Having negotiated the group stage on his tournament debut, the former carpenter and soft-tip darts star showed his undeniable class in the knockout stages to defeat Dave Chisnall, Michael Smith and Simon Whitlock to set up a final with the now three-time runner-up Wade.Īfter a nervy start of missing 10 of his first 12 darts at doubles to fall 3-0 down, De Sousa overpowered the Machine with a barrage of 15 180s and consistent heavy scoring while he showed few signs of nerves at the finishing line as he sealed his historic moment with a stunning 158 checkout.ĭe Sousa, who won his third PDC title when defeating Michael van Gerwen in a European Tour final last month, becomes just the sixth different player to get his hands on the Eric Bristow Trophy since the tournament began in 2007 and is obviously Portugal’s first ever major winner.
