The 32-year-old was obviously a big underdog in his second ever Pro Tour final against van Gerwen, who was bidding to 'finally' open his account of titles for 2020 in the fourth tournament of the season.
But the former window cleaner had other ideas and despite seeing his early 3-0 lead turn into a 4-3 deficit, he showed tremendous character to win five of the next seven legs and achieve a landmark moment in his budding career.
Searle averaged 97.1 compared with MVG's 95.9 in the final and also hit one more maximum with five.
The Somerset thrower's success is even more incredible because he suffers from astigmatism - a condition that causes blurred vision so bad that he can't see where his darts land and frequently needs to check with the referee what score he's hit.
"When you get these chances you just have to take the opportunity and thankfully I did today. I think I let myself down a bit at the World Championship when I lost to Gary Anderson.
"I still don't think I've played my best, but I know what I can do. Nathan Aspinall beat me in the final of his first Players Championship win and look what's happened to him since then. Maybe it will be the same for me."
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