Ryan Searle continued his remarkable ProTour consistency by capturing the Players Championship 7 title in Leicester on Monday, defeating Alan Soutar 8-3 in a one-sided final. The victory marks Searle's eighth career ProTour crown and extends his streak of winning at least one title every year since 2020.
Searle dominated the final from the outset, breaking Soutar's throw with a double five to lead 2-0, then holding with double 12 for 3-0. Soutar got on the board with a double five hold to make it 3-1, but missed three darts in the next leg, allowing Searle to pin an 89 checkout for 4-1. Soutar held again with double eight to trail 4-2, but Searle pounced on a missed 88 from Soutar to take out 52 for 5-2. Searle then pinned double 19 for 6-2 and double 10 to move within one leg at 7-2. Soutar kept faint hopes alive with an 84 checkout for 7-3, but after both players missed chances—Soutar missing double six and three more darts, Searle missing a match dart on 70—Searle sealed the title with double five.
En route to the final, Searle produced a series of strong performances. He eased past practice partner Gary Anderson 7-3 with a 96 average, defeated Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 with a 104 average, and earlier beat Jimmy van Schie 6-2 and Darius Labanauskas 6-1 with a 102 average. Soutar's run to the final included victories over Tavis Dudeney, Jim Long, Derek Coulson, Alexander Merkx, Peter Wright, and a 7-6 win over Keane Barry in the semi-finals, averaging around 95 throughout the day.
Other notable results saw Michael van Gerwen lose in the Last 16 to Jeffrey Sparidaans, Stephen Bunting fall 6-4 to Keane Barry in the Last 32, Jonny Clayton lose 6-4 to James Hurrell in the Last 32, and Nathan Aspinall suffer a first-round defeat to Adam Paxton. The ProTour action continues with one more event in Leicester tomorrow.
