“I just couldn’t be arsed to get up there” - Gerwyn Price makes worrying admission despite US Darts Masters win

Gerwyn Price reached the quarter-finals of the US Darts Masters with a 6-4 win over Brayden Hall, then admitted his focus and motivation were nowhere near where they should be in New York.

The Welshman averaged 91.83 at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden, enough to see off Hall after a more awkward first-round contest than many might have expected. Hall, the top-ranked Canadian on the CDC Order of Merit, averaged 78.70 but pushed Price before the former world champion closed out the win.

Price broke immediately with an 81 checkout and moved 2-0 ahead, only for Hall to respond with checkouts of 98 and 65 as he edged into a 3-2 lead. Price regained control by breaking on double 20 and consolidating on double four, before Hall kept himself alive with a 113 finish. A 60 checkout eventually sent Price through.

The result kept Price’s US Darts Masters campaign alive, but his post-match assessment was brutally honest. “Yeah, I don’t know what it was,” he said. “In my words, I just couldn’t be arsed to get up there. It was weird. I just had a funny feeling. I’d rather be outside. It was weird.”

Asked whether it was difficult facing an unfamiliar opponent after spending much of the recent period playing the same elite names through the Premier League, Price dismissed that as the issue.

“I don’t know. I never think about my opponent,” Price said. “I just concentrate on my own game, but I don’t know what it is the last couple of months. I just haven’t been mentally with it. I’m just going through the motions.”

Price said his practice has also dropped off since the Premier League finished, leaving him short of sharpness with the World Matchplay now approaching.

“I haven’t practised a lot over the last couple of weeks,” he said. “The Premier League has been finished for about four or five weeks. I’ve probably picked the darts up two or three times, and that’s probably just before tournaments. My game is not in the best place at the minute. My mentality and approach to games is not in the best place, but hopefully over the next couple of weeks, couple of months, it’ll get better.”

That lack of rhythm has also been shaped by his schedule. Price said the Premier League had taken him away from the ProTour and European Tour events that usually keep his game sharp, something he plans to correct next year.

“The Premier League this year is always a hard slog,” he said. “I’ve missed 90% of Pro Tours and it doesn’t help. The Pro Tours and the Europeans are the bread and butter. That’s what keeps you sharp. Last week I didn’t play too bad in the European or the Pro Tours, but you need to get results. I need to be playing in those more often than not, and I definitely will next year.”

Price traced part of his distraction to matters away from the oche, with work around his farm and planning issues at home currently taking up more of his attention than he would like.

“I’ve got things going on at home that are distracting me a little bit,” he said. “I’ve got a little bit too much going on at home and a few too many distractions. When I’m away, I don’t want to be away. I want to be home and I want things to be happening around the farm and around the planning that I’ve got going on. So when I turn up, I can’t be bothered to be there, and it shouldn’t be that way.”

Asked whether those issues could be sorted before the World Matchplay, Price was not optimistic. “No. I hope it does, but the Matchplay is, what, three or four weeks away? No, definitely not,” he said. “The planning’s only just about called in and it’s a little bit frustrating."

“I won’t go too deep into that, but my mind’s not where it needs to be at the minute, where it was at the Premier League at the beginning of the season," he added. "Then it was fully focused, but I need to try and sort my focus out a little bit more with darts, which is an important part of your life.”

Price was also blunt about the performance itself. He rejected the idea that Hall had truly battle-tested him, instead pointing to missed chances that allowed the Canadian back into the contest.

“I don’t really think I was tested,” Price said. “I think I let myself down in my game. I missed a lot of opportunities, especially the one leg to go 3-0, and he took out a 112 or 113. That’s been happening to me for the last couple of weeks and I expected it to go. But at the end of the day, I backed it up and I still won. I need to improve if I’m going to win this tournament because that was quite rubbish.”

Price is the only player to have competed in all eight editions of the US Darts Masters, but the title is still missing from his record. “And I haven’t won one,” he said. “So that’ll be good.”

For all the concerns around focus and practice, Price insisted he still expects himself to challenge whenever he enters a tournament. “Yeah, definitely. I want to win every tournament I’m in,” he said. “I don’t just turn up and not expect to win. My focus might not be right, but I still expect myself to win. I know sometimes my mental strength, or my mental game, is not there, but I still believe that the talent can get me through. Even though today was probably rubbish for me, tomorrow can be a different day and I’m still confident I can go and win this tournament.”

Price did place the World Series event in perspective, with the upcoming ranking majors still sitting higher on his priority list.

“With due respect, these events, I’m here to win, but they’re like small exhibitions,” he said. “I really want to be winning ranking events. I want to win the Matchplay. I want to win the Grand Prix. I want to win the Grand Slam. I want to win the World Championship. These are just little warm-up events for those. As much as I love being involved with these, the ranking events are my priority. I’d love to go and win this because it would give me a boost of confidence moving on, and the Matchplay is so close.”

Price remains alive in New York, but the performance and the comments afterwards left a very different impression from a routine first-round win.