Ryan Searle hit a nine-darter against Jermaine Wattimena in his third-round clash at the Players Championship 27 in Wigan.
Heavy Metal was in terrific form at the Pro Tour event, defeating Rob Cross and Keane Barry before succumbing to Gerwyn Price in the semi-finals.
Searle lost 7-4 to Price but etched his name in PDC history with his nine-darter in the third round.
Ryan Searle breaks PDC record with 47th nine-darter of 2024
Searle’s nine-darter in his match with Wattimena was the 47th on the PDC circuit in 2024 which is a brand-new PDC record.
The previous record, 46, was hit in 2019 and the new record is ten more than last year’s total with more than two months left to play.
This was Searle’s first nine-darter of the year, with Luke Littler leading the way with four perfect legs hit at the Bahrain Darts Masters, Belgian Darts Open, Players Championship 1, and the Premier League.
With eight tournaments still to come in 2024, the record could be obliterated by the time we crown a new World Champion.
Number of perfect legs showcases quality rise of darts
It’s a fact that more and more nine-darters are hit as the PDC continues to grow, but the difference in the last few years to the early days of the corporation is stark.
2024’s 47 nine-darters is more than 1996 to 2007 combined and is more than double the amount of each single year between 2008 and 2014.
It was only around 2015 when the numbers started to grow exponentially from that year’s 29 up to a consistent 40+ number of nine-darters from 2021 onward.
Those stark numbers truly show that the sport is in a boom period for quality and proof of why darts continues to grow in popularity around the world.