In the high-stakes arena of professional sports, where legends are forged through sweat, skill, and sheer audacity, few athletes can claim mastery over multiple disciplines at the elite level. Gerwyn Price, the 39-year-old Welsh dynamo known to darts fans as “The Iceman” for his unflappable demeanor under pressure, has long blurred the lines between rugby’s brutal physicality, snooker’s cerebral precision, and darts’ pinpoint accuracy. But in a revelation that’s left admirers slack-jawed, Price has quietly accomplished what many deem “one of the most difficult feats in sport”—and it has absolutely nothing to do with the oche. This isn’t about nine-dart finishes or World Championship glory; it’s about conquering the green baize of snooker with a maximum 147 break, a rare gem that’s eluded even the sport’s immortals. For Price, it’s the crowning piece in a trifecta of triumphs: a hole-in-one on the golf course, a perfect 147 in snooker, and that elusive nine-darter in darts. In a world obsessed with specialization, Price’s polymath prowess stands as a testament to relentless versatility.
Price’s journey is the stuff of underdog epics. Born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1985, he first carved his path in rugby, a sport that demands the kind of raw power and tactical nous that would later define his darts career. As a hooker for Welsh Premier League sides Neath and Cross Keys in rugby union, and later for rugby league outfits South Wales Scorpions and Blackwood Bulldogs, Price scrapped in the trenches, earning a reputation as a tenacious forward unafraid of the fray. “I loved the physicality of it,” he once reflected, his voice carrying the gravel of the scrum. “It taught me to channel aggression, to stay composed when everything’s chaos.” But injuries nagged, and by his mid-20s, a pivot to darts beckoned—a pub pastime that exploded into a profession when he turned pro in 2014. What followed was meteoric: seven PDC majors, including three Grand Slam of Darts titles, the 2020 World Grand Prix, two World Series Finals wins, and a 2021 World Championship crown that silenced doubters. Representing Wales, he’s lifted the PDC World Cup twice alongside Jonny Clayton, etching his name into the sport’s pantheon as world No. 1 on three occasions between 2021 and 2022.
Yet, darts is merely one string to Price’s bow. Golf, that maddening pursuit of par, claimed him early. A hole-in-one—striking the ball in one swing to drop it straight into the cup from tee to green—is a statistical unicorn, with odds hovering around 12,500 to 1 for amateurs and even steeper for pros. Price notched his during a casual round in Wales, a moment of pure serendipity amid the fairways’ frustrations. “It was one of those days where everything clicked,” he recounted, the memory still sparking a grin. “You aim, swing, and bam—it’s in. Feels like cheating the gods.” That ace wasn’t a fluke; it’s a badge of his all-around athleticism, honed from rugby’s footwork and darts’ steady hand-eye sync.
Snooker, however, elevates the narrative to mythic heights. The 147 break—potting 15 reds, 15 blacks, and the colors in sequence for a perfect 147 points—is the holy grail of the felt, achieved just 199 times in professional competition since 1976. Legends like Ronnie O’Sullivan (15 times) and Stephen Hendry (11) have chased it obsessively, yet it demands surgical focus, split-second geometry, and nerves of titanium. Price, moonlighting as a snooker enthusiast between darts tours, joined that elite cadre last year during a club match in Wales. The cue glided like an extension of his arm: red after red vanishing into pockets, blacks piling up in a symphony of chalk and clack, until the final pink and black sealed perfection. “I was shaking after the last black,” Price admitted, the adrenaline rush mirroring a nine-darter’s high. “You don’t think; you just flow. It’s rarer than a nine-darter, trust me.”
This snooker symphony completes Price’s grand slam of rarities, a feat that prompted banter with darts rival Michael van Gerwen last year. When asked which is tougher—a hole-in-one, a nine-darter, or a 147—van Gerwen leaned toward the snooker break. Price, ever the provocateur, piled on with his firsthand proof. “Anyone who says nine-darter needs to go and see a doctor immediately,” he quipped during a Bahrain Darts Masters presser, where he’d just fallen 8-4 to Stephen Bunting in the final. “But we have that bit of banter quite often and, the last time we did it, I think the hole-in-one got thrown in and it was, like, hang on a minute, I’ve done all three.” It’s classic Price—fiery, unfiltered, with a competitive edge sharpened by years of on-stage roars and off-stage rituals. His darts superstitions, like aligning his case precisely on the table or sticking to Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” walk-on after a Katy Perry flirtation, reveal a man who thrives on control amid chaos.
Price’s multi-sport mastery isn’t just trivia; it’s a blueprint for longevity in a sport that chews up prodigies. At 39, he’s weathered darts’ storms—fines for gamesmanship in 2018 (a record £12,000 slashed to £11,500 on appeal), heated clashes like his 2019 Premier League shove-fest with Daryl Gurney, and a 2024 slump that saw him miss Grand Slam qualification for the first time since 2017. “When the last 10 years have been constant travelling, darts or downtime with the family, you lose touch with everything else,” he confessed in a raw social media post, contemplating retirement before recommitting. Yet, dipping into snooker and golf keeps him grounded, a mental reset from the oche’s intensity. “It reminds me why I love competing,” he said. “That rush when it all aligns—whether it’s a rugby tackle, a golf swing, or potting the black off the pink.”
As 2025 unfolds, with the World Matchplay behind him and eyes on redemption in Leicester’s World Grand Prix, Price’s triple-threat legacy inspires a new generation. In a darts world dominated by specialists like Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, he’s the outlier—the rugby enforcer turned snooker savant turned darts deity. Hitting a 147? It’s not just a feat; it’s Price’s mic drop, proof that the Iceman’s fire burns across sports’ vast canvas. Fans, from Welsh valleys to global arenas, marvel at the man who doesn’t just play the game—he redefines its boundaries. In an era of one-trick wonders, Gerwyn Price is the ultimate all-rounder, his 147 a whisper that echoes louder than any nine-dart roar: true greatness knows no borders.
Leave a Reply