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Philip Douglas Taylor (born 13 August 1960) is an English former professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

player, widely considered the greatest darts player of all time. Nicknamed The Power, he dominated darts for over two decades and won 214 professional tournaments, including a record 85 major titles and a record 16

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. In 2015, the

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rated Taylor among the ten greatest British sportsmen of the last 35 years. Taylor won eight consecutive World Championships from 1995 to 2002, reached 14 consecutive finals from 1994 to 2007 and reached 21 world finals overall, all of which are records. He held the world number one ranking for thirteen years in total, including eight in a row from 2006–2013. He won 70

PDC Pro Tour The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

events, which was a record until

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

passed it in February 2019. Taylor hit a record 11 televised nine-dart finishes (and 22 overall). He was also the first person to hit two nine-dart finishes in the same match. Taylor played in competitions organised by the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

(BDO) until 1993. Amidst growing disenchantment with the BDO, he was among 16 top players who broke away to form their own organisation, the World Darts Council, now known as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He won the PDC Player of the Year award six times (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012) and was twice nominated for the

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been ...

, in 2006 and 2010; in the latter event he finished as runner-up, making him the only darts player ever to finish in the top two. He was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame in 2011. Taylor retired from professional darts after the . In 2022 he entered the inaugural 2022 World Seniors Darts Championship, and lost to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

in the quarter-finals.

Early life

Taylor was born to Doug and Liz Taylor on 13 August 1960 in

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. ...

, 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 and football as a child, he never took up the games seriously until 1986 when he moved into a terraced house in Burslem, living near to

Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...

'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 1986, 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, to take care of his family and on the condition that he give up his job in the ceramic industry.

Early career (1987–1993)

Newcastle-under-Lyme Cricketers Arms geograph-4767406-by-Jonathan-Hutchins

Bristow sponsored Taylor and they travelled to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

where Taylor was beaten in the first round of the North American Open as he struggled during his first year on tour. Taylor's first title came at the Canadian Open in 1988, defeating then World Champion Bob Anderson in the final. After reaching the quarter-final of the British Open and the semi-final of the

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...

in 1989, he qualified for the World Championship 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 Russell "Rusty" Stewart (born 9 October 1960 in Melbourne) is an Australian former professional darts player. He used the nickname Rusty for his matches. Playing career Stewart was one of the most successful Australian darts players of the 1 ...

3–1 in the first round,

Dennis Hickling Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

3–0 in the second round, Ronnie Sharp 4–2 in the quarter finals and

Cliff Lazarenko Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "Big Cliff" due to his height (193 cm / 6'4") and weight (over 127 kg at his peak), he is known for being a colourful character on and off the stage ...

5–0 to reach the final. He would then meet his mentor, Eric Bristow. Bristow had been suffering with

dartitis Dartitis () is a condition which can affect darts players, and severely damage their performance. It can be compared to 'the yips', an expression used to describe apparent loss of fine motor skills without any explanation. The term is used in refer ...

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 the

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Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, North America,

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as well as the British Pentathlon, British Masters, Europe Cup and the game's second major tournament at the time, the

. Taylor's defence of the World Championship in 1991 ended at the quarter-final stage with a loss to

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...

, 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 title the following year beating Mike Gregory 6–5 in the final in a deciding leg. Gregory had missed six darts to win the title himself. Taylor has described the win as one of the favourites of his career. In 1993, Taylor became the landlord at the Cricketers Arms in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

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, Taylor was among a group of top players, which included every previous world champion, who broke away from the game's ruling body, the

, 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 Kevin Spiolek (born 5 May 1962 in Cambridge) is a retired English professional darts player who played during the 1980s and 1990s. He made a brief return to form in 2006, when qualifying to play in the PDC World Darts Championship. Career His ...

. 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. However, Taylor would go on to dominate the event for the following decade and beyond.

