Gerwyn Price

Gerwyn Price
Personal information
Full name Gerwyn Price
Nickname The Iceman
Born (1985-03-07) 7 March 1985
Wales
Home town Markham
Wales
Darts information
Playing darts since 2010
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC 2014–
Current world ranking 20
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Last 64: 2015, 2016
World Matchplay Quarter Final: 2015
World Grand Prix Last 32: 2015, 2016
Grand Slam Last 16: 2016
European Ch'ship Last 16: 2016
UK Open Last 64: 2016
Players Ch'ship Finals Last 16: 2015
Other tournament wins
Worthingtons Darts Champion of Champions 2015

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2016
Players Championship (COV) 2016
Other achievements

2015 Breaks into the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

2016 Breaks into the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

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

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

  1. ↑ "Gerwyn Price has left Cross Keys to join Neath". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "Scorpions snap up former Neath hooker Gerwyn Price". South Wales Evening Post. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "PDC World Championship: Gerwyn Price drops rugby for darts". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Keys hooker Gerwyn Price on target to become darts pro". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "2014 PDC Qualifying School Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Coral UK Open - Friday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "European Darts Open Second Round". PDC. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Six Of The Best For Anderson". PDC. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  9. ↑ "European Darts Trophy Final Day". PDC. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  10. ↑ "Diamond Dazzles To Seal Coventry Crown". PDC. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Field". PDC. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Order of Merit on 5 January 2015". PDC. Archived from the original on 11 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  14. ↑ "Coral UK Open - Friday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Barnsley Win For Wondrous Wade". PDC. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "Rock Solid van Gerwen's Gibraltar Glory". PDC. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Brilliant Brown's Maiden ProTour Win". PDC. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "2015 World Matchplay Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "partypoker.com World Grand Prix - Sunday". PDC. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  20. ↑ "Cash Converters PCF - Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Seven". PDC. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "Van Gerwen Continues Winning Run". PDC. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  23. ↑ "Gerwyn Price beat Peter 'Snakebite' Wright to win Players Championship Seven". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  24. ↑ "Rugby player hospitalised after brawl outside Bargoed pub". Wales Online. Retrieved 15 July 2014.

External links

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