PDC Players Championship Finals: Peter Wright wins thriller against Ryan Searle

Peter WrightLawrence Lustig/PDC

Wright had never previously made the final at the PDC Players Championship Finals

By Sian Price
BBC Sport

Peter Wright beat Ryan Searle 11-10 in a thrilling match to win his first PDC Players Championship Finals title.

He secured the £100,000 first prize and his second major of the year after winning the World Matchplay in July.

World number two Wright was playing in his first final at the Players Championship Finals while Seale, 34, was in his first televised final.

Scotland's Wright, 51, has now reached the final of every single televised ranking major on the PDC calendar.

"It's the only final I've never played in. I knew it was going to be a tough game against Ryan Searle but I enjoyed it," said Wright.

"To be honest in the second half of the match I was going at Ryan's pace and I was thinking 'I am running out of energy here, I need to take a breather' and lucky enough I got through."

It was an even first half in Minehead before England's Searle, born in nearby Wellington, made the first break of throw in the 11th leg to go 6-5 up.

Wright broke straight back to level at 6-6, and threw a 141 checkout to win a third leg on the spin to lead 8-6, but Searle broke back to pull level at 8-8.

The experienced Scot fought back and broke Searle to lead 10-8 but he busted attempting 129 to win it, and then missed another match dart on a double six.

Searle, ranked 15th in the world, capitalised when Wright missed bullseye for the match as the Englishman made it 10-10 and took the final to a deciding leg.

He piled on the pressure, throwing 177 to leave 24, but Wright held his nerve to checkout with 62 to win the title.

Earlier in the semi-finals, with all four home nations represented, Searle beat Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan 11-6 and Wright beat Wales' Jonny Clayton 11-6.

The Players Championship Finals is the final major before the 2022 World Championship at London's Alexandra Palace on 15 December, with Wales' Gerwyn Price the defending champion.

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