Chris Dobey (Picture: PDC/Michael Cooper)

Darts results: Chris Dobey defeats Stephen Bunting to win Players Championship Three in Wigan

By Sporting Life

Darts

Wed February 18, 2026 · 2d ago

Chris Dobey produced a scintillating day of darts in Wigan, as Hollywood raced to his ninth Players Championship title with victory against Stephen Bunting.

Dobey - a winner of three Players Championship titles last year - claimed his first PDC ranking title of 2026, as he beat Bunting 8-1 to claim the £15,000 top prize.

The 35-year-old raced into a five-leg lead in the final, winning four out of the five legs in five visits or less, leaving Bunting with some serious work to do.

The St Helens star then claimed a consolation leg of his own in 14 darts, before Dobey rattled off the final three legs, with the last two legs being won in 26 darts.

“I felt like I played pretty steady all day, and I’m happy to get over the line,” stated Dobey, who averaged 11 points higher than Bunting in the final.

“Stephen said he felt good before the game, but sometimes it just isn’t your day, and fortunately for me, I came out on the winning end.

“You need luck to win tournaments like this, I was defending this one from two years ago, and on Day One I won it.

“I want to be back in there [Premier League]. I didn’t do enough last year; I want to produce this game on the big stages.”

Having kicked off his campaign with a comfortable opening 6-1 victory against Shane McGuirk, he then beat Jimmy van Schie and Ryan Joyce 6-4 respectively, with Dobey averaging 106 against Joyce.

The Englishman then overcame former World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks, before denying Darryl Pilgrim in a last-leg thriller to book his place in the semi-finals.

This set up a clash against Tom Bissell, and the Bedlington-born star dispatched Bissell, dropping only two legs in a convincing 7-2 victory.

Bunting, meanwhile, registered three ton-plus averages en route to the final, registering an average north of 105 in a 6-3 win over Alexander Merkx earlier in the day, after beating Carl Sneyd 6-1 in his opening game.

The 40-year-old then won a last-leg decider against Derek Coulson to book his place in the last 16, before seeing off Danny Noppert, Clayton, and James Wade before coming up short against Dobey.

Bissell dumped out TV title winners Ritchie Edhouse and Rob Cross on his way to the semi-final, whilst PC1 winner Wade beat the likes of Cristo Reyes and Kevin Doets before succumbing at the same stage.

Bissell and Wade were joined in the quarter-finals by former Premier League champion Clayton, along with Doets, Pilgrim and Canadian Jim Long to complete the eight-player line-up.

Doets posted three consecutive ton-plus averages on his way to the quarter-finals, beating Owen Bates with an average upwards of 113 in the Last 64.

Long also enjoyed some success in Wigan, beating Premier League star Josh Rock in one of his best performances of the day.

Pilgrim - who had only won one game before today in 2026 - took the scalps of Maik Kuivenhoven, Gian van Veen, Ricardo Pietreckzko and Krzysztof Ratajski before losing to the eventual champion.