PDC career

1994 to 1998

After losing to Priestley in the final of the first PDC World Championship in 1994, Taylor began to dominate the event. Rod Harrington reached his first World Championship final in 1995 and, although he had won his previous three finals against Taylor in 1991 and 1992, Taylor took the title 6–2. It would be Harrington's only appearance in a World Final.PDC World Championship 1994
mastercaller.com, retrieved: 2 January 2019. The finals of 1996, 1997 and 1998 would all feature Taylor and Priestley in a repeat of the inaugural final in 1994. Priestley achieved the first 100 average in a final in 1996 but still lost 6–4. The 1997 final saw Taylor recover from 0–2 down to win the title 6–3, and the 1998 final saw Taylor lose just two legs in the entire match en route to a 6–0 win and an average of 103.98. Taylor's victory and sixth title in 1998 meant that he had surpassed his mentor

'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 early in his career as it has been in recent times. Taylor lost to Bob Anderson in 1994,

Peter Evison Peter Kenneth Evison (born 27 May 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed The Fen Tiger, his greatest achievements were th ...

in 1996 and

Ronnie Baxter Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He used the nickname "The Rocket" for his matches. Baxter was known for his fast robotic throwing a ...

in 1998. However, he still won the event twice in the first five years of its existence, beating Priestley 16–11 in 1995 and

Alan Warriner-Little Alan Warriner-Little (born Warriner; 24 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Iceman, he is a former World Grand Prix champion and a former runner-up at the World Professional Darts Championship. Darts car ...

16–11 in 1997.

1999 to 2004

Taylor stretched his PDC World Championship unbeaten run to a record eight consecutive years beating

Peter Manley Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twic ...

in the 1999 and 2002 finals, Priestley for a fourth time in 2000, and

John Part John Part (born June 29, 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator. Nicknamed Darth Maple, he is a three-times World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, a ...

in 2001. Part would finally end the run by beating Taylor 7–6 ( sets) in the 2003 World Championship final. Sid Waddell attributed this defeat to a weight-loss of three stone which he claimed affected Taylor's balance and resulted in him throwing "a quarter to half an inch below the 60 bed". Taylor went into the game a 1/7 favourite with bookmakers, but Part raced into leads of 3–0 and 4–1. Taylor fought back before ultimately being defeated 7–6. Taylor would improve his record at Blackpool during this spell. After losing the 1999 semi-final of the World Matchplay to Manley, he would go on to win the title for the next five years (2000–2004) beating five different opponents in the final:

(2000), Richie Burnett (2001),

(2002),

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil ...

(2003) and

Mark Dudbridge Mark "Flash" Dudbridge (born 11 January 1973) is an English professional darts player. He appeared in the 2005 Premier League Darts after reaching the final of the 2005 PDC World Darts Championship. He also is a former World Master and has rea ...

(2004). By the end of 2004, Taylor 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 Wembley Conference Centre was a conference centre in Wembley Park, London, England, that existed from 1977 to 2006, located next to Wembley Arena. History In the later 1970s, modern multi-purpose halls began opening in British towns and cities. ...

. The second challenge match came in 2004 against

Andy Fordham Andrew Fordham (2 February 1962 – 15 July 2021) was an English professional darts player, commonly known as The Viking. He won the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship and the 1999 Winmau World Masters. Darts career Fordham made his first ap ...

at the

Circus Tavern The Circus Tavern is an entertainment venue in Purfleet, Essex, England which hosts functions, cabaret acts and is also a nightclub venue. First opened in 1974, it is most famous as having been a long-time venue of the PDC World Darts Champion ...

. Taylor was leading 5–2 in sets when Fordham, suffering a suspected asthma attack, abandoned the match.

2004 to 2008

Taylor reclaimed the World Championship in 2004 after edging

in the final 7–6 following a sudden death leg. After the match, having trailed 4–1 and 5–3, Taylor described himself as "a very lucky man" claiming that "Kevin out-played me". Referring to the epic World Championship final the previous year in which he had been defeated by John Part, Taylor added: "Last year was a good final, but this is one of the best". Taylor would continue his dominance throughout 2005. However, 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 Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win ...

and

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname ...

in the

International Darts League The Topic International Darts League was a darts tournament held at the Triavium in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Raymond van Barneveld dominated the tournament, held in his home country, winning it on three of the five occasions it was held. Gary Anders ...

tournament, and twice in a row to Raymond van Barneveld in the

UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...

and the

Las Vegas Desert Classic The Las Vegas Desert Classic was a darts tournament, organized by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and was held each year in July from 2002 until 2009. Its original venue was the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada from 2002 to ...

. He bounced back in the second half of the year to win the World Matchplay, the

World Darts Trophy The Bullit World Darts Trophy was a professional darts tournament run by the British Darts Organisation and the World Darts Federation. Held each September from 2002 to 2007, it took place at the De Vechtsebanen in Utrecht, Netherlands. The tou ...

(a BDO affiliated event), and the World Grand Prix. The 2007 World Final was contested between Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld. The match was tied at 6–6 in sets with van Barneveld leading 2–1 in legs. However, Van Barneveld missed four darts and Taylor tied the set at 2–2. The set went to 5–5 before van Barneveld won the sudden death leg for his fifth World Championship (four with the BDO and one with the PDC). Taylor said: "Of all the finals I've played in, I would probably put this one as the best."

2007 to 2008

Chris Mason hit the headlines for criticising Taylor in the newspapers before their last 16 match at the 2007 World Championship and allegedly swearing at him during the post-match handshake on-stage after Taylor beat him 4–0. He did apologise to Taylor after the tournament ended, but received a £750 fine and a four-month ban (suspended for 12 months) from the Darts Regulation Authority. 2007 proved to be Taylor's most barren year in terms of major title success. He was defeated at the

and the

in the Netherlands. At the

in Bolton, he suffered an 11–4 loss to van Barneveld. He lost to

at the

, and lost at the World Matchplay in Blackpool. At the World Grand Prix in Dublin, he lost to

Adrian Gray Adrian Gray (born 28 February 1981) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Gray made his televised debut at the 2003 UK Open. He only began playing darts at the age of 18, and within thr ...

. Taylor feared that his career was in decline but vowed to continue until 2012. Having appeared in 14 out of 14 PDC World Darts Championship finals between 1994 and 2007, Taylor's record run came to an end in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

where he was beaten in the quarter-final. This was the first time that he had not reached the final stage of the PDC World Darts Championship. Taylor had been taken to the final set in each of his first three rounds before eventually losing to

5–4 ( sets) despite leading 3–0 at one stage. Before the start of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

tournament, Taylor unveiled some new black 26g darts. Despite a poor start to his Premier League Darts campaign which included three defeats in his first four matches, Taylor ultimately finished at the top of the Premier League standings. He beat

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

11–1 with a 112.68 average in the semi-final, and went on to win his fourth consecutive Premier League title with a 16–8 victory over Wade whilst averaging 108.36. He won his second US Open title in May 2008, defeating Colin Lloyd in the final. At the

, Taylor was defeated 10–9 in the quarter-final by Raymond van Barneveld. Taylor went on a surge of form from the spring of 2008, by winning his fourth Las Vegas Desert Classic title. Taylor then went on to win the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, the inaugural European Championship, and the

Grand Slam of Darts The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invited the best performing players from its rival, the British Dart ...

2009 to 2011

In the 2009 world final, Taylor beat Raymond van Barneveld 7–1 for his fourteenth

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

title. His 110.94 three-dart average was the highest recorded in a PDC final. His average during the course of the tournament was 104.08. In June, Taylor beat

Colin Osborne Colin Osborne (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open. Darts career Osborne has won tw ...

11–6 in the final of the

. It was his third title overall at the event and his first since 2005. His tournament average was 107.38. More success followed throughout 2009 with Taylor winning his fifth

at what was the final instalment of the event. Taylor would also win the World Matchplay, the World Grand Prix, the European Darts Championship (achieving an overall 3-dart average per tournament of 111.54) and, for the third successive time, the

in November. Taylor began 2010 by winning his fifteenth

title. He beat

in the final 7–3 with an average of 104.38 and sealed victory with a 131 checkout. Taylor lost in the semi-final of the Players Championship at the Circus Tavern in

Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lon ...

. Whilst attempting to defend the title he won in 2009 at the inaugural staging of the event, 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. Taylor made history in the 2010

final against defending champion James Wade by hitting two nine-dart finishes in the same match. This was the first time that this had been done in professional darts. By the summer of 2010, Taylor was the holder of the World Championship, the World Matchplay, the Premier League, the UK Open, the European Championship, the World Grand Prix and the Grand Slam of Darts. In fact, the only major televised title not held by Taylor at this time was the Players Championship Finals. At the

, Taylor broke the world record for the highest average in a televised game by averaging 118.66 against

in round four- he won the match 9–0. These noteworthy performances, in addition to his longevity, contributed to Taylor's nomination for the

award in 2010. He was voted runner-up to A.P. McCoy. However, defeats in the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam, as well as a surprising loss to Mark Webster five sets to two in the quarter-final of the 2011 World Championship, meant that Taylor began 2011 as holder of four major titles- the World Matchplay, the Premier League, the European Championship and the UK Open. He would bounce back and win his first major tournament in seven months at the 2011 Players Championship by beating Gary Anderson 13–12 in a thrilling final. Taylor went on to win the World Matchplay for a record 12th time in 18 years in 2011. He beat Mark Hylton 10–8 in the 1st round, Wayne Jones 13–7 in the 2nd round,

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Ope ...

16–5 in the quarter-final,

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...

17–9 in the semi-final and James Wade 18–8 in the final. His overall tournament average was more than 106. One week later, Taylor went to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

to compete in the 2011 European Championship. He was aiming to win his fourth consecutive European title and did just that by beating John Michael 6–3, Mervyn King 10–3, Paul Nicholson 10–7,

11–4 and

11–8. He had a tournament average of 105.15. On 27 September, Taylor competed in Group One of the Championship League and won all seven of his qualifying games: 6–3 against Adrian Lewis, 6–2 against Terry Jenkins, 6–3 against Wes Newton, 6–2 against James Wade, 6–3 against Simon Whitlock, 6–2 against Gary Anderson and 6–1 against Mark Webster. Taylor finished the group stage with a maximum 14 points, a leg difference of +28 (42 legs won and 16 lost), as well as £2,100 won during qualifying. However, he lost the semi-final 6–5 against Wes Newton but still won a further £500 in that match. This took his total winnings for the day to £2,600. As a result of not winning Group One, Taylor returned the following day to play in Group Two. In Group Two, Taylor won six out of his seven games. He lost his fourth match 6–4 to Simon Whitlock, but defeated 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. He would finish top of the group with 12 points, a leg difference of +21 (40 legs won and 19 lost), as well as £2,000 won in qualifying. Taylor beat Paul Nicholson 6–3 in the semi-final and Simon Whitlock 6–5 in the final to win Group Two and progress to the Winner's Group. In the Winner's Group, Taylor won all seven of his qualifying games. He beat Gary Anderson 6–5, Steve Beaton 6–3, Mervyn King 6–3 (hitting his 10th nine-dart finish in competition in the process), Mark Walsh 6–3, Simon Whitlock 6–5, Paul Nicholson 6–1 and Dennis Priestley 6–2 to qualify top of the group. He beat Steve Beaton 6–1 in the semi-final and Paul Nicholson 6–1 in the final to win his second Championship League title. Taylor won £6,600 in the group stages as well as a further £10,000 for winning the title. In November, Taylor won the Grand Slam of Darts by beating Gary Anderson in the final 16–4. However, he was unable to defend his Players Championship title following an 8–5 loss in the last 16 to Mervyn King.

2012

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, Taylor failed to make the quarter-finals of the PDC World Championship for the first time in his career following a shock four sets to one defeat in the second round by

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champion ...

. Taylor, looking to improve upon England's second round exit in 2010, represented England alongside

in his second World Cup of Darts. Taylor began the tournament sluggishly, losing his singles matches against

Ken MacNeil Ken MacNeil (born December 16, 1975) is a Canadians, Canadian professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation events. Career MacNeil qualified for the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship by finishing fourth in the North American Ord ...

of Canada and Gary Mawson of the United States. Despite this, England progressed following a sudden-death leg against Canada and a doubles victory against the United States. A comfortable 5–1 win over Wales booked England's place in the final against the Australian pairing of

and Paul Nicholson. Taylor won both his singles matches (including a 105.93 average against Whitlock). However, England lost the doubles meaning that the tie was level on points at 3–3 and consequently, would require a sudden-death leg. It proved to be a tense finale as Australia missed four darts to win the title. Taylor also missed two before Lewis took out double five to clinch England's first World Cup of Darts title. Four days later, Taylor played Lewis in the first week of the 2012 Premier League and managed to draw 7–7 despite being 6–1 down. He averaged 112.79, which was until 2015 the highest average achieved by someone without actually winning the match. Taylor hit the ninth televised nine-darter of his career in the second week of the Premier League on the way to an 8–5 win against Kevin Painter. Two weeks later, he beat Simon Whitlock 8–4 and registered the highest three-dart average in the history of the tournament of 117.35. In week 13, Taylor beat James Wade 8–1 and averaged 116.10 in the process. Taylor ended the league campaign top of the table (eight points ahead of second placed Simon Whitlock) and was the only player to have a positive leg difference. In the 14 game league phase, Taylor had registered five of the top fifteen televised three-dart averages in the history of the game. In the semi-finals, he faced James Wade against whom he had inflicted heavy 8–1 and 8–2 defeats during the league stage. The semi-final, however, was much more competitive. Taylor trailed early on before winning four consecutive legs to lead 6–4 before Wade responded to level at 6–6. Taylor then took out a 149 finish, with Wade on 57, to break before closing out the match 8–6 to reach the final against Simon Whitlock. Taylor looked to be heading for a comfortable win in the final as he raced into a 7–2 lead. However, the Australian stormed back to level at 7–7. Nevertheless, Taylor held his nerve to win the last three legs of the match to complete a 10–7 win and to seal his sixth Premier League title. Taylor won the third event of the Players Championship in March with a 6–1 victory over

while averaging 113.54. He also hit a nine-darter earlier in the tournament during his second round match against Tony West. He reached the final of the fourth Players Championship event a day later where he lost 6–5 to Dave Chisnall. Taylor hit his second nine-dart finish of the weekend in a first round match against Peter Hudson. In June, Taylor looked on course to win his fifth

title after registering convincing wins over

, Terry Jenkins and

Denis Ovens Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957 in Enfield) is an English retired professional darts player. He is nicknamed ''The Heat'' and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is widely regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he h ...

to book a place in the final against Robert Thornton. Taylor won the first two legs, but the Scot then won nine of the next 10 before closing out the match 11–5. Taylor had missed a total of 23 darts at doubles and, in doing so, suffered his sixth defeat in a major PDC final out of the 72 he had contested. Taylor then played in his first European Tour event and gained revenge for his defeat in the World Championship by beating Chisnall 6–2 in the final. He had beaten Raymond van Barneveld 6–5 in the quarter-finals and

6–3 in the semis at the event in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In July, Taylor walked off the stage at the Shetland Open during a semi-final match with Raymond van Barneveld. Taylor then won his fifth consecutive World Matchplay title and thirteenth in total. He beat Mervyn King 10–8, Ian White 13–3,

16–11 and

17–10 to face James Wade in the final for the fourth time. The final proved to be tight and tense, with Taylor edging it 18–15 and extending his unbeaten run at the event to 25 games. In September, Taylor suffered defeat in the European Championship for the first time in a 10–6 quarter-final loss to

Brendan Dolan Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is best known for becoming the first player to hit a ...

