Gerwyn Price - A Year in Review
Reigning Grand Slam of Darts Champion Gerwyn Price takes to the PDC stage this evening as he begins the defence of his title at Wolverhampton’s Aldersley Leisure Village.
The Iceman’s rise to World No.5 since earning his tour card in 2014 has been outstanding. It’s clear to see Price’s year-on-year improvement and once again he has stepped up another gear in 2019.
On 18th November 2018, Gerwyn lifted his first televised major with a 16-13 win in the final over Gary Anderson. This came just two months after his maiden European Tour title at the International Darts Open.
Gezzy had a relatively quiet end to 2018 before bouncing back and firing on all cylinders again in February as the 2019 PDC Tour began, in what has been his biggest year on the professional circuit yet.
After reaching the semi-final of Player Championship 4, the Welshman displayed some of the World’s best darts of the year as he romped to back-to-back Players Championship 5 and 6 victories. Price smashed in ten ton-plus averages in his 14 wins that weekend, culminating in an astounding average of 102.25 over the two days with peak match averages of 109.7 and 112.7 at Players Championship 5 and 6 respectively.
A semi-final run at the UK Open a week later, before two European Tour semi-finals and five quarter-final results saw Price steadily rise up through the rankings. Further ranking success would also follow as he defended his PDC International Darts Open in September.
PDC ranking title number 7 of his career came not long after at Players Championship 27 last month, and two more floor semi-finals at PC28 and PC30 followed. Rounding off October, Price also reached the Champions League of Darts semi-finals, falling to a deciding leg shoot-out loss in arguably the match of the tournament with Michael van Gerwen.
The Iceman also fell just short of a second PDC major as he reached the European Championships final, still earning a hefty £60,000 runner-up prize fund however, and more stature to his ranking spot.
With Gezzy’s game continuing to soar as he’s found the secret to success, he’s also found the perfect formula off the oche.
“I’ve got plenty going on outside of darts these days, which keeps me in a good place mentally and probably has helped my game come on that extra bit in the last 12 months”
“I go from playing the Tour on the weekend straight into spend some time with my family but I’ve also got the greyhounds or working on some of the properties that I rent out
“Getting that time away from darts is just as important to the hard practice, and I’m enjoying that time more than ever
“This period at the end of the year is packed with some huge tournaments and I’m confident that I can keep growing my game”
Price will begin his defence of the Grand Slam of Darts title this evening where he faces BDO representative Mikuru Suzuki, the reigning BDO Ladies World Champion. He then moves on to play Dimitri Van den Bergh and Robert Thornton through the week to earn a spot in the knockout stages.
2019 BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts - Live on Sky Sports
Schedule of Play
Saturday November 9
Afternoon Session (1300 GMT)
Groups E-H First Matches
Nathan Aspinall v Martin Schindler (H)
Danny Noppert v Ryan Harrington (F)
Brendan Dolan v Gabriel Clemens (G)
Dave Chisnall v Jamie Hughes (E)
Daryl Gurney v Richard Veenstra (G)
Peter Wright v Wayne Warren (F)
Rob Cross v Lisa Ashton (E)
Michael Smith v Glen Durrant (H)
Evening Session (2000 GMT)
Groups A-D First Matches
Darren Webster v William O'Connor (D)
Gerwyn Price v Mikuru Suzuki (C)
Ian White v Steve Lennon (B)
Gary Anderson v Dave Parletti (D)
James Wade v Wesley Harms (B)
Michael van Gerwen v Jim Williams (A)
Adrian Lewis v Ross Smith (A)
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Robert Thornton (C)
Gezzy had a relatively quiet end to 2018 before bouncing back and firing on all cylinders again in February as the 2019 PDC Tour began, in what has been his biggest year on the professional circuit yet.
After reaching the semi-final of Player Championship 4, the Welshman displayed some of the World’s best darts of the year as he romped to back-to-back Players Championship 5 and 6 victories. Price smashed in ten ton-plus averages in his 14 wins that weekend, culminating in an astounding average of 102.25 over the two days with peak match averages of 109.7 and 112.7 at Players Championship 5 and 6 respectively.
A semi-final run at the UK Open a week later, before two European Tour semi-finals and five quarter-final results saw Price steadily rise up through the rankings. Further ranking success would also follow as he defended his PDC International Darts Open in September.
PDC ranking title number 7 of his career came not long after at Players Championship 27 last month, and two more floor semi-finals at PC28 and PC30 followed. Rounding off October, Price also reached the Champions League of Darts semi-finals, falling to a deciding leg shoot-out loss in arguably the match of the tournament with Michael van Gerwen.
The Iceman also fell just short of a second PDC major as he reached the European Championships final, still earning a hefty £60,000 runner-up prize fund however, and more stature to his ranking spot.
With Gezzy’s game continuing to soar as he’s found the secret to success, he’s also found the perfect formula off the oche.
“I’ve got plenty going on outside of darts these days, which keeps me in a good place mentally and probably has helped my game come on that extra bit in the last 12 months”
“I go from playing the Tour on the weekend straight into spend some time with my family but I’ve also got the greyhounds or working on some of the properties that I rent out
“Getting that time away from darts is just as important to the hard practice, and I’m enjoying that time more than ever
“This period at the end of the year is packed with some huge tournaments and I’m confident that I can keep growing my game”
Price will begin his defence of the Grand Slam of Darts title this evening where he faces BDO representative Mikuru Suzuki, the reigning BDO Ladies World Champion. He then moves on to play Dimitri Van den Bergh and Robert Thornton through the week to earn a spot in the knockout stages.
2019 BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts - Live on Sky Sports
Schedule of Play
Saturday November 9
Afternoon Session (1300 GMT)
Groups E-H First Matches
Nathan Aspinall v Martin Schindler (H)
Danny Noppert v Ryan Harrington (F)
Brendan Dolan v Gabriel Clemens (G)
Dave Chisnall v Jamie Hughes (E)
Daryl Gurney v Richard Veenstra (G)
Peter Wright v Wayne Warren (F)
Rob Cross v Lisa Ashton (E)
Michael Smith v Glen Durrant (H)
Evening Session (2000 GMT)
Groups A-D First Matches
Darren Webster v William O'Connor (D)
Gerwyn Price v Mikuru Suzuki (C)
Ian White v Steve Lennon (B)
Gary Anderson v Dave Parletti (D)
James Wade v Wesley Harms (B)
Michael van Gerwen v Jim Williams (A)
Adrian Lewis v Ross Smith (A)
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Robert Thornton (C)