Has Gerwyn Price lost his killer instinct? Three semi-finals and two finals in 2026, but major drought nears four years ahead of the World Grand Prix
PDCSunday, 27 September 2026 at 11:00
Gerwyn Price keeps reaching the business end of majors. Winning one again is proving far harder. Three semi-finals and two finals in 2026 suggest his near four-year wait cannot last much longer, but every missed opportunity leaves the same nagging doubt: does The Iceman still have the killer instinct to finish the job?
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At his peak, Price made a habit of taking his biggest chances. He won all three Grand Slam finals he contested, his only World Championship final and his first two World Series Finals. The first of those Grand Slam victories made him Wales’ first PDC major champion, while his Alexandra Palace triumph in 2021 sent him to world number one.
His second World Series Finals title in 2022 was his seventh individual major. It remains his most recent.
Price’s latest near-miss against Ross Smith in Amsterdam brought that wait into focus on DartsNews Podcast #11, where host Kieran Wood was joined by Nicolas Gayer and Samuel Gill.
Five majors, five visits to the last four
Price has reached at least the semi-finals of every individual TV major staged during the 2026 calendar year.
| Tournament | Result |
| World Masters | Semi-final: lost 5-4 to Luke Littler |
| UK Open | Semi-final: lost 11-8 to James Wade |
| Premier League | Semi-final: lost 10-9 to Luke Littler on Finals Night |
| World Matchplay | Runner-up: lost 18-9 to Luke Littler |
| World Series of Darts Finals | Runner-up: lost 11-5 to Ross Smith |
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Price’s matches at the 2026 PDC World Championship were played in December 2025 and are therefore excluded from the calendar-year sequence.
“Price’s wait for a PDC major is now approaching four years,” Wood said. “In that time, 14 different players have won an individual major title.”
That group includes former world champions Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith and Peter Wright, alongside first-time major winners such as Andrew Gilding, Mike De Decker, Ritchie Edhouse and Gian van Veen. Smith became the 14th by beating Price in Amsterdam.
@kieranwoodmedia Gerwyn Price has gone FOUR YEARS without a major. In that time, 14 different players have won one. Could Nic and Sam name them all? 👀 See how many you can get before they do… More darts quizzes on the page 🎯 Player Photos: PDC #Darts #PDC #GerwynPrice #DartsQuiz #DartsTok @DartsUpToDate ♬ original sound - Kieran Wood: Sports Journalist
“He just seems to walk into these TV finals”
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Price reached the Amsterdam final after successive averages above 103, beating James Wade 10-7 in the quarter-finals and Jonny Clayton 11-7 in the last four.
“The level was so, so good. It was another very good run by Gezzy, who just seems to walk into these TV finals now without making any big headlines,” Gayer said.
“We talk so much about all the stuff happening away from the oche. He is injured, then he makes Premier League Finals Night. He has health issues and pulls out of the World Cup and many events, then makes the World Matchplay final.
“We talk about a rollercoaster year for him, and now he is in the World Series of Darts final again. It seems like we always talk about the stuff happening away from the oche, but on it he is one of the best players this year. He looks in good shape to make another mark in the coming weeks.”
Price has still collected trophies in 2026. He thrashed Andrew Gilding 8-1 to win Players Championship 6 before beating Smith 8-6 in the European Darts Grand Prix final to secure a tenth European Tour title. On the major stage, the final step has remained out of reach.
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“The scar tissue of not being able to get over the line”
Those scars were not all created this year. Price also lost the 2023 Premier League and World Grand Prix finals, meaning his four appearances in a major final since last lifting a title have all ended in defeat.
“I think he just needs to get over the line. He has this issue where he keeps getting to major finals and never gets over the line,” Gill said. “He keeps talking about being at the best point in his career, but he knows himself and has said it previously: he is just not winning majors when a player of his ability should be.
“Once Littler was out, you should look at a final between Ross Smith and Gerwyn Price and think Price will win. But I thought Ross Smith was going to win because of the scar tissue of not being able to get over the line in finals.”
