Gerwyn Price

Gerwyn Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation events. He broke into the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit in 2016 and soon afterwards won his first Pro Tour title. Price has also played rugby union for Welsh Premier Division sides.^[1]

Rugby

Price has played as a hooker for Welsh Premier Division sides such as Cross Keys as well as rugby league with South Wales Scorpions. He also had a brief spell at Pro12 side Glasgow Warriors as injury cover for their first choice players.^[2] He ended his rugby career in 2014 in order to concentrate on playing darts full-time.^[3]

Darts

Price began playing darts for his local side Markham Welfare, before playing in the Super League for Aberbargoed. Welsh darts professional Barrie Bates advised him to enter Qualifying School to join the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in January 2014 and Price was successful in the second event.^[4] He won six matches on the day concluding with a 5–3 victory over Rowby-John Rodriguez to earn a two-year tour card.^[5] He qualified for the 2014 UK Open and lost 5–2 to Aden Kirk in the second round.^[6] He twice reached the last 16 stage of Players Championship events during the first half of 2014, losing to Michael van Gerwen and Stephen Bunting. In July, Price averaged 98.32 in beating former world number one Colin Lloyd 6–2 at the European Darts Open. In the second round he led Gary Anderson 2–0 but went on to lose 6–3.^[7] At the 13th Players Championship, Price saw off Lloyd, Kirk, James Wade and Wayne Jones to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time, where he was edged out 6–5 by Adrian Lewis.^[8]

Price qualified for the European Darts Trophy in Leipzig during mid September. There, he beat Bernd Roith 6–3 in the first round to face Steve Beaton in the second round. Thanks to a great performance, which included the tournament's highest finish of 167, he saw off Beaton 6–3 and won against Vincent van der Voort in the following round. He nearly qualified for the 2014 World Grand Prix, for which a place in the semi-finals was needed, but was beaten 6–3 in the quarter-finals by Andy Hamilton.^[9] Price's impressive start to his darting career continued by reaching his first semi-final at the 19th Players Championship where he lost 6–3 to Ian White.^[10] The £12,750 he earned in Pro Tour events during the campaign saw him finish 39th on the Order of Merit to claim the eighth of sixteen places that were on offer to non-qualified players for the 2015 PDC World Championship.^[11] Price missed one dart at tops to level at one set all against Peter Wright in the first round and was beaten 3–0.^[12] His successful year saw him start 2015 ranked world number 59.^[13]

Price was knocked out of the preliminary round of the 2015 UK Open 5–2 by Matt Padgett.^[14] On his way to his first quarter-final of the year, Price eliminated Adrian Lewis 6–4 with an average of 105.78 at the second Players Championship event, but he went on to lose 6–2 to James Wade.^[15] At the Gibraltar Darts Trophy, Price defeated two top 16 players in Robert Thornton and Simon Whitlock to play in his second career European Tour quarter-final, where compatriot Jamie Lewis narrowly won 6–5.^[16] In total during the first half of 2015 Price lost in four quarter-finals on the Pro Tour and reached the semi-finals of the eighth Players Championship where he lost 6–4 to Adrian Lewis.^[17] These results sealed his qualification for the World Matchplay through the Pro Tour Order of Merit with Price seeing off Michael Smith 10–4 in his debut in the event. He then produced the performance of his career to date as he defeated two-time world champion Lewis 13–10, but could only average 88.17 in his first major quarter-final during a 16–7 loss to Peter Wright.^[18] Price met Smith again in the first round of the World Grand Prix with the tie going to a deciding set in which Price established a 2–0 leg lead. He would miss two match darts as Smith levelled and in the final leg Price was unable to score a point as he missed a total of 15 darts at doubles in the double-start event.^[19] He led Ian White 9–8 in the second round of the Players Championship Finals, but went on to lose 10–9.^[20]

Andrew Gilding won each set in the first round of the 2016 World Championship by three legs to one in beating Price 3–0.^[21] In February at the fifth UK Open Qualifier, Price defeated Mark Webster 6–1 and Mensur Suljović 6–3 to reach his first PDC final, but he was denied the title by world number one Michael van Gerwen who triumphed 6–2.^[22] In the seventh Players Championship, Price won through to another final and this time took the title by coming back from 3–0 down against Peter Wright to win 6–3.^[23]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2015: First round (lost to Peter Wright 0–3)
• 2016: First round (lost to Andrew Gilding 0–3)

Personal life

In 2010, Price was punched outside a pub in Bargoed which required 42 stitches to his forehead and five to his chin, as well as suffering a brain haemorrhage and nerve damage to an eyebrow. His attacker received a 12-month jail term. Price also received a suspended sentence for assaulting another man in a related incident.^[24]

References

External links

• Player profile on Gerwyn Price from Dartsdatabase