Gerwyn Price had to hold off a stirring comeback from World Series of Darts Finals debutant Brody Klinge before sealing a 6-4 victory in Amsterdam. The Welshman stormed into a 5-0 lead without missing a double, finding his range on tops with a brilliant 146 checkout to take command. But Klinge, whose debut looked over before it began, fired back with checkouts of 104, 96 and 119 to close the gap to one. Price finally got the job done to survive what would have been an incredible comeback.
"I started off well and dropped off, let him back into the game, gave him opportunities, and yeah, he took two good checkouts that probably hurt a little bit. But yeah, I'm just trying to fall over the winning line then. But yeah, I started well and let him off," Price said in his press conference. The Iceman also revealed a change in equipment was behind his blistering start: "I actually used different darts and different points. I used the Switch points today and longer points, which I've been practising with for the last couple of weeks. I swear, if I can play like I can in the house, which is quite hard to do on the main stage, yeah, I score well with them. I hit everything, but probably saw a little bit of that in the first five legs, but then it sort of dropped off at the end."
Price, one of the most superstitious players on the PDC Tour, admitted he is still fine-tuning his setup. "Honestly, with these darts, I know there's an extra 100% in the tank because I score so well with them, but it's just trying to, you know, get into your game on the main stage. But yeah, if I can just find the confidence to use them like I did today, yeah, it works. But down to myself at the end. Like I said, a couple more games and I'll be fine."
With Luke Littler's clean sweep hopes still alive after a fiery encounter against Danny Noppert, Price made his feelings clear: he wants Littler to complete the incredible feat — but only if he doesn't win the tournament himself. "If I don't win them, I hope he does," he admitted. "You know, fair play to him. You know, I want to win tournaments, but if I don't, then, you know, fair play to him. Just rewrite the history and, you know, if he wins every tournament, happy days. But I'm there to stop him. If I don't win them, yeah, I'm glad for him to win."
Price, who has not won a major title since this event four years ago, is targeting a drought-breaking end to the season. "As well as I'm playing, I'm confident and I think, you know, going into the back end of the season, there's some majors I can win and, you know, some that I'm targeting as well," he said. He also outlined his scheduling priorities, confirming he will play the Leicester ProTour events and the final two European Tour events in Switzerland and the Netherlands. "I'd rather play in a lot more ProTours than Europeans because, you know, that is the prep. But when you're in Premier League and World Series, you just can't do everything and you have to miss vital tournaments. And, you know, don't get me wrong, Premier League, World Series, it's great to be in them, but they're not good practice. You know, sometimes you can lose first night on a Thursday, you might only play three games, and to go to World Series, they're not great prep."
"But you need to play in the ProTours, Europeans, if you want to be sharp for the big majors and, you know, that's what I look to do next year, I think," he added. "I just like to play in the ProTours. They give you confidence, especially if you're going deep in those. They're good practice. You know, you don't see all the ProTour boys in the majors all the time and they're brilliant. You know, they're playing their best stuff on the floor and that's what makes you sharp. So I need to hit a lot more of them if I want to win majors because they're your bread and butter. They're what set you up and, yeah, next year I will hit a lot more of them. But yeah, like you said, I'll probably play in another two Europeans, two more ProTours this year and fingers crossed that I'm ready for the big back end of the year."
