St Helens stars Stephen Bunting and Dave Chisnall will make up the 128 person field this weekend (February 18-19) at the Barnsley Metrodome.
Both men are looking for their first title of 2023.
“Chizzy” lost out in the quarter-final of Players Championship 1 to Jonny Clayton. He beat Bunting 6-5 in the last 16.
“The Bullet” performed the better of the two in Players Championship 2.
He reached the last 16 before falling 6-4 to new tour card holder Richard Veenstra.
Chisnall failed to win a game in Sunday’s event, losing to finalist Simon Whitlock in the opening round.
World Champion Michael Smith has opted not to enter the upcoming events this weekend.
Chisnall picked up two titles last year.
The St Helens man averaged 100.63 in an 8-4 victory over Josh Rock in the final of Players Championship 25.
He also lifted the trophy at the Belgian Darts Open, narrowly edging Andrew Gilding 8-6 in the final.
Bunting hasn’t picked up a title since a Players Championship event in 2021 but did reach two semi-finals on the Euro Tour last year.
Fans of Bunting will be optimistic for the year ahead.
He knocked out world number five Luke Humphries en route to the World Championship quarter-final.
He lost out to eventual champion and St Helens superstar Michael Smith.
Both Chisnall (18) and Bunting (23) are ranked outside of the World’s top 16.
Despite this, both are on track to qualify for the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix through the Pro Tour Order of Merit.
You can follow the Players Championship events here and watch selected matches on pdc.tv.
(Featured Image with permission from Sven Mandel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
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