Gerwyn Price takes seven minutes to win Grand Slam of Darts match with ridiculous average
'The Iceman' lived up to his name on Sunday as Gerwyn Price looked quite the cool customer en route to a 5-0 thrashing of Ryan Searle.
The three-time Grand Slam of Darts champion continued his quest for a fourth crown in Wolverhampton by notching the first one-sided scoreline of the tournament thus far. And it took Price all of seven minutes to seal five legs without reply from 'Heavy Metal'.
It means Price is the first competitor to book his place in the knockout stages of this year's competition, with a group game against Gian van Veen still to be played on Monday. And the rest of the PDC elite will be on high alert after witnessing the Welshman in his most unrelenting form.
The rampage included a particularly impressive 121 checkout in the third leg as Searle strained and struggled to gain any kind of foothold in the match. Price was superior in every facet and doubled his opponent's totals in maximums and 140+ throws recorded, finishing the clash with a huge average of 110.51.
Unfortunately for Searle, an improvement on his first outing of the tournament still wasn't enough to be competitive. The Somerset-born star beat Van Veen in his Group D opener despite averaging just 91.24, while that figure rose to 94.67 against Price.
Speaking to Sky Sports after dishing out the most one-sided result of this year's Grand Slam so far, Price said it was always his intent to go "all guns blazing" on Sunday. The Caerphilly native knew a win would see him through to the next stage of the competition in Wolverhampton and concluded his business in sensational style.
"[I] just wanted to win the match," said Price. "[It] doesn't matter [by] how many legs. I'm happy with the final win, and a good performance, I think."
Price won back-to-back Grand Slam of Darts titles in 2018 and 2019 before adding his most recent crown to the collection in 2021. He then suffered a quarter-final exit to Raymond van Barneveld last year when Michael Smith finished atop the pile.
A first-place prize of £150,000 is once again on offer to the player who can emerge triumphant at Aldersley Leisure Village in next Sunday's final. And Price is looking like a safe bet to go deep as he looks to move one step closer to matching Phil Taylor's record of six Grand Slam gongs.