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Some of those defeats could hardly have been closer. Price took Littler to a deciding set at the World Masters and fought back from 9-4 down to force a final leg against him at Premier League Finals Night.
At the World Matchplay, Price averaged 104.92 in the final and still lost 18-9 as Littler produced a record-breaking 111.53. “Luke is one in a million,” Price admitted afterwards. “I threw everything at him. I think I played pretty decent that game.”
Amsterdam offered less comfort. Smith won the final six legs from 5-5 as Price finished with only 26 per cent on his doubles.
Gill also looked at the price Price may be paying for such a stop-start season.
“With him not being in good health or fitness, it halts him because he cannot play as much darts as he wants. Then you do not get into the run of form you want at the end of the season,” he said.
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“You might lose in the first round or get to a final and run out of gas compared with players who have been well through the year and perhaps taken more time off. Price cannot really do that because he is injured or has health issues. He might get to the latter end of a tournament and fail, like he did this weekend.
“But he certainly had a good weekend and is one to watch for the rest of the year.”
Price fell to defeat against Luke Littler in the 2026 World Matchplay final
Does Price really no longer care?
Price tore into his Amsterdam performance before playing down what another missed major meant to him.
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“I was absolute rubbish in that final, but don’t take anything away from Ross. He was brilliant,” he told ITV4. “I’m playing some good darts, I’m earning some good money. If I never win a major again I really don’t care as long as I’m doing well."
“Obviously I’m gutted now I’ve lost, but if I never win another major, I’ve got a good family and I’ve invested all my money," the Welshman added. "I don’t mind. I’m absolutely gutted today, but I’m doing well.”
Gayer was not buying it. “I don’t really believe any top sportsman if they say they don’t care about winning or losing,” he said.
World Grand Prix brings the next opportunity
Monday brings another chance at a major Price knows how to win. He lifted the World Grand Prix title in 2020 before returning to the final in 2021 and 2023, losing to Jonny Clayton and Luke Humphries respectively.
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Price opens against Sebastian Bialecki at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena. Notably, Ross Smith faces Cameron Menzies in the same section of the draw. If both Amsterdam finalists survive the opening round, they will meet again just eight days later.
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I believe he has it in him to qualify for the Worlds as he consistently wins matches, even if it is only one or two at a time, although his recent PC quarter-final run was somewhat encouraging in that regard. I think there is a lot of pressure for him to retire, people in the media accusing him of tarnishing his legacy. I think that is a ridiculous line of thinking. How ungrateful it is to attach terms and conditions to the amazing moments he has provided us over the course of his career. What position are we in to dictate to him how he should manage his career when it is he who achieved those successes in the first place? What's more, this is his life and the passion that sustains it, it is not for us to decide when his career is over when it is he who must bear the genuine ramifications of that decision. Since I'm sure money is not a concern, the only question on which the decision should rest is whether he truly continues to enjoy competing. He has retired once before, but the desire to compete is what brought him back. We see a lot of negative body language and he does genuinely look miserable when he is not playing well, but only he will know when he wakes up the next day whether he wants to go and do it all over again. If he wants to compete, he should, it's as simple as that, this is a decision that should not involve anyone else but him and his family. He should not retire to indulge the whims of the media or the public. What satisfaction would he receive by being forced into retirement? What closure would it bring to such a brilliant career? When Phil Taylor decided to retire, his decision was final and resolute. I believe RvB needs to get to this point himself, no matter how many 70 averages it might take. We see the likes of John Part continue to compete on a regular basis well past his prime, I say more power to him, and who knows, further glory could be around the corner, it's darts after all, you just never know. Sometimes I worry that RvB is acutely aware of the clamour for him to retire and that this pressure may even have an impact on his performances as he begins to question whether there is even a place for him in darts anymore, further compounding his poor form and creating a vicious loop. Perhaps to take his future