Beau Greaves needed a 142 checkout on double 11 in the deciding leg to make history Monday. She got it. The 22-year-old became the first woman to win a PDC ranking title, beating former world champion Michael Smith 8-7 in the Players Championship 11 final in Milton Keynes.
The victory was not a fluke. Greaves posted a checkout success rate of 80 percent and averaged 96.49 for the match. She also hit a 170 finish in leg nine. On her way to the final, she knocked out two more former world champions: Rob Cross 6-5 in the quarter-finals and Gary Anderson 7-1 in the semi-finals.
"I've had a great year, but I never thought I'd win one of these, never ever," Greaves said after the match. "Today I played really well. I'm so happy, I can't even describe the way I feel. I feel so proud of myself. I beat Gary Anderson — I can't believe it. Even beating Michael — I'm beating players I watched growing up."
The win adds to a career that has already produced several firsts. Greaves held a 114-match winning streak in the PDC Women's Series and became the first woman to hit a nine-dart finish on the PDC ProTour. Monday's title moves her to fifth in the Players Championship order of merit.
Notable absentees from the event included world champion Luke Littler, who has yet to play in any Players Championship this year, along with Michael van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price, and Nathan Aspinall. World number two Luke Humphries was eliminated in the third round, losing 6-5 to Max Hopp.
The Players Championship circuit runs 34 events across the year, with the overall finals held in Minehead, Somerset from November 26 through 30, featuring the 64 top-performing players on the order of merit.
