Third time lucky for Ryan Searle; 'Heavy Metal' clinches thrilling last-leg decider with Gary Anderson at Players Championship 3
PDCMonday, 19 February 2024 at 19:45
It took Ryan Searle three attempts, but he finally secured his first ranking title of the season. In his thrid straight final, he defeated Gary Anderson to win Players Championship 3.
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As mentioned, Searle had also reached the final in the previous two Players Championship tournaments, but lost to Luke Littler and Anderson respectively. On Monday, however, 'Heavy Metal' got a chance for revenge against 'The Flying Scotsman'.
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Searle had reached the final after victories over successively Patrick Geeraets (6-2), Owen Bates (6-4), Simon Whitlock (6-4), Damon Heta (6-3), Danny Noppert (6-4) and Michael van Gerwen (7-4). Anderson defeated Jeffrey de Graaf (6-3), William Borland (6-2), Jim Williams (6-3), Jeffrey Sparidaans (6-0), Peter Wright (6-2) and Callan Rydz (7-4). In addition, Anderson posted averages of 107.63, 109.35, 111.71 and 112.02, among others.
In the final, Searle won the first three legs of the match, and managed to hold that lead for a long time. Anderson then threw three 12-darters in his own legs in a row, but was still looking at that break deficit after nine legs.
However, a miss by Searle in the 11th leg on double 12 resulted in a break for Anderson. The Scot broke his practice partner with an 11-darter, before levelling the score with a 14-darter in the 12th leg. Both men then held their own leg, before Searle struck with a 14-darter in the leg-decider.
Results Players Championship 3
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Last 16
Peter Wright (104.01) 6 | 1 (91.72) Leighton Bennett
Gary Anderson (90.18) 6 | 0 (86.88) Jeffrey Sparidaans
Luke Littler (101.34) 6 | 4 (100.45) Dirk van Duijvenbode
Callan Rydz (98.07) 6 | 5 (94.75) Daryl Gurney
Steve Lennon (90.21) 6 | 4 (87.13) Ritchie Edhouse
Michael van Gerwen (94.71) 6 | 4 (86.49) Michael Smith
Ryan Searle (96.73) 6 | 3 (101.00) Damon Heta
Danny Noppert (96.24) 6 | 3 (93.99) Raymond van Barneveld
Quarterfinals
Gary Anderson (102.59) 6 | 2 (95.83) Peter Wright
Callan Rydz (103.34) 6 | 4 (86.88) Luke Littler
Michael van Gerwen (92.31) 6 | 5 (90.09) Steve Lennon
Ryan Searle (102.26) 6 | 4 (96.02) Danny Noppert
Semi-final
Gary Anderson (111.71) 7 | 4 (100.76) Callan Rydz
Ryan Searle (96.58) 7 | 4 (97.04) Michael van Gerwen
Final
Ryan Searle (107.63) 8 | 7 (108.61) Gary Anderson
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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- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
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