For the first time ever, a darts ‘Major’ will be screened exclusively online.
The third Players Championship Finals will be available to watch via the PDC website, starting on Thursday evening ‘live’ from the Doncaster Dome.
The event was won by Phil Taylor in 2009 and by Paul Nicholson in 2010….this year, Taylor is the No.4 seed and he will face Steve Brown in the 1st Round on Friday night.
The coverage will be provided by the Perform Group, who are world leaders in providing live streaming of top sporting events on the internet.
Perform also provide the coverage of Championship League Darts, which will be played in September and October for a fourth consecutive year.
PDC Chairman Barry Hearn said: “This is a fast paced exciting event and this ground-breaking live streaming will allow fans around the world to see live coverage of the very best players in the world!”
The four-day tournament has £250,000 in prize money, with £60,000 for the winner.
Team Unicorn star Colin Osborne opens the event on Thursday against Denis Ovens….Andy Hamilton and Kevin Painter are also in action, while there is an all Unicorn clash between Jamie Caven and Barrie Bates.
Taylor plays on Friday, as does World Champion Adrian Lewis, World No.3 James Wade, Terry Jenkins and Wes Newton.
Simon Whitlock is the No1 seed….the Australian plays Tony Eccles, while Scot Gary Anderson is the No.2 seed….the World Championship runner-up takes on Justin Pipe.
Unfortunately, last year’s winner Nicholson failed to qualify. He missed out by just one place in the Players Championship Order of Merit, but he will be in Doncaster to hand over the trophy.
All the details on just how you can watch the ‘live’ coverage of the Players Championship Finals can be found here – www.pdc.tv
And as always, there will be top coverage of the event right here on the Unicorn website.
1st Round Order of Play (best of 11 legs)
Thursday night:
Denis Ovens v Colin Osborne
Andy Hamilton v Dennis Priestley
Mark Walsh v Steve Farmer
Jamie Caven v Barrie Bates
Ronnie Baxter v Andy Smith
Wayne Jones v Kevin Painter
Gary Anderson v Justin Pipe
Colin Lloyd v Jelle Klaasen
Friday night:
Vincent van der Voort v Terry Jenkins
Mervyn King v Co Stompe
Wes Newton v Richie Burnett
Mark Webster v Alan Tabern
Simon Whitlock v Tony Eccles
James Wade v Mark Dudbridge
Phil Taylor v Steve Brown
Adrian Lewis v Steve Beaton
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC