Phil Taylor | Darts Wikia | Fandom powered by Wikia
2010, 2010, 2011, 2011
Other achievements
2002 Achieves his first televised nine dart finish (and the first live televised nine-darter in the UK) at World Matchplay
2004 Becomes first player to hit a second televised nine-dart finish
2005 Hit third televised nine-dart finish
2006 PDC Player of the Year
2007 Fourth televised nine-darter in IDL in the Netherlands
2007 Fifth televised nine-darter in 2007 UK Open at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton
2007 PDC Fans' Player of the Year
2008 Sixth televised nine-darter in 2008 UK Open
2008 Fans' Player of the Year, PDC Player of the Year and PDPA Player's Player of the Year
2009 Hits seventh televised 9 darter in Championship League Darts against John Part
2009 PDC Player of the Year, PDPA Players’ Player of the Year, Fans’ Player of the Year and Best PDC Pro Tour Player
2010 Inaugural inductee into Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame
2010 Hit two televised nine dart finishes in Premier League Final against James Wade
2010 Scored world record televised average of 118.66 against Kevin Painter in UK Open
Updated on 20 November 2011.
Philip Douglas 'Phil' Taylor (born 13 August 1960) is an English professional darts player, nicknamed The Power. He is regarded as the best darts player ever to have played the game, having won more than 150 professional tournaments and a record 15 World Championships .
He won PDC Player of the year four times (2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010) and has been twice nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award (2006 and 2010). He was the first person to hit two nine darters in one match, in the 2010 Premier League Darts final against James Wade . As of 26 September 2010, he has hit nine televised nine dart finishes , and is ranked World No. 1 in the PDC Order of Merit .
Taylor played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) from 1988 to 1993 before he, and several other players, broke away to form the World Darts Council, now known as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
He was given the nickname "The Power" by a Sky Sports production manager, Peter Judge. Judge told Taylor that he should have a nickname, and he was named "The Power" after Judge stepped on an empty CD case of Snap!'s "The Power".
Early life
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Taylor was born to Douglas "The Wizard" and Elizabeth "The Dame" Taylor on 13 August 1960 in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. He left school at the age of 16 and after holding a few jobs including as a sheet metal worker, he would spend most of his early working days making ceramic toilet roll handles, for which he earned £52 a week. Although he liked to play darts as a child, he never took up the game seriously until 1986 when he moved into a terraced house in Burslem, living near to Eric Bristow 's pub the Crafty Cockney. A few months later, his wife Yvonne bought him a set of darts for his birthday and he started playing weekly, occasionally at Bristow's pub. By 1988 he was selected for the county team and playing at Super League level. Bristow started sponsoring him by loaning him £10,000 later that year to help him get started as a professional darts player and on the condition that he gave up his job as a ceramic engineer.
Early career
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Taylor's first title came in the Canadian Open in 1988 and after reaching the quarter finals of the British Open and the semi finals of the Winmau World Masters in 1989 he had qualified for the World Championships for the first time in 1990. Although he had achieved some success in Open events, he went into the 1990 World Championship as a 125–1 unseeded outsider. He beat number six seed Russell Stewart 3–1 in the first round, Dennis Hickling 3–0 in the second round, Ronnie Sharp 4–2 in the quarter finals and Cliff Lazarenko 5–0 to reach the final, where he met his mentor, Bristow. Bristow had been suffering with dartitis since 1986 but had recovered his world number one ranking to be the top seed in the event. After sharing the first two sets, Taylor beat Bristow 6–1 in sets to claim his first world title. For the rest of 1990, Taylor dominated the Open events taking the titles in Isle of Man, Finland, North America, Denmark plus the British Pentathlon, British Masters, Europe Cup and the game's second major tournament at the time, the Winmau World Masters .
Taylor's defence of the world championship in 1991 ended at the quarter-final stage with a loss to Dennis Priestley , who went on to win his first world title. He picked up fewer titles in 1991 losing both his Danish Open and World Masters titles in finals to Rod Harrington . Taylor regained the world championship the following year, beating Mike Gregory 6–5 in the final. He called the win as the favourite of his career.
Split in darts
Main article: Split in darts
From a peak during the 1980s, the game of darts had lost many sponsors and almost all television coverage. Players felt that the BDO was no longer serving the interests of the game at the top level. In 1993, some players broke away from the game's ruling body, the British Darts Organisation , and formed their own organisation, the World Darts Council (WDC), later renamed the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
In the 1993 World Championship , the last unified World Championship to be held, Taylor lost in the second round to Kevin Spiolek . The BDO refused to allow the new organisation to set up and run their own tournaments, so the WDC players decided that they would no longer compete in the BDO World Championship. They founded the WDC World Darts Championship as an alternative. In the first WDC World Championship in 1994 , Taylor lost to Priestley, but Taylor dominated the event for the next decade and beyond.
PDC career
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After losing to Priestley in the final of the first PDC World Championship in 1994, Taylor began to dominate the event during the next few years. Rod Harrington reached his first World Final in 1995 and although he had won his previous three finals against Taylor in 1991 and 1992, Taylor took the title 6–2 and it would turn out to be Harrington's only appearance in a World Final.
The finals of 1996, 1997 and 1998 would feature Taylor v Priestley in a repeat of the inaugural final. Priestley achieved the first 100 average in a final in 1996 but still ended up runner-up and the next two finals would be more one-sided in favour of Taylor who took the title 6–3 in 1997 and 6–0 in 1998 with an average in the final of 103.98. By 1998, he had passed his mentor Eric Bristow 's haul of five world championships.
Taylor's record at Blackpool in the WDC's second major event, the World Matchplay was not as strong in the early days, losing to Bob Anderson in 1994, Peter Evison in 1996 and Ronnie Baxter in 1998 – but he still won the event twice in the first five years, beating Priestley 16–11 in 1995 and Alan Warriner-Little 16–11 in 1997.
1999 to 2004
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Taylor stretched his World Championship unbeaten run to eight years in the PDC World Championship beating Peter Manley in 1999 and 2002, Priestley for a fourth time in 2000 and John Part in 2001. Part would finally end the run by beating Taylor 7–6 ( sets ) in the 2003 World Championship .
He would improve his record at Blackpool during this spell. After he lost in the 1999 semi-final of the World Matchplay to Peter Manley, he would go on to win the title for the next five years (2000–2004) beating five different opponents in the final, Alan Warriner-Little (2000), Richie Burnett (2001), John Part (2002), Wayne Mardle (2003) and Mark Dudbridge (2004). By the end of 2004, he had won 11 World Championships and seven World Matchplays.
Taylor has faced the incumbent BDO World Champion in challenge matches on two occasions. In 1999, he beat Raymond van Barneveld by 21 legs to 10 in a one-hour challenge dubbed "The Match of the Century" at the Wembley Conference Centre. The second challenge match came in 2004 against Andy Fordham . Taylor was leading 5–2 in sets when Fordham, feeling unwell, abandoned the match.
2004 to 2008
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Taylor continued his dominance during 2004 and 2005, but after winning his 13th World Championship title in January 2006, he lost four matches in televised tournaments during the first half of the year. He lost to Jelle Klaasen and Simon Whitlock in the International Darts League tournament, and twice in a row to Raymond van Barneveld —in the UK Open and the Las Vegas Desert Classic . He came back to win the World Matchplay , the World Darts Trophy (a BDO affiliated event), and the World Grand Prix in the second half of the year.
The 2007 World Final was between Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld . The game was tied at 6–6 in sets and van Barneveld had a 2–1 lead in legs. van Barneveld missed four darts and Taylor tied the set at 2–2. The set went to 5–5, and van Barneveld won the sudden death leg for his fifth World Championship (four with BDO and one with PDC). Taylor had many opportunities to win the match, as he led 3–0, 4–2 and 5–3. Taylor said, "Of all the finals I've played in, I would probably put this one as the best".
2007 proved to be Taylor's most barren year for major title successes.  He was defeated at the International Darts League and the World Darts Trophy in the Netherlands. At the UK Open in Bolton, he suffered a 4–11 loss to van Barneveld. He lost to Mark Dudbridge at the Las Vegas Desert Classic , and lost at the World Matchplay in Blackpool. At the World Grand Prix in Dublin, he lost to Adrian Gray . Taylor feared his career was in decline or over but later vowed that he would continue.
Taylor's 100% appearance record in the Final of the PDC World Darts Championship came to an end in 2008 after 14 years when Taylor was beaten in the quarter finals. This was the first time that he had not reached the final stage of the PDC World Darts Championship. He was taken to the final set in each of his first three rounds before losing to Wayne Mardle 5 sets to 4; At one point he was up 3–0 in sets.
Before the start of the Premier League tournament, [1] Taylor unveiled some new black 26g darts. [2] Despite a poor start to his Premier League Darts campaign, with three defeats in his first four matches, Taylor finished at the top of the Premier League standings. He beat Adrian Lewis 11–1 with a 112.68 average in the semi-final, and went on to take his fourth consecutive title [3] with a 16–8 victory over Wade (average 108.36). [4] He won his second US Open title in May 2008, defeating Colin Lloyd in the final. [5] [6] At the UK Open , Taylor broke the world record for highest average in a televised game by averaging 118.66 against Kevin Painter in round four. He won the match 9–0, [7] but was defeated 10–9 in the quarter-finals by Raymond van Barneveld . [8]
As he went to Las Vegas for the 2008 Las Vegas Desert Classic in July, he was in an unusual position for him of not holding any of the major televised ranking events, but corrected that by taking his fourth Vegas title. He then regained the World Matchplay , [9] World Grand Prix , [10] the first European Darts Championship . [11] [12] and the Grand Slam of Darts . [13] [14]
2009 to 2012
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Taylor won the World Championship title (his 14th title) for the first time in three years by beating Raymond van Barneveld 7–1 in the 2009 world final . His 110.94 three-dart average was the highest ever recorded in a PDC final. His average during the course of the tournament was 104.08. Taylor beat Colin Osborne 11–6 in the final to win his third UK Open title in June, his first win at this tournament since 2005. His tournament average was 107.38.
Success continued throughout the rest of 2009 winning the last Las Vegas Desert Classic (his fifth time), the World Matchplay , the World Grand Prix , European Darts Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts for the third successive time in November.
Taylor kicked off 2010 by winning his fifteenth World Championship title, beating Simon Whitlock seven sets to three with an average of more than 104 and winning the match with a 131 checkout. Taylor lost in the semi-finals of the Players Championship at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet. Whilst attempting to defend his title earned in the inaugural event of 2009, Taylor lost to eventual champion Paul Nicholson . Taylor admitted, following his defeat, that he had had little time to practice after his World Championship win. He made history again in the Premier League final against defending champion James Wade in the final by hitting two nine dart finishes , the first time this has been done in professional darts.
By the summer of 2010, he was the holder of the World Championship, World Matchplay, Premier League, UK Open, World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts – with only the Players Championship Finals missing from a complete set of major televised titles. These performances, in addition to his longevity contributed to his nomination for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 2010, where he was voted runner-up to A.P. McCoy . However, defeats in the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam and a loss to Mark Webster in the quarter finals of the 2011 World Championship meant he started 2011 as holder of three major titles – the World Matchplay, Premier League and UK Open. However he won his first major tournament in seven months by winning the 2011 Players Championship beating Gary Anderson 13 – 12 in a thrilling final. Phil won the World Matchplay for a record 12th time in 18 years, beating Mark Hylton 10–8 in the 1st round, Wayne Jones 13–7 in the 2nd round, Wes Newton 16–5 in the Quarter finals, Andy Hamilton 17–9 in the Semi finals and James Wade 18–8 in the final, with a tournament average of over 106.
One week later,Taylor flew over to Düsseldorf, Germany to play in the 2011 European Championship to win his 4th consecutive European title. He did this by beating John Michael 6–3, Mervyn King 10–3, Paul Nicholson 10–7, Simon Whitlock 11–4 and Adrian Lewis 11–8. He had a tournament average of 105.15.
On 27 September, Taylor competed in Group 1 of the Championship League, where he won all 7 of his qualifying games, 6-3 vs Adrian Lewis, 6-2 vs Terry Jenkins, 6-3 vs Wes Newton, 6-2 vs James Wade, 6-3 vs Simon Whitlock, 6-2 vs Gary Anderson and 6-1 vs Mark Webster, he finished the Group stage with a maximum 14 points, 42 legs won, 16 lost, for a leg difference of + 28, and won £2,100 during qualifying. He lost the semi final 6-5 in a superb match vs Wes Newton, he won a further £500 in that match, taking his total winnings for the day to £2,600. Due to not winning the Group he returned the next day to play in Group 2.
In Group 2 he won 6 out of his 7 games, losing his 4th match 6-4 to Simon Whitlock. He beat James Wade 6-1, Mervyn King 6-4, Paul Nicholson 6-0, Mark Webster 6-3, Wes Newton 6-4 and Andy Hamilton 6-1, to finish top of the Group with 12 points, 40 legs won, 19 lost, so a leg difference of + 21, he won £2,000 in qualifying. In the semi final he beat Paul Nicholson 6-3 and Simon Whitlock 6-5 to win Group 2 and progress to the Winner's Group.
In the Winner's Group he won all 7 of his qualifying games, he beat Gary Anderson 6-5, Steve Beaton 6-3, Mervyn King 6-3, he also hit a 9 dart leg in this match, his 10th in competition. He also beat Mark Walsh 6-3, Simon Whitlock 6-5, Paul Nicholson 6-1 and Dennis Priestley 6-2 to qualify top of the Group. In the Semi Finals he beat Steve Beaton 6-1 and in the Final he beat Paul Nicholson 6-1 to win his second Championship League title, winning £6,600 in the Group stages, and a further £10,000 for winning the title.
In November, he won the Grand Slam of Darts by beating Gary Anderson 16-4. He lost his Players championship title to Kevin Painter when he was defeated by Mervyn King.
Taylor failed to make the quarter-finals of the PDC World Championship for the first time in his career in 2012 . He was beaten in the second round, 1-4, by Dave Chisnall .
Rivalries
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Dennis Priestley and Phil Taylor have played each other in five World Finals, with Taylor on top in these head-to-heads 4–1. During the early years of the WDC, Priestley and Taylor had an agreement where they would share prize money won at events. Following the split in darts, the players had already gone through large expenses to fight court cases that would last until 1997 when they were finally able to overturn a ban by the British Darts Organisation . Their arrangement lasted between 1994 and 2000 and made sound financial sense given that one or the other generally delivered success in the immediate years after the split. The agreement eventually ended when the prize money grew to a level where the players could individually sustain a better living and this ironically coincided with Priestley's sharp dip in form.
Taylor and Priestley first met in major competition in the 1990 World Masters. Taylor won that semi-final encounter en route to the title. Priestley then assumed the upper hand in their rivalry, however, with victories over Taylor in the 1991 World Championship and British Matchplay final later that year. Their early meetings in the WDC were also won by Priestley, who defeated Taylor in the finals of the 1993 UK Matchplay and 1994 World Championship.
However, since Taylor's defeat in the 1994 World Final, he has only lost twice in all competitions and hasn't been beaten on television by Priestley since 1995. Taylor and Priestley remain great friends, and Taylor has claimed Priestley is the toughest opponent he has ever faced. At the 2009 Las Vegas championship Taylor was emotional when he beat Dennis Priestley 8–0 in the second round. He later said it was tough to beat such a great friend that way.
Part
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Taylor's next rivalry was with Canadian John Part , who won the BDO World Championship in 1994 and moved to the PDC in 1997. Their first meeting in the PDC came at the 2001 PDC World Championship final . The match was one-sided as Taylor averaged 107 and won 7–0. Taylor won their first five encounters including a 6–0 quarter final win at the 2002 PDC World Championships , a much closer match at the 2002 World Matchplay final, 18–16 and the 2002 World Grand Prix final, where Taylor again ended Part's attempt at a title by winning 7–3.
A turning point came in the 2003 World Championship , where Part and Taylor met in the final. Part took a 4–1 lead but Taylor hit back to take the lead, 5–4. At 6–6 Part held his nerve and beat Taylor 7–6 to end Taylor's eight tournament unbeaten run in the championship. Taylor's other losses to Part came in the 2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic (10–13 in the semi-final), the 2004 UK Open (6–8 in the quarter final) and at the 2005 World Matchplay (11–16 in the quarter final).
Part won the 2008 PDC World Championship and became one of only three people with Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor to have won the tournament more than once, but Taylor has an overall winning record greater than 85% against Part and has continued to improve the win percentage in recent years by winning all of his games against Part since the 2005 World Matchplay defeat.
Van Barneveld
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Whilst Taylor was clocking up World titles in the PDC, Raymond van Barneveld was amassing four in the BDO. Darts was denied a great rivalry as the two best players were unable to compete against each other regularly due to the split in the game. Van Barneveld switched to the PDC in 2006. Their first clash came in the 2006 Premier League Darts tournament and ended in a 7–7 draw. The return match went in Taylor's favour. Barneveld's first PDC win over Taylor came at the 2006 UK Open with an 11–10 quarter final success, which he followed up with success in the semi-finals of the Las Vegas Desert Classic , winning by 4 sets to 3. Taylor later defeated van Barneveld by 3 sets to 1 in the World Grand Prix.
They then met in the final of the 2007 PDC World Championship at the Circus Tavern. The match has been described as the greatest game of darts ever played. Despite being three sets to none up at one point, Taylor was defeated by van Barneveld seven sets to six in a sudden-death leg in the thirteenth set. Following further defeats to Van Barneveld at the Masters of Darts (3-0) and the World Darts Challenge (4-1), Taylor responded by defeating Van Barneveld on two occasions in the 2007 Premier League Darts and beating him in the final of the inaugural US Open . Van Barneveld later defeated Taylor in the quarter-finals of the UK Open by 11 legs to 4. Taylor lost his top spot in the PDC World Rankings to van Barneveld in January 2008, but regained it in June when Van Barneveld was unable to defend his ranking points at the UK Open.
In major PDC tournaments in 2008, Taylor defeated van Barneveld twice in the Premier League , lost by 10 legs to 9 in the quarter-finals of the UK Open , but won the World Grand Prix against his rival by 6 sets to 2. The rivalry continued into 2009 with the two meeting in the World Championship final for a second time, with Taylor winning 7–1 with a 110.94 three-dart average. The two then met in the 2010 World Matchplay final; Taylor won 18–12, averaging more than 105, while Van Barneveld's averaged 100.11. After the game Barneveld acknowledged "I'm the number two at the moment, and players like James Wade, Simon Whitlock and Gary Anderson are all trying but he's just too good for everyone".
They have now met more than 55 times, with Taylor having 44 victories.
Manley, Mason, King and Wade
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Taylor has overcome rivals such as Peter Manley who he met in three World Finals (1999, 2002 and 2006) and has only lost twice on television (1999 World Matchplay semi-final and in a 2008 Premier League group game). At the 2007 World Championships Taylor defeated Chris Mason in the 3rd Round then claimed afterwards that Mason had sworn at him and the fans. He was "seriously considering his future in the game" because of Mason's behaviour but decided to continue. Mason apologised to Taylor for his behaviour a week later.
He also has current rivalries with Mervyn King since he switched to the PDC in 2007 but has only suffered two televised defeats to-date (2009 Premier League semi-final, Players Championship Finals 2011). James Wade has won six PDC titles since he burst onto the scene in 2006, although he has yet to knock Taylor out of a tournament on his way to a televised title, although he beat him in the final of Championship League Darts 2010. Wade handed Taylor his first defeat in a Premier League match, but Taylor has won every televised knockout match against him, including three World Matchplay finals and two Premier League finals.
Nine-dart finishes
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Taylor has often talked in interviews and his autobiography about his quests to achieve the perfect leg of darts – a nine dart finish . The first time he achieved this was at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, against Chris Mason in the televised World Matchplay Championship in 2002. He has achieved the feat nine times on television, including four times in the UK Open at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton (2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008).
On 24 May 2010, in the final of the 2010 PDC Whyte & Mackay Premier League , Taylor became the first player in professional darts to hit two nine dart finishes in a single match.
Phil Taylor's televised nine-dart finishes
Date
3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12
Outside darts
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Taylor and his former wife Yvonne have four children: Lisa, Chris, Kelly and Natalie. He has written an autobiography with Sky TV darts commentator Sid Waddell . He supports his home town football club, Port Vale. He was also inducted into the Stoke-on-Trent Hall of Fame when it was opened in January 2011. Taylor discussed whether or not he thought Darts was a sport in a recent interview with 6 Towns Radio. Taylor was convicted of sexual assault in 1999 and fined £2000
Television appearances
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Taylor's achievements in darts have led to guest appearances on television.
Despite PDC darts not being broadcast on the BBC, he has appeared on several BBC television shows over the years. On 2 February 2009, he made a guest appearance in the long-running popular soap opera Coronation Street, playing the part of 'Disco Dave', the captain of a rival darts team to the Rovers Return. Taylor was seen only briefly on screen and had no dialogue. On 22 January 2011 he appeared to present the award for Best Comedy Panel Show at the British Comedy Awards hosted by Jonathan Ross. After winning the 2011 Players Championship he announced he would be taping an appearance for an upcoming edition of A Question Of Sport.
Awards and records
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Taylor was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2001 New Year honours, but it was retracted and annulled in May 2002 following a conviction for indecent assault. The incident happened after a 1999 exhibition match in Scotland when two women, aged 23 and 25, accompanied Taylor back to his van after the event. They later accused him of sexual assault. Taylor denied the charges but he was found guilty in 2001 and fined £2,000.
Taylor holds records for high scoring in darts. His three-dart average per match records are the highest in the history of the game. No player has a winning head-to-head record against him. Taylor has a 79% win rate against Raymond van Barneveld, the player with the most wins against him. Taylor is the first darts player to win more than £1 million in prize money.
On 9 January 2007 Taylor won the 2006 PDC Player of the Year award at the inaugural PDC Awards Dinner held at the Dorchester Hotel in London's Park Lane. He was one of ten nominees for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 2006; the award went to Zara Phillips. Taylor was voted the 2007 Fans' Player of the Year following a vote conducted on the website Planet Darts. He received the award at the annual PDC Awards Dinner in January 2008. He won four gongs at the PDC Player Of The Year Awards in 2009. After his fifteenth world championship victory, Taylor was made an inaugural inductee to the Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame on 7 January 2010.
Awards excluding Hall Of Fame are handed out the following January so add a year for the year received.
PDC Player of the Year: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
PDC Fans' Player of the Year: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Best PDC Pro Tour Player/Floor Player: 2008, 2009
PDPA Players' Player of the Year: 2007, 2008, 2009,
PDC Nine Dart Club: *2007 *2008,*2009,*2010,*2011.-2011 *Gold Pin Badge(Televised)/-Silver Pin Badge(Non Televised)
BBC Sports Personality Of The Year ( Runner Up ) 2010
PDC Hall Of Fame 2011
Tournament wins
Players Championships (Derby): 2010, 2010
Players Championships (Eindhoven): 2008, 2008
Players Championships (Germany): 2008, 2008, 2009, 2009
Players Championships (Gibraltar): 2009, 2009
Players Championships (Netherlands): 2005, 2005, 2007, 2007
Players Championships (Ireland): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
Players Championships (Las Vegas): 2008
Players Championships (English Midlands): 2008
Players Championships (Nuland): 2009, 2009
Players Championships (Southern England): 2008, 2009
Players Championships (Wales): 2005, 2006
Players Championships (Wigan): 2010, 2011, 2011
UK Open Regionals
UK Open Regional (Ireland): 2002, 2004
UK Open Regional (English Midlands): 2008, 2009
UK Open Regional (North West England): 2008
UK Open Regional (South West England): 2009
UK Open Regional (Southern England): 2003, 2007, 2009
UK Open Regional (Wales): 2002, 2004, 2006
UK Open Qualifier: 2010, 2010, 2011, 2011
Performance timeline