Grand Slam of Darts: Gerwyn Price beats Gary Anderson in bad-tempered final
- Published
Gerwyn Price became Wales' first major PDC title winner after a testy 16-13 victory over Gary Anderson in the Grand Slam of Darts final in Wolverhampton.
Price trailed 11-8 in the best-of-31 match but won eight of the last 10 legs to claim the win.
Scot Anderson took exception to what he viewed as slow play and over-exuberant celebrations by Price and the two clashed verbally on several occasions.
"He can't handle playing me," Price told Sky Sports.
Defeat for two-time world champion Anderson, 47, came at the end of a week that saw him forced to deny accusations that he had been breaking wind during Thursday's 10-2 win over Wesley Harms.
He set aside the distraction of that episode to reach the final - beating three-time defending champion Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals along the way - but came up short in what proved a hugely controversial meeting with Price.
The two men also squared up in the 15th and 28th legs of a bad-tempered encounter, the match finished without the customary handshake, and Price lifted the winner's Eric Bristow Trophy amid loud boos from the crowd at the Aldersley Leisure Village.
"This trophy means a lot to me, it's the first ever one named after Eric so nobody can take that away from me. I go down in history now, happy days," added 33-year-old Price, who married his long-term partner last weekend.
"Sometimes the crowd is with you, sometimes it's against you. If it's against you, you have to feed off that. This week, maybe two or three times, they were against me, [but] it makes me play better. So next time, boo a little bit more.
"I'm loving it playing on that stage against the best players in the world. Five-six years ago I was a rugby player, and now I'm pinching money from the professionals' pockets."
Price also dismissed the suggestion that the running battle with Anderson on the oche influenced the result.
"I'm throwing my darts, he needs to wait for his turn. He doesn't like it when it's a little bit up him, so unlucky," he said.
"I knew when he beat Michael [Van Gerwen] that I was going to beat him. Simple. He can't handle playing me. He just moans every time that I'm doing this, doing that. Concentrate on your own game."