Ryan Searle celebrated his sixth Players Championship title courtesy of an emphatic 8-3 victory against Cameron Menzies in Tuesday’s Players Championship 4 decider in Rosmalen.
Searle has won a PDC ranking title in each of the last five years, and the Somerset star extended that streak with a host of top-quality displays at the Autotron.
The 37-year-old averaged just shy of 105 in a first round whitewash of Florian Hempel, and after easing past Mensur Suljovic in round two, he averaged 109 in a third round thumping of Owen Bates.
Searle continued his charge with hard-fought wins over Mickey Mansell and William O’Connor, before producing a clinical 120 checkout to topple Stefan Bellmont 7-6 in the semi-finals.
The man nicknamed ‘Heavy Metal’ delivered more heavy artillery in Tuesday’s showpiece against Menzies, converting eight of his 12 attempts at double to triumph with a 100.7 average.
Menzies kicked off proceedings with a brilliant 145 outshot – sparking a sequence of four consecutive holds – before Searle registered legs of 13 and 12 darts to establish a 4-2 buffer.
Following back-to-back holds, Searle then followed up a crucial 110 kill with a brilliant tops-tops 100 finish to move to the brink of victory, which he sealed via his trusted tops in leg 11.
“I’ve been playing really well in practice, so to prove it this week is fantastic,” admitted Searle, who becomes the first non-Premier League player to win a ranking title this year.
“To win six PDC titles is amazing, especially when you look at the list of brilliant players that never won a PDC title.
“Winning a title six years running is a great achievement for me, and if I can win another one this year, that will be another boundary crossed.”
Searle has been one of the sport’s most consistent performers for much of the last decade, but he’s determined to reach new heights this year, as he plots a return to the world’s top 16.
“This year I want to try and push forward and do more than what I’ve done in the past,” continued the former Players Championship Finals runner-up.
“Throughout my career I’ve basically just done the bare minimum to get by, and luckily enough I’m half decent at darts!
“I had a bit of a gut-wrenching loss to Ryan Joyce at the World Championship, because I feel like I played really well.
“As soon as I got back home I’ve been on the practice board. I’m looking to put more effort in this year, so we will see where that takes me.”
Menzies enjoyed a breakthrough year on the PDC ProTour in 2024, and the Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finalist impressed on Dutch soil to reach his third Players Championship final.
The Scot fought back from 5-2 to deny Jose de Sousa in a dramatic first round tie, and after averaging in three figures to dispose of Christian Kist, he won through another deciding-leg tussle against Wesley Plaisier.
Menzies then recorded successive 6-3 victories over Stephen Bunting and James Wade to book a last four showdown against Dom Taylor, where he ran out a resounding 7-4 winner.
Taylor landed five ton-plus averages in reaching the semi-finals, with a 99.31 average in his third round win over Ryan Meikle representing his worst performance of the day.
The 26-year-old also overcame Karel Sedlacek and Damon Heta before whitewashing Nick Kenny and averaging 106 in his quarter-final victory over Gabriel Clemens.
Taylor was joined in the last four by Bellmont, who claimed eye-catching wins over Gerwyn Price and Josh Rock to become the first Swiss representative to reach a PDC ranking semi-final.
The World Cup star had kicked off his campaign with a crushing 6-2 win over European Champion Ritchie Edhouse, while he also launched a late fightback to deny Ryan Joyce in the last 16.
Following a hat-trick of first round exits in the year’s opening three events, Clemens enjoyed a welcome return to form in Rosmalen, reaching the quarter-finals alongside Rock and Wade.
Northern Ireland’s number one Rock produced a brace of ton-plus averages before succumbing to Bellmont, while Wade dumped out Monday’s semi-finalist Rydz during his run to the last eight.
Irish star O’Connor completed the quarter-final line-up, defeating top seed Dave Chisnall before overturning a 5-3 deficit against five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld in the last 16.
Dutch superstar Michael van Gerwen opted not to compete in Tuesday’s event, with Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Gary Anderson amongst the other high-profile absentees.