Ryan Searle’s battle with dominant optic atrophy meant the darts star was unsure of whether he’d hit a spectacular nine-darter. The 37-year-old – who faces Luke Littler in the first round of the World Matchplay on Sunday – has been open when discussing his sight issues, which he’s endured since childhood.
While wearing contact lenses has alleviated his blurred vision to a certain point, there are times when Searle isn’t completely sure of what he’s hit, even when it comes to hitting a perfect score of 501. It was during the 2023 Grand Slam when the Englishman was on course for a nine-darter and after hitting the final dart to secure the leg, he had to rely on the passion of the crowd to let him know he’d achieved it.
At the time, he said: “I hit the seventh dart in the treble 20. Then I went for the treble 19. When I let it go it didn’t feel too good, then the crowd made the noise.
“I couldn’t really tell it was there, it was the crowd that told me. Then I went for double 12 and, luckily enough, it went in. It has not been easy. I wear contact lenses to play and it’s improved my sight a little bit.
“I was about 54 in the world playing without contact lenses, then I went up to about 15 once I could see a little bit better. I’m quite a rhythmic player so it helped that I wasn’t having to stop and ask [the referee] every few throws. It has definitely helped my game.”
Earlier this month, Searle opened up further on his condition, revealing how his daughter is visually impaired as he discussed his plans to raise funds and awareness for research to help discover a cure. Searle explained: “I can only just legally drive. I wear contacts now, so it is not quite as bad.
“My vision is not quite as blurry, so I don’t have to stop and ask the ref what I have scored. That’s helped my game a lot because I’m not having to stop and pause by asking all the time. But I have an eye disease called dominant optic atrophy which is a genetic thing.”
Searle admitted that the condition, which he was only diagnosed with over a year ago, has affected his daughter more severely than himself as he added: “I have only sort of found out in the last 12-18 months because my daughter has it.
“It comes in different severities. Mine is fairly bad. Her’s is really bad so she’s registered as visually impaired which counts as a disability and so she’ll probably never be able to drive.
“So I’ve been talking to a charity about this where they are trying raise money to find a cure for this. At the moment there is no cure for it because whatever you are born with is the vision you have got. There is nothing to help improve it. So, I’m going to have a patch on my shirt saying about the charity and try and raise a bit more awareness to see if we can get towards a cure.”
Searle will be hoping to cause a major upset on Sunday with a win over Littler to book his place in the second round. Defending champion Luke Humphries was left stunned in the opening round where he was knocked out by Gian van Veen on Saturday.