Michael van Gerwen produced some fabulous performances as he stormed to his third ProTour title of 2012 in Barnsley on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Dutchman, who recently hit a nine-darter in the Betfair World Matchplay, continued his fantastic form to win Players Championship 11, beating Ian White 6-1 in the final. 
“I’m so happy to win because I’ve played really well all day,” said van Gerwen.
“I felt good and the further I went in the tournament I played better and better. That showed in the final and it gives me great confidence going forward.
“If I keep playing like this there is no reason I can’t that do really well in next week’s European Championships.”
‘Mighty Mike’ swept past William O’Connor and Mark Frost before triumphing 6-4 over Darren Webster in the last 16.
He then whitewashed Gary Anderson, with a 102.48 average, to set up a semi-final clash against World Championship runner-up Andy Hamilton.
Van Gerwen raised the bar again in the last four, defeating ‘The Hammer’ 6-2, before producing an even better performance to beat White.
The Dutch star won the first leg with a neat 78 finish, only for White to level up by taking out 148.
van Gerwen took the next leg in 13 darts and never looked back, hitting another 78 checkout to go 3-1 in front.
14 and 13 dart legs followed, giving ‘Mighty Mike’ a 5-1 advantage.
And he finished the job, hitting double eight to claim the £6,000 title.
Simon Whitlock reached the quarter-finals with some strong performances, most notably a 6-1 win over Dennis Smith, in which the Australian ace averaged over 112.
Mervyn King also reached the last eight after defeating Arron Monk, Denis Ovens and Paul Nicholson, who showed a return to form by winning his board.
‘The Asset’ saw off Gareth Pass, Kevin Dowling and Stuart Kellet on his way to the last 16.
Sunday sees the twelfth Players Championship take place, the last ProTour event to count towards qualification for next month’s PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix in Dublin.
By Chris Murphy
Images courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC
