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Leicester – It’s GAGA! German darts ace Gabriel “Gaga” Clemens (42) celebrates his first major PDC Tour title by winning the Players Championship 24 (34 tournament series) in dramatic fashion. In the final of the tournament, the Saarlander tested the proverbial “Big Fish” (170 points) against England star Luke Woodhouse (37) in a 7:6 scoreline and achieved the highest score. Darts his first triumph is obvious.
Now the Saarlander can finally call himself a PDC Tour title holder. Because: For Clemens, the final victory ended a long period of drought. The 2023 World Cup semi-finalist has already reached six PDC finals but failed to win any of them. On Tuesday evening in Leicester, England, the knot was finally untied. Clemens worked himself into a frenzy and quickly took a 6-3 lead in the final against Woodhouse. The Englishman came close again and cut the score to 6:6.
Clemens lost to England star Luke Woodhouse in the final (37)
With the dream of completing a mega title
Clemens took the lead again, 7-6, and had everything in his hands. In the last match he was left with 265 points and played 95 with which he caught the “big fish”. Then the important moment: the German threw a triple twenty, a triple twenty and finally at the bull’s eye. Finally the name has appeared!
The newly crowned PDC champion told PDC.TV after the game: “I’ve lost so many finals. I’m so happy I finally did it. I have no words. Today is my day, I’m so proud. I hope this was just the beginning and more good results will follow.”
Clemens defeated three-time world champion van Gerwen
On the way to the final, Clemens had to overcome a number of difficult challenges. Among other things, in the second round he beat three-time world darts champion Michael van Gerwen (37) 6:4. This was followed by two decisive victories over Kevin Doates (28) and Scott Williams (34). The Englishman even threw a nine-dart to the German. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, the “German Giant” confidently defeated the Irish Mickey Mansell (51/6:1) and Brendan Dolan (52/7:3).
Max Hopp (29) brought the first PDC title to Germany in 2018.
With this triumph, Clemens joins a very famous group. He is only the fifth German player to win a PDC Pro Tour title. Before him, only Max Hopp (29), Ricardo Pietrecko (31), Martin Schindler (29) and Nico Springer (25) achieved this. For winning the tournament, Clemens will receive 15,000 pounds sterling (about 17,500 euros). Just over half the season later, the German can already be planning to compete at the upcoming World Darts Championships at Ally Pally. What a success!