Cameron Menzies has doubled up for the year, defeating Gian van Veen 8-4 in the final of Players Championship 29 in Den Bosch after storming into a 5-0 lead over the home hero. The brilliant Scot has now won titles every year since 2024 and has for the first time won two in a single year, a new milestone that pays credence to the work he has been putting in both on and off the oche.
For Van Veen, the best player in the field by ranking, it was a missed chance, and he seemed frustrated throughout the tie. Play was stopped towards the end due to a basketball game ongoing next door, which annoyed him, while Menzies — seen as tempestuous in the past — ironically managed to weather it better than his opponent. Menzies led early and eventually pinned double eight with Van Veen way back, an 81 after nine for Menzies, before hitting double 13 to break for 2-0. He then hit double eight for 3-0 and the same target for 4-0. Van Veen finally got on the board with a 41 checkout and broke with Menzies unable to hit 143. Van Veen held for 5-3 down after that break, missing the first chance at double 16 and giving a thumbs up to the board before returning. Menzies missed 146 for 6-3, Van Veen couldn't punish with a 170, and Cammy returned for double eight to make it 6-3. Van Veen missed golden chances to hold, but Menzies did too to break on double 20, and GVV returned for double eight to make it 6-4 as he still fought. Menzies hit double 14 to seal the impetus again and go one away from the title. A beautiful 162 to leave 140 from Menzies followed; he missed 80 to seal the title, Van Veen drifted inside the five for double five and then missed double one, and Menzies backed for double five for the win.
En route to the final, Menzies saw off Kevin Doets, Jeffrey de Graaf, top seed Wessel Nijman, Benjamin Pratnemer, Jim Long and Nick Kenny, respectively, doing it while averaging around 93-94, with only one tonne-plus average on his run. Van Veen, in reaching the final, defeated William O'Connor, Chris Dobey, Nathan Aspinall, Darius Labanauskas, Daniel Klose and Tommy Morris. The best of his day was 104 against Labanauskas, winning 6-4, so certainly not the wildly massive averages.
It was a mixed bag for the other big names. Michael van Gerwen was defeated in the opening round by Benjamin Pratnemer as his suspect form on the ProTour continues. Nathan Aspinall also played but was defeated by Gian van Veen 6-5. Beau Greaves was defeated by Danny Noppert 6-4 in the Last 32 after averaging 101 and 109 in her opening games, but it was a 94 instead as she lost to Noppert. Perhaps the display of the day, though, came from Kevin Doets, who averaged nigh on 114 as he saw off Henry Coates, who averaged nearly 106 in defeat 6-4 in the Last 32.
