"It just feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth" - Ryan Searle joins growing list of PDC pros to speak out against controversial Euro Tour changes
PDC
Ryan Searle has made an excellent start to the 2025 PDC Winmau World Masters. 'Heavy Metal' defeated Premier League Darts star Chris Dobey 3-1 in the opening round and will now face off against Jonny Clayton in the last 16, after the Welshman won 3-0 over Martin Schindler.
Despite the win, Searle realized afterwards that there is still a lot of room for progression. "Not entirely delighted by the performance, but it's nice to get a win over Chris. I think we were both expecting each other to play better than we did and we sort of dragged each other down. But yeah it's nice to get a win," assesses the Englishman when speaking to the media post-match. "I think they said earlier I've not beaten him since 2020 so it's a long time and we've had some some good games between then and now."
This was not Searle's first taste of the unique Winmau World Masters format, having reached the last 16 of the WDF version in 2013. "It's a Savage format!" Searle says. "Jonny tomorrow now and surely he can't play like that again (Clayton averaged over 115 in his win ed.). I'm hoping not anyway."
Searle also touched on the recently announced changes for European Tour tournaments. Following the change, the top 16 players in the world rankings are automatically guaranteed a place in the second round and the top 16 players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit will only get a starting spot in the first round, in essence offering the top 16 in the world further protection.
"Obviously, I'm not happy about that, because I'm not in the top 16 yet. If I beat Johnny tomorrow, I might get in the top 16 so it won't affect me, but doesn't mean that I still agree with it," Searle comments. "The top 16 are protected as it is anyway, and that only makes it worse. So yeah, obviously I do a lot of travelling going to all the Euro Tours, I try and do as many Pro Tours as I can and it just feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth."
"It's just one of those things and I'll deal with it. I try not to moan too much, I've said this year that I'm not going to moan. I'm just going to get my head down, put a lot more effort in than I have in the past and see where that takes me," 'Heavy Metal' concludes.
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