HUMP HITS MVG FOR SIX!

LUKE HUMPHRIES hit Michael van Gerwen for SIX to win the Players Championship Finals title. 

The new world No.3 reeled off six legs in succession to beat the Dutchman 11-9 in the final in Minehead on Sunday night.

It meant a third major title for Humphries in seven weeks after a comeback just minutes after MVG had hit a nine-darter to lead 9-5 at one stage. 

Humphries, who won £120,000, said: “I don’t know what has just happened – I will have to watch that back! 

“Honestly when I was playing that game, I felt flat. I thought, I don’t want to make a fool of myself. 

“Honestly, no excuses, it has been the toughest 3-4-5-6 weeks of my whole life. I have been away so much, away from my family. “Every day it has been darts, darts, darts. Today I just felt it. Against Ryan Joyce, I was so tired. 

“In that game there, I just felt like I had nothing to give. But I keep grinding. What do I always say? Determination and resilience to keep going. 

“To stand here with my major third title, I cannot put it into words. I would have never ever dreamed of winning one, let alone three. So, let’s go.

“It means I am the best player in the world. That’s what he said. He said I had to beat him in the final and I did. 

“Michael was fantastic there. It got to a point where I was thinking, he is playing so well, I will have to find some nerve from nowhere. “He missed a lot of shots there, he allowed me in. To have beaten Michael in a final…I’d have loved to have beaten Phil Taylor in a final but I never got that opportunity. 

“So the next best thing for me, the great of our generation, Michael van Gerwen, who gave the crowd a nine-darter as well, to beat him in a final is what I always dreamed of. 

“I watched this man 7-8 years ago, being at the absolute peak of his career, winning everything, 110 averages for fun, and to beat him in a final, I think one probably does mean the most to me.”

Van Gerwen seemed to have taken control of the final with a stunning nine-darter to lead 3-2, his 28th in the PDC.

After the second break it looked like he had the title in the bag as he eased into a 9-5 lead. But then came Humphries’ incredible comeback.

Van Gerwen said: “I made it incredibly difficult for myself. When you do that against a player in his form, you can only blame yourself. I had opportunities there. It wasn’t on my side. He played well in the end. He never gave up. Fair play to him. I think I can scratch myself behind the ears.

“This weekend my level was definitely close to my best but still you have to do it at the right moments. Today I was doing that. But fair play to Luke, he has played well all tournament through.

“He has confidence, he has got everything on the side at the moment. What can you do? I had my chances. I had more than one chance. I was 9-6 up, and from that position, I am not allowed to low, simple as that. Then again you can only blame yourself. Fair play to him. On to the next one.”