PDC WORLD DARTS
EX-WINDOW cleaner Ryan Searle believes the greatest result of his career will change his life.
Searle, 31, produced one of the shocks of the William Hill World Darts Championship by knocking out No.7 seed Mensur Suljovic on Thursday to book a place in the third round.
It means he is guaranteed a £25,000 payday – with greater riches to come if he beats William O’Connor in the first match at Ally Pally this evening.
The fourth round is a minimum of £35,000 and the quarter-finals is £50,000.
Tight
Searle, who lives near Wellington in Devon, said: “To the top boys in the world, what I have won, it is not a lot, it is pocket change to them, but to me it is life changing.
“Five, six months ago, there was a time when I thinking, ‘Maybe I am going to have to find a job, just do anything’. Things were getting a bit tight. It was a struggle.
“I live in a little bungalow in a little village in the middle of nowhere.
“I would not say it was a problem but it was going to get to a point where I would either have to win or the rent was not going to get paid. It was as simple as BIG John Henderson feared he would be stranded by the drone crisis at Gatwick before a happy landing against Germany’s Gabriel Clemens. Henderson’s 3-2 win was far from ‘plane’ sailing, especially after his flight from Scotland to London was affected by the airline chaos.
He said: “The drones gave us a massive problem. We were going to be diverted to Stansted, then Heathrow, but I’m not using that as an excuse.
“It wasn’t ideal, but hopefully it’s a lot better going home to Scotland and getting back here next week.” Henderson now faces ‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith in the third round, and he admitted: “I’m going to have to up my average by at least 10 points.” ‘Dancing’ Devon Petersen pulled off the best win of his career to knock out No.11 seed Ian White 3-2.
The South African said: “This has probably saved my career – 2018 was supposed to be the year that broke me, but it never broke me. I’m stronger for it.”