DOBEY EYES PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN
16/02/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
CHRIS DOBEY has set his sights on a Premier League return after claiming the Players Championship Three title.
‘Hollywood’ picked up his ninth ProTour crown and the £15,000 top prize in Wigan as he thrashed Stephen Bunting 8-1 in the final.
World No.13 Dobey produced an impressive display to underline his early-season form and keep himself firmly in the conversation for future big-stage honours.
Dobey is now determined to carry his floor dominance onto the televised stage and earn a Premier League recall.
He said: “It’s been a steady old day. Fortunately for me, Stephen didn’t play his best game. He just said he felt great before the game, it just didn’t happen.
“Sometimes you get those days and, like I said, fortunately for me I came out on the winning end.
“You need luck to win tournaments like this. I smashed Ryan Joyce, that’s the main thing.
“I think I was actually defending this one. I said to Chris Mason at the weekend, I’ve got a big job to do and today I’ve done it.
“I want to be back there in the Premier League.
“I felt last year I didn’t do enough on TV, losing early in the World Championships.
“I felt on the floor my game was brilliant. I was up there on the floor but I want to produce it on TV.
“I want to be back with the best week in, week out and I’ll be working my backside off to get there.”
Dobey has targeted a busy run of ranking events this year in a bid to climb the Order of Merit and cement his place among the elite.
He added: “This year I’m dedicated again. I’m doing them all and if I can keep doing this then who knows, I might be up there again.
“It gives you that momentum to take throughout the year. It’s always good to start off the year well and I have done that the past few years.
“I just need to keep my feet on the floor and keep practising and hopefully produce a lot more than this.”
Dobey averaged a superb 100.42 to dispatch Tom Bissell 7-2 in the semi-final, having earlier survived match darts to edge past Darryl Pilgrim 6-5 in the last eight.
Elsewhere Beau Greaves continued her impressive start to the season by reaching the last 16 before falling to Jonny Clayton.
Luke Humphries saw his debut outing on the floor circuit end in a 6-4 defeat to Ritchie Edhouse in round three.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