into his own hands would provide him with a levity and freedom that would lend itself to better performances, not to mention an improved wellbeing. In any case, it is under these conditions that one can clear-headedly and definitively settle an issue so profound as retirement, not when you feel you're being rushed out the door. If his performances can no longer sustain his presence on the tour, so be it; as it stands his card seems safe for this year but is in serious jeopardy next year. He could always allow himself to drop off the tour naturally rather than forfeiting his place in the top 64, this could provide a sense of finality while offering a route back through Q-School if he so desired; after all, he's done it before. In conclusion, I just hope that RvB can play - or not play - for his own sake, rather than anyone else's, so that when the time comes he can be in no doubt as to his decision, leaving no lingering questions, so that he can reflect with no regret or uncertainty on the marvelous career he has had.Deduce635826-09-2026
- Luke Littler has been good for the sport of darts, no question. But he is not above it. For his sake and ours, he needs to be put in his place sometimes, rather than having his every whim catered to. That is not how you build a good person nor a good sporting organisation, and it's beginning to have consequences.Deduce635826-09-2026
- Extremely disappointing decision. It used to be that, along with major events and Euro Tours, the Players Championship series constituted one of three standards against which successful darts players could be measured, one of three challenges every successful darts player should be expected to master to consider themself among the elite. Now they are dead weight in the darting calendar, and player turnout and the standard of competitiveness will reflect that. The truth is that Luke Littler and other big names would rather play lucrative exhibitions than put in the hard graft that being a successful dart player requires. It undermines the authority of the PDC and the game in general. So what do they do about it? Give them exactly what they want. Of course, why wouldn't they? They are their star attractions. It is ironic that an organisation formed in protest by the sport's elite should be undermined and disrespected by their contemporary equivalents, but the PDC had a chance to stand up to them with a firm message: play 2 events all year and expect the final to be played without you. Instead, they caved in. These events will be hardly worth playing anymore and this decision may have grave consequences for the future of floor events at the elite level. Some may say the calendar is overstuffed, yet these elite players have more than enough time to play plenty of exhibitions. The Premier League in particular is gruelling, but busy players are not expected to play every event, they are expected to manage their playing schedule carefully in order to apportion their time and energy appropriately. Clayton and Humphries, for instance, both sit in the top 20 of the Players Championship and European orders of merit, in addition to competing in the Premier League; they have proven it is absolutely possible and this change is an insult to their efforts in effectively managing their calendars. I think we are seeing players who simply think they are too good for Pro Tour events, arrogance which should be punished rather than rewarded as we are seeing here. Furthermore, why should success in Euro Tours qualify you for the Players Championship Final? The PDC are blurring the lines between those three disciplines of darting excellence, and in so doing destabilising the very foundations upon which the organisation and its success is built. Some may say I'm overreacting, but this, in addition to the PDC's subservience and snivelling obsequiousness toward their biggest assets, makes me fear for the future of professional darts.Deduce635826-09-2026
- I guess this will mean the top players will turn up even less? Taken all the excitement of qualifying away I think. Wish they made it top 32 to qualify and the finals to last all week.Baphomet26-09-2026
- Great article - but not written by this site. It's taken wholesale from last Sunday's Observer with this interview published online on Saturday.Scoobedybop22-09-2026
- Such sad and pathetic little losers giving abuse to young woman for any reason, let alone who she is in a relationship with. Go Beau! An absolute star and comes across as a genuinely nice and kind person. Wish her nothing but the best.BandB22-09-2026
- I wouldn't mind if he quit now to be honest. He's not bigger than darts. Let's face it without darts he'd just be a normal fat gamer kid.medinabello22-09-2026
- You know,I said this,in a sentence,not 5 paragraphs!!rick6721-09-2026
- Oh dear,he lost. Well any competitive sport runs the risk of defeat. He is, currently,his own worst enemy. Wind the crowd up,and you get it back bigger. Put your dummy in kidrick6721-09-2026
- Does an exhibition count in the clean sweep though?BandB21-09-2026
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