2025 Players Championship 1 Tips

I don’t normally cover the Players Championships, but there are few players who could be worth following for the first few events. PC1 and PC2 will be played today and tomorrow in Wigan, check out my 2025 Players Championship 1 tips below.

In an ideal world, I would wait until the draw has been made, but that doesn’t happen until shortly before the start of play, so not a lot of time to construct any sort of argument for the chances of any given player.

However, there is one player who warrants backing even before the draw, but hopefully he can bag a good one today and in the first few events.

Heavy Metal

Ryan Searle has become something of a fast starter on the Pro Tour. His first Pro Tour title came in 2021, winning PC22, quite late in that season. He has won at least one title every year since and hit the post on numerous occasions.

In 2022 Searle was runner up in PC1. In 2023 he won PC1 and was runner up in PC4 and PC6. Last year Searle was runner up in PC1 and PC2, before winning PC3. Reaching the final among 128 players is impressive and usually pays out at half the odds.

Searle is in decent form but getting a bit frustrated with his results on stage. He plays well but does not get the results you might expect. Perhaps a return to the happy hunting ground that is the Pro Tour will improve his fettle.

This time last year Searle came up against Like Littler in the final and he averaged 111.71 but lost 8-7. He lost the following day’s final 5-8 to Gary Anderson but got his just desserts when beating Anderson 8-7 in the final of PC3.

Anderson

Talking of Gary Anderson, The Flying Scotsman has got off to a fast start on the Pro Tour himself, albeit some of them a long time ago. In 2013 he was a semi-finalist in PC1, 2014 he won PC1 and PC3. He won PC1 again in 2015 and reached the semi-final in 2016.

The following year Anderson won PC2 and in 2018 he won PC3 and PC4. A back injury ruled him out in 2019, but he was to winning form last year, winning PC2 and was runner up to Searle PC3. Is it a coincidence that Anderson and Searle are practice partners?

The Ferret

Another player who I will be following today, and tomorrow, is Jonny Clayton. The Ferret came very close to winning the World Masters eight days ago, losing in the deciding leg to Luke Humphries. He put in some eye-catching displays, like a 112 average against Schindler and a 104 when beating Luke Littler in the quarter final. Clayton ended the 2024 players championship season by reaching the final of PC30.

Clayton was runner up in the 2021 version of PC1 before winning PC2 and PC4. He was a quarter finalist in 2022’s PC1 and a semi-finalist in 2023.

Not all the bookies have this priced up yet, and it really is best to wait for the draw, but for the purposes of this little mini-preview, I will put up three tips at the current odds, and will also follow them in PC2 tomorrow.

Ryan Searle 0.5 point e/w to win 2025 Players Championship 1 @ 41.00 generally available

Gary Anderson 0.5 point e/w to win 2025 Players Championship 1 @ 15.00 with BET365

Jonny Clayton 0.5 point e/w to win 2025 Players Championship 1 @ 29.00 with Boylesports, Betfred

All half the odds 1-2.

-JamesPunt