. He averaged just 89.88 in a defeat which ended his run of four consecutive titles stretching back to the inaugural tournament in 2008. Taylor then lost to Thornton in a major event for the second time this year as he missed six match darts on the way to a three sets to two defeat in the second round of the World Grand Prix. Taylor qualified from

Group 4 Group 4 may refer to: *Group 4 element, chemical element classification *Group 4 (racing), classification for cars in auto racing and rallying * G4S, formerly Group 4 Securicor, a prominent British security company *IB Group 4 subjects The Group 4 ...

of the

Championship League Championship League is a professional snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. A ranking event version of the tournament began from September 2020, played similarly to its invitational, non-ranking counterpart but with some minor changes ...

winning all nine of his games and concluding with a 6–1 win over Mark Walsh. In the winners' group, he won each of his seven league matches before defeating

6–0 in the semi-finals (averaging 112.73) and

6–4 in the final (averaging 108.20) to clinch his third Championship League title. Taylor finished second in Group A of the

to face

in the last 16. It was a match that was billed as a clash between the two best players in the world. Taylor averaged 105 but failed to hit a single maximum as van Gerwen hit seven and averaged 108 in a 10–5 win. Taylor lost in consecutive Players Championship finals over the last weekend of November to both Chisnall and Van Gerwen despite averaging 110 in the latter. He finished sixth on the ProTour Order of Merit to qualify for the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

where he won his third title. Taylor defeated Mark Webster and Adrian Lewis in the first two rounds, but was then 9–5 down in the quarter-finals to Andy Hamilton in a best of 19 legs match. However, Taylor allowed Hamilton only one chance to win the match when on a 60 finish. Hamilton missed the board with his first dart and failed to hit double 20 with his third as Taylor won the five consecutive legs he required to win 10–9. He outplayed Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals in an 11–2 victory and, with the scores at 5–5 in the final against

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He made the final of a major TV event, the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 1 ...

, Taylor produced a devastating run of form to win eight of the following nine legs to secure the title.

2013

Taylor won his 16th World Championship at the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

staging of the event. He lost only nine legs on the way to the semi-finals where he played Raymond van Barneveld. Before the match, Taylor had taken offence to comments made by van Barneveld about not being scared of him and wanting to face him rather than Taylor's quarter-final opponent

. Taylor raced into a five sets to one lead and withstood a strong fightback from van Barneveld before winning 6–4. After the match, Taylor reacted angrily when van Barneveld attempted to pull him back to congratulate him after their handshake. The pair were escorted from the stage separately by security staff. The next day, Taylor apologised for his behaviour which he described as "disgraceful". Taylor faced

in the final and, from 4–2 down, won five sets in a row to become the first man to lift the

Sid Waddell Sid Waddell (10 August 1940 – 11 August 2012) was an English sports commentator and television personality. He was nicknamed the 'Voice of Darts' due to his fame as a darts commentator, and worked for Granada, Yorkshire, BBC and Sky Sports. D ...

Trophy. A day later, he was named the PDC Player of the Year. Taylor retained his World Cup of Darts crown alongside

in February. They survived two match darts against South Africa in the last 16 and one against Wales in the semi-finals before facing the Belgian brothers

Ronny Ronny is a given name, sometimes a short form (hypocorism) of Ryan. It may refer to: * Ronny (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo * Ronny (footballer, born 1991), Brazilian footballer Ronieri da Silva P ...

