On Sunday, Chris Dobey claimed his first major PDC title when he won the Masters in the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes and hopes it will catapult him into the Premier League.
The first PDC Darts event of the year saw the Cazoo Masters make the trip to the Marshall Arena, Stadium MK, Milton Keynes. Across a weekend of sold out sessions brought darts fans to the city to witness Chris Dobey win the PDC Cazoo Masters 2023 title beating Rob Cross 11-7 in the final.
Dobey’s journey to the final began after he dispatched Dirk van Duijvenbode in Sunday afternoon’s opening Quarter-Final, winning seven of the last eight legs to complete a convincing 10-5 victory.
‘Hollywood’ then produced another victory, this time at the hands of World Champion Michael Smith in the Semi-Finals, wrapping up an 11-7 win to break new ground on the big stage.
Whilst Rob Cross, dispatched three multiple World Champions in his run to the final, posting a sensational 112.3 average – the second highest in Masters history – in his opening round win over Gary Anderson. Cross then produced a high-quality display to dump out five-time Masters winner Michael van Gerwen in the last eight, before edging out 2020 champion Peter Wright in the Semi-Finals.
Into the final, Dobey punished a slow start from Rob Cross to establish an early cushion, but ‘Voltage’ replied with legs of 15 and 12 darts to draw level after four legs. The highlight of the final was the fight back from Cross only for the Northumberland man, Dobey, to fire in back-to-back 14-darters to restore his two-leg buffer at 6-4.
The pair then traded holds before a brilliant two-leg burst from Dobey moved him to the brink of a historic victory, as he followed up an 11-dart hold with a brilliant tops-tops finish to complete a 100 checkout. But Dobey scooped to the win with a hard fought victory earning the £65,000 jackpot prize on the Marshall Arena.
The man from Northumberland clearly understood the importance of victory in Milton Keynes:
“This means the world to me. My first TV title – I’ve got no words really”.
Dobey now goes on into contention for a place in the Premier League as he continues to look forward for a potential homecoming in the Premier League:
“To get that dream of playing in Newcastle again would mean the world.”
