Michael Smith has made it three Premier League weekly competition victories in a row by prevailing in Sheffield.
Ahead of Week 15, Smith had already booked his spot in the playoffs, which will be held in two weeks time, but the world champion was motivated to secure third spot and more.
The St Helens thrower made it nine successive wins in the tournament in style, beating Michael van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price respectively.
However, he did benefit from missed doubles from Van Gerwen and Price, the former squandering 15 chances in the quarter-finals and latter failing to hit the desired target on 13 occasions in the final.
THREE ON THE SPIN FOR SMITH! 🤯🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) May 11, 2023
Leeds ✅
Manchester ✅
Sheffield ✅
It's a hat-trick of consecutive nightly wins for Michael Smith who defeats Gerwyn Price 6-3 in the Night 15 final!
📺 https://t.co/kx9ccUMQvU | #PLDarts Final pic.twitter.com/OOmY9fidxe
As a result, Smith has moved past Van Gerwen and into second place in the table, although he still trails leader Price by three points with one week left.
Clayton's last-eight success over Dimitri van den Bergh meant that he progressed two points clear of Nathan Aspinall in the race for the final playoff spot.
Aspinall lost 6-2 to Price in the quarters, his opponent averaging 111.33, and he now faces having to reach the final of next week's edition.
Chris Dobey has moved to the brink of sealing sixth place after firing in a 102.02 average on the way to beating bottom-placed Peter Wright by a 6-4 scoreline.
Darren Plant