and

in the final. Taylor beat Ronny 4–0 and went into his second singles match knowing that a win against Kim would secure the title. He did just that by virtue of a 4–1 win. Taylor did not finish top of the

for the first time this year. He won eight, drew four and lost four of his 16 matches to finish third in the table. He played Van Barneveld in the semi-finals who he had beaten 7–3 and drawn with 6–6 during the league stage. From 3–3, Taylor surged ahead to triumph 8–4 and book his spot in the final against Van Gerwen. Taylor started the better of the two as he led 5–3 at the break. However, he then lost four successive legs upon the resumption of play. In the 14th leg, Van Gerwen opted not to go for the bull when on 87 and Taylor stepped in to hit a 160 finish to level the match at 7–7. At 9–8 down, Taylor had left 40 after 12 darts. Nonetheless, Van Gerwen hit a 132 finish on the bull to seal a 10–8 win and the title. Taylor won his fifth

title at his next event. He had to compete in the second round due to being ranked 44th on the UK Open Order of Merit after only competing in four of the eight Qualifiers and not advancing beyond the quarter-finals in any of them. At the tournament, he dropped only three legs in his first three matches before getting lucky in the last 16 against

. Dolan missed three match darts to win 9–7 before Taylor threw an 11 dart leg in the decider. He produced an average of 106.56 to beat Van Gerwen 10–7 before easing past Peter Wright 10–5 in the semi-finals and

11–4 in the final. Taylor's combined average during the six matches he played was more than 100. Taylor then won the Gibraltar Darts Trophy. He dropped just seven legs in the six matches he played which concluded with a 6–1 victory over

Jamie Lewis Jamie Lewis (born 8 November 1991) is a Welsh professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. His biggest achievement to date was reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 ...

in the final. However, Taylor's win in Gibraltar was later the subject of controversy as footage emerged showing him winning a leg and retrieving his dart when he had actually missed the double. Neither referee

Russ Bray Russ Bray (born 22 June 1957) is an English darts referee who works for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He is also known as "The Voice", due to his unique style of calling and his shouty voice. Russ was previously a traffic cop. Da ...

nor his opponent

Dean Winstanley Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player. He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...

noticed the error and Taylor went on to win the match 6–1. Taylor insisted that he had not realised that the dart had missed and offered to replay the match and forfeit his prize money. The PDC released a statement blaming the incident on human error. The incident led to a feud with Taylor's old mentor

who stated: "The player knows if it's not in the bed and has to declare it. You don't want cheats in the game". Taylor responded by claiming that Bristow's comments were "hurtful" and that he would not be talking to Bristow again. At the European Championship, Taylor lost in the second round to

Ronny Huybrechts Ronny Huybrechts (born 20 July 1965) is a former Belgian professional darts player. Career Ronny and his brother Kim Huybrechts became the first brothers to play in the World Cup of Darts in February 2013 and advanced from Group H courtesy of a ...

10–5. Taylor then won his sixth consecutive World Matchplay crown and 14th in total by defeating

18–13 in the final with an average of 111.23, a record for a Matchplay final. His tournament average through 123 legs was 105.81. Taylor's next event was the Sydney Darts Masters which he won by beating Van Gerwen 10–3 in the final whilst averaging 109.46. Taylor continued his dominance in the major events by claiming his 11th World Grand Prix title in October. He thrashed

6–0 in sets in the final with Chisnall having to wait until the final set to pick up his first leg of the match. Taylor then won the

title for the fourth time in six years. After claiming

Group 1 Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (racing), a historic (until 1981) classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars. Comparable to modern FIA Group N * Group On ...

by beating Lewis 6–1, having also hit a nine-darter earlier in the day, Taylor topped the Winners Group and went on to defeat Van Gerwen 6–3 in the final. At the inaugural staging of the Masters, a tournament which only features the top 16 on the Order of Merit, Taylor cruised to the title dropping just seven legs during the event which included 10–1 thrashings of James Wade and Lewis in the semi-finals and final respectively. Taylor was involved in a high quality darts match in the semi-finals of the

against Lewis as he averaged 109.76 to Lewis' 110.99 (the highest recorded combined average) in a 16–9 win. Taylor's finishing in the high scoring match proved to be the difference and included checkouts of 167 and 160. The players hit 32 180s between them breaking the PDC record of 31 which was set in the 2007 World Championship final, a match which had 32 more legs than this one. Both players described the game as the greatest they had been involved in afterwards. The final proved to be a more low-key affair as Taylor gained revenge over Robert Thornton for his loss in the

