GERWYN PRICE has claimed he “didn’t want to be” at the Players Championship 26, despite going on to win the event in spectacular fashion.
Price, 40, suggested that he was “forced” to attend the event in Germany, but still ended up banking £15,000 for his troubles.
Shutterstock EditorialGerwyn Price has claimed he ‘didn’t want to be’ at the Players Championship 26[/caption]
The Welshman earned his fourth title of the season with an 8-5 victory over Gian van Veen in the final.
But if it was up to Price, he would have been resting up after already missing a number of events due to an infection in his hand last month.
He said: “Well, I didn’t want to be here today and tomorrow.
“I missed last weekend’s European event with the infection in my hand, and I missed the Pro Tours before that.”
Price explained that he felt he had to take part in order to qualify for future big-money events.
Adding: “So yeah, I was kind of forced to come to these because I don’t want to miss too many – it can catch up with you at the back end of the year, as Nathan [Aspinall] is finding out now.
“I don’t think he’s in the Players Championship Finals yet. If you miss too many, it can catch up with you, and it’ll do the same next year as well.
“I won a couple early on, but then I’ll be defending quite a bit, so it’s hard.”
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He continued: “You’ve got to try and win as much as you can, as early as you can. Then at the back end of the year – which is now – you can miss a couple.
“But obviously, I’ve missed the last two weeks, so yeah, this one was frustrating. I’m glad I won it, I’m glad I’m here – but I didn’t want to be here.”
It wasn’t just in battling back from an injury that Price showed resilience, but also in his display in the Players Championship 26 final.
The Iceman had stormed to a 6-0 lead and looked poised for a whitewash, only for Van Veen to hit back with five consecutive legs of his own to bring the score to 6-5.
Price broke that incredible run of legs with an 11-darter before winning the decider with a 15-darter.
The 2021 world champion put up an impressive average of 109.28 in the final, notching 13 maximums.
Speaking after winning, he said: “I wanted it. I was probably thinking about that a little bit too much – I wanted it too much.
“But towards the end, what did he take out, 164? I was thinking, ‘Here we go again.’ I missed a couple of doubles towards the back end.”
GettyPrice fought off a late comeback to beat Gian van Veen in the final[/caption] Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
