Woodhouse made his PDC debut in 2013 and has played nearly 400 main tour tournaments before finally landing his first title on the floor on Tuesday.
The 37-year-old, who has reached the last 16 of the last two World Darts Championships, has lost in three previous Players Championship finals during his career.
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"I've played some good stuff today. To get that tag of the highest ranked player to not win a title off my back is lovely!" he said.
"It's fantastic. I'm not going to get too carried away, but I think relief is the big word."
Woodhouse largely cruised through the first part of the day with wins over Greg Ritchie, Jimmy van Schie, William O'Connor, then edged out Charlie Manby in a deciding-leg tie in the last 16.
He beat Jonny Clayton 6-2 in the quarter-finals then surprise semi-finalist Harry Ward 7-3 in the last four to set up a final with Gilding, who won his first ProTour event last week at the 442nd time of asking.
Gilding started the final strongly as he raced into a 3-0 lead but Woodhouse came roaring back and improved as the match went on to make it 3-3 and 4-4. But, Woodhouse then won the next four legs on the spin to end his wait for a first PDC event triumph.
"I thought, 'come on, get at him early doors', and all of a sudden I'm 3-0 down but I didn't want to collapse but I stuck in there. I just tried to focus as best I could," he said.
"I know I'm playing some really good stuff, so in my eyes it was just a matter of when, not if. I've been playing some lovely stuff for probably 18 months now.
"I want to go and do well in every tournament I play in, so it's not like I've won this and I can relax now. I want to do more."
Premier League Darts stars Gian van Veen and Stephen Bunting lost in the first round, while Josh Rock was beaten by Ryan Joyce in the last 32.
Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen were among the players to not enter Tuesday's event.
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