The 122.34 Semi-Final
Numbers like 122.34 don't appear on the ProTour very often — and when they do, they tend to belong to one man. Van Gerwen's semi-final destruction of Martin Schindler was as complete as darts gets. A 7-0 whitewash against a player who himself averaged 108.78 — a figure that would comfortably win most matches — told you everything about the level van Gerwen reached in Leicester.
The 122.34 was the highest average recorded on the PDC ProTour in 2026. It wasn't just the number — it was the manner of it. Schindler had no answer. Van Gerwen was scoring at a rate that left his opponent competing for the leftover darts, and he converted his chances clinically throughout.
Route to the Final
Van Gerwen's day in Leicester did not start at that level — by his own admission, the early rounds were a grind. He dispatched Dennie Olde Kalte, Adam Lipscombe, Ross Smith, and Gian van Veen in the opening rounds, all by 6-4 — competitive matches that he won but which gave little hint of what was to come. He was, as he put it himself, "struggling" and "missing too many doubles."
The quarter-final was where the form clicked. A 6-2 victory over Beau Greaves with a 102.47 average was the first sign that something was building. Then came Schindler — and the rest is one of the more extraordinary individual performances the ProTour has seen.
The Final: Van Duijvenbode Pushes Back
The final against Dirk van Duijvenbode was a proper contest. Van Gerwen took an early 3-0 lead and looked like he might run away with it, but Van Duijvenbode — who had beaten Stephen Bunting 7-5 and Josh Rock 6-3 in the latter rounds — fought his way back to level at 4-4.
That response from Van Duijvenbode said something about the quality of his own run through the draw. He had also beaten Chris Dobey and Niall Culleton to reach the final, and his refusal to fold against a man averaging 106.57 made for a genuinely competitive last-eight-legs.
But Van Gerwen found another gear when it mattered. From 5-5 he reeled off three straight legs to take the match 8-5, picking up his 37th career ProTour title in the process — a record on the PDC floor circuit that continues to extend.
"Don't Write Me Off"
Van Gerwen has been a man on a mission to silence doubters this year, and his comments after the match reflected that. "After a very long time I won a ProTour today like this and it means a lot," he said. "Everyone knows what I am capable of, so don't write me off."
Earlier in the day — in a moment that underscored just how important this win was to him — he noted that ranking tournaments had become his explicit priority: "Ranking tournaments are the priority because of my ranking."
He had good reason. Van Gerwen is fighting to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League Darts table to reach the play-offs, with a crucial match against Gerwyn Price in Birmingham coming up on Thursday. A ProTour title and the form that came with it in Leicester will do his confidence no harm whatsoever heading into that match.
Rankings Impact
The PC15 winner's prize feeds into three separate rankings: the main PDC Order of Merit, the ProTour Order of Merit, and the Players Championship Order of Merit. All three matter at different points in the season.
For Van Gerwen, this is a meaningful boost to his ProTour and main Order of Merit standings. He had already beaten Gian van Veen in the draw — the only Dutchman ranked above him coming into the event — and a title takes him further in the right direction.
Van Duijvenbode's run to the final will also move him up the ProTour rankings, while Schindler's semi-final appearance — despite the 7-0 scoreline — adds points to his tally. You can check the updated live standings on the ProTour Order of Merit and compare Van Gerwen and Van Duijvenbode head to head on our compare page.
What This Means for the Rest of the Tour
Van Gerwen at his best has always been the most difficult player in the world to beat, and a 122.34 average — however briefly sustained — is a reminder that the ceiling of his game remains as high as anyone's on the tour. Luke Littler and Luke Humphries sit above him in the Order of Merit, but they will have taken notice of what happened in Leicester on Tuesday.
The question now is whether this is a one-day peak or the start of a sustained return to form. Given that MvG was grinding through his early rounds before finding fifth gear later in the day, there is an argument that the best version of this performance is one that can be replicated — if he gets his doubles right from the start.