By Jaimie Eccles
The PDC Pro Tour calendar officially got underway on Monday afternoon in Hildesheim. Players Championship 1 came equipped with the typical breakthroughs, shocks and high-quality affairs we have come to expect in the modern-day world of darts. Here we will look at five talking points from the day’s action.
Beau Greaves Impresses on Debut
One of the main focuses coming into the event was the Pro Tour debut of Beau Greaves.
The Women’s world number one had already captured the headlines in the days leading into the event as she extended her winning run on the Women’s series to an extraordinary 113 matches. The 22-year-old was eager to impress in her professional tour debut and managed just that.
Beau made it to the last-16 of the event, overcoming stubborn opposition in Jimmy van Schie, Owen Bates and Cam Crabtree along the way. Her showing against Crabtree was particularly impressive, managing an average in surplus of 98 in a 6-4 win.
Greaves was eventually beaten 6-2 by Nathan Aspinall, in a game where the scoreline doesn’t reflect the impressive showing of a sensational talent. This event was a sign of what we will surely come to expect of Greaves moving forward.
A Leg is Restarted?
There was a particularly unique moment that occurred in the last-64 encounter between William O’Connor and Mario Vandenbogaerde.
After hitting double eight to level the tie at 1-1, the third leg of this match started seemingly as normal. However, after a visit each to the board, the referee paused proceedings as O’Connor realised, he had thrown first in the leg when he was not supposed to.
There was some frustration from the Belgian towards the official as it seemed as though his score of 54 in the visit would be upheld despite the confusion, but after some understanding between the players, the leg was restarted entirely.
Mario may well claim that the situation unsettled him, as he went on to lose the match without picking up another leg as William O’Connor took home a 6-1 win.
Justin Hood Dazzles Again
A few months ago, Justin Hood was a relatively unknown darts player among the wider crowd. However, after a quarter-final run at the World Championship full of brilliance and comedy, ‘Happy Feet’ has captured the hearts and eyes of fans worldwide, and that momentum doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
In the last-64 of the event, Hood met World Championship finalist Gian Van Veen in an extremely intriguing encounter on paper, and the man from Somerset didn’t disappoint.
Justin threw in the highest average of the day of 108.47 as he dispatched the World No. 3 by six legs to one in emphatic fashion.
Hood is clearly keen to prove he is more than an Ally Pally cult hero, and truly a name to be reckoned with in darts.
Schindler’s Record Low
The most surprising underperformance of the day undoubtedly came from Germany’s own Martin Schindler on his home turf.
‘The Wall’ was demolished as he was beaten 6-0 by Dutchman Maik Kuivenhoven, averaging an appalling 65.57 in the process.
This was Martin’s lowest ever recorded average on the Pro Tour, a clear shock to the system after his recent first-round defeat in the World Masters to Luke Woodhouse.
The German was impressive on the tour in 2025, picking up his first ever Players Championship title along the way. A drastic improvement will need to be made if Schindler wants to get back to this level moving forward in 2026.
James Wade Comes Out on Top
The eventual winner of the premier Players Championship event of the year was 42-year-old James Wade.
Whilst it was not an exceptional showing at any point on the night from ‘The Machine’, Wade demonstrated the simplistic effectiveness that his career has been built upon throughout.
As a matter of fact, Wade was outscored on the averages five times in his seven matches on the way to winning the event, including in the final by fellow Englishman Nathan Aspinall.
James Wade was one of the names who were controversially left out of this year’s edition of the Premier League, and the 11-time PDC major winner will be delighted to get off to a perfect start in his bid to make his inclusion next year undeniable.