UK Darts Issue 9 - December 2013 | Page 4

Players Championship Finals Photo: PDC/Lawrence Lustig The cream of the PDC headed to Butlin’s resort in Minehead over the weekend of 29th November to 1st December for the annual Cash Converters Players Championship Finals. The tournament featured the top 32 ranked players from the 2013 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit, with seedings determined by this rather than the overall Order of Merit ensuring that there would be some mouth-watering early round ties. First Round Ian White got the tournament underway with a 6-3 victory over Ronnie Baxter, the Stoke-based thrower was seeded twelfth for the tournament after an impressive season and he showed why as he dominated from the outset, moving through to the second round without being troubled too much by Baxter. Defending champion Phil Taylor also made convincing progress, the sixteen-time World Champion dropped only two legs in his victory over Paul Nicholson, meanwhile top seed and second favourite for the event Michael van Gerwen also made it safely through to the second round