Luke Woodhouse claimed the second PDC Tour title of his career – just 12 days after finally winning his first – with an 8-4 victory over Ryan Joyce in the final of the Baltic Sea Darts Open in Germany.
Fresh from beating Andrew Gilding on May 19 in the Players Championship 18 final in Leicester, Woodhouse has swiftly added a maiden European Tour title to his name after an impressive weekend in Kiel.
Woodhouse, 37, made his PDC debut in 2013 and had played nearly 400 main tour tournaments before finally landing his first title. Now he has two in quick succession.
After beating Jimmy van Schie 6-3 in Sunday evening’s quarter-finals, Woodhouse dispatched Ricky Evans 7-2 in their semi-final before making a fast start in the final against Joyce to lead his English compatriot 3-0.
And while Joyce came back into the match, Woodhouse raced away again when 5-3 ahead and eventually sealed the match with a sensational 160 checkout in the 12th leg.
“It’s like buses. You wait for one for ages, then two come along at once!” said Woodhouse of his quick-fire title triumphs.
“That was such a tough game. I don’t think me and Ryan played our best darts, but I will take it 100 per cent.
“I felt like this was a good chance for both of us and I didn’t want to let it pass me by, so I tried to be ultra-focused and luckily today I came out on top.”
Woodhouse, who had lost 8-3 to Stephen Bunting in his only previous European Tour final at last year’s Swiss Darts Trophy, added: “I’m really enjoying my darts at the moment, and to win this is unbelievable. It’s absolutely massive.
“I’m hoping I can kick on now. The World Matchplay is just around the corner, so hopefully my confidence can carry into that.”
Woodhouse had been one of only four seeds left in the tournament heading into the last eight on Sunday evening.
Gian van Veen and James Wade – the top-two ranked players in action – had earlier become the latest seeds to fall when they lost their third-round matches to Dave Chisnall and Ricky Evans respectively.
Chisnall went on to lose 6-1 to Joyce in the quarter-finals. Joyce then edged out Damon Heta 7-6 in the last four.
Elten Safety Shoes Baltic Sea Darts Open results
Sunday Evening Session
Quarter-Finals
Luke Woodhouse 6-3 Jimmy van Schie
Ricky Evans 6-3 Kevin Doets
Damon Heta 6-2 Wessel Nijman
Ryan Joyce 6-1 Dave Chisnall
Semi-Finals
Luke Woodhouse 7-2 Ricky Evans
Ryan Joyce 7-6 Damon Heta
Final
Luke Woodhouse 8-4 Ryan Joyce
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