For the second time this year, we are in Minehead, where the Players Championship Finals gets underway Friday afternoon. This tournament is considered the final event of the Pro Tour season and is considered the last major towards the World Darts Championship.

The field of participants consists of the top-64 of the Players Championship Order of Merit, with the matches determined based on the participants' final positions on this ranking.

Due to the high number of participants, games will be played on two different stages during the first two days of the tournament. The matches on the main stage will be televised, while the matches on the second board will be shown via a live stream on PDC TV.

The program on the main stage starts from 1 p.m. with former world champion Rob Cross, who will try to salvage his season in the final months of the season. Cross could not impress at all at the majors and has now dropped to 16th place on the PDC Order of Merit. In the first round he will meet Sebastian Bialecki, who surprisingly won a floor tournament this season. Next we get an English showdown between Dave Chisnall and Ryan Joyce. For Chisnall, 2025 also proved to be a disappointing year. Over the past three seasons, 'Chizzy' managed to capture no fewer than 11 PDC titles, including four in 2024. This year, the multiple major-finalist failed to reach more than one final on the floor. Joyce made it to a Euro Tour final for the first time this season and easily qualified for this event via floor.

Mike De Decker follows. His opponent Cam Crabtree was one of the best newcomers on the tour. Last week, Crabtree showed up at the Grand Slam of Darts, where he left no undeserving impression. After De Decker it is also time for Danny Noppert will face Ricky Evans. The Freeze' has been one of the most consistent players on the tour this season, with no less than four semifinals at the ranking majors. Also last week at the Grand Slam of Darts, Noppert made it to the final four. His opponent Evans also performed excellently in Wolverhampton. 'Rapid Ricky' surprisingly managed to reach the quarter-finals at this tournament.

Another outsider for the title is James Wade, who will start his tournament against Mickey Mansell. Wade has also had a fine season, with finals at the UK Open and the World Matchplay. 'The Machine' has won 11 majors in his career, but this tournament is one of two active majors where Wade has never reached the final. The next big name on the main stage is Jonny Clayton, who had a disappointing Grand Slam with an elimination in the group stage. 'The Ferret' will face off with James Hurrell in the first round, and finally, we have a fixture between Ross Smith and Ryan Meikle. Smith was able to take some time off, as despite two floor titles in 2025, he was missing from last week's Grand Slam of Darts. Originally, Smith was supposed to face Niko Springer in the first round, but the German had to withdraw due to illness. Meikle was called up to replace him. 'The Barber' finished 65th on the Players Championship Order of Merit.

On Stage 2, the session begins as early as 12:45 p.m.. There, the program opens with a showdown between Bradley Brooks and Martin Lukeman. Brooks has made a strong return to the Pro Tour circuit after a year's absence. He qualified for the World Masters and managed to win a Players Championship tournament. As a result, he easily qualified for this tournament and the World Darts Championship.

Niels Zonneveld finished seventeenth on the Players Championship Order of Merit and will play Nick Kenny. Zonneveld has good memories of this tournament because in the past two editions 'Triple Z' managed to reach the last sixteen each time. After Zonneveld it is Kevin Doets' turn. 'Hawk Eye' had a fairly consistent year on the floor and managed to reach the quarterfinals in eight tournaments. The only setback is that he reached the last four in only one of these eight tournaments, but it is positive that Doets is increasingly showing up in the final stages of Pro Tour tournaments. For Doets, the tournament begins with a clash against Callan Rydz, the quarterfinalist of the previous World Championships. On the floor, however, 'The Riot' disappointed, making only one semifinal appearance.

Cameron Menzies was paired with Adam Lipscombe, who reached the final of Players Championship 7 this year. Menzies himself became a winner of Players Championship 11 while also losing two floor finals. Also on Stage 2 is the Northern Irish showdown between Brendan Dolan and former Players Championship Finals winner Daryl Gurney. The next duel on the schedule is Luke Woodhouse against Alan Soutar, before the afternoon is closed by William O'Connor and Ricardo Pietreczko. If the matches on the main stage proceed quickly, there is still a good chance that the match between O'Connor and Pietreczko will be advanced to the main stage.