2012 UK Open The 2012 Speedy Hire UK Open was a Darts tournament staged in the UK by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the tenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a si ...

to win 16–6 and seal his fifth Grand Slam title. Taylor eased through to the final of the Players Championship Finals but fell victim to one of Van Gerwen's purple patches as, from 6–3 down, the Dutchman won seven legs in a row and went on to defeat Taylor 11–7.

2014

Taylor was 1/50 with bookmakers to win his second round match against Michael Smith in the 2014 World Championship but suffered a huge upset by losing 4–3 to the world number 32. Taylor lost the world number one spot to

after the event as the Dutchman won his first world title. He returned to action at the

six weeks later with a new set of darts having switched manufacturers. However, Taylor suffered his first whitewash in the tournament's history as Van Gerwen thrashed him 7–0 in 13 minutes. Taylor bounced back a few days later to win the third UK Open Qualifier by defeating

6–2 and sealing the title with a nine-darter. It was his second perfect leg of the day after he had also hit one in the last 16 against

. However, his poor start to the Premier League continued as he lost three of his next four games to find himself in real danger of relegation. At the UK Open, he was the victim of the biggest shock in the tournament's history as factory worker Aden Kirk, ranked world number 137 and making his television debut, beat Taylor 9–7. This run of form prompted ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s Rob Smyth to write an article suggesting that Taylor's decline was now terminal. Taylor lost 6–5 against Gary Anderson in the final of the third Players Championship. Earlier in the tournament, he had beaten Van Gerwen 6–5, who averaged 114 and hit a nine-darter. He had also seen off Terry Jenkins 6–4 despite him averaging 111. 24 hours later he won the fourth event following a 6–0 thrashing of Ian White in the final. Taylor played seven matches on the day and ended up with an overall average of 106.59, which included an average of 118.42 against

Vincent van der Voort Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is the "Dutch Destroyer", although he used to go by "Grease Lightning". He is bes ...

in the last 16. Taylor claimed another title at the German Darts Masters by beating Van Gerwen 6–4 in the final. His form in the Premier League picked up remarkably as he remained unbeaten in his final 11 matches which included a 7–4 victory over Van Gerwen. Taylor finished third in the table for the second year in a row to qualify for the play-offs. Taylor led Raymond van Barneveld 3–0 in the semi-finals but could only hit 26% of his doubles during the match and, ultimately was defeated 8–5. This was the first time that the Dutchman had beaten him in the tournament in 21 attempts. Later, Taylor said that the six missed darts at double to move 5–2 ahead had played heavily on his mind and had made him nervous during the match- a feeling which he had never experienced before during his 26-year career. Taylor and Lewis could not complete a hat-trick of World Cup of Darts titles as they were defeated by the Netherlands in the final. Taylor lost 4–0 to Van Gerwen, while Lewis was beaten 4–0 by Van Barneveld and 4–2 by Van Gerwen, which meant that the tie was over before Taylor's second singles match. Taylor later reflected on the first half of 2014 as the worst spell of form in his career. Taylor threw his 10th televised nine-dart finish in the second round of the World Matchplay during a 13–6 win over Michael Smith. He returned to top form during the event beating Gary Anderson 17–15 with an average of 105.27 in the semi-finals. However, Taylor saved his best performance for the final as he raced into 7–1 and 13–2 leads over Van Gerwen and went on to seal his seventh consecutive Matchplay title and 15th in total with an 18–9 victory whilst averaging 107.27. Taylor won the inaugural Perth Darts Masters after beating Van Gerwen in the final 11–9 whilst averaging 105.08. He then defended his Sydney Darts Masters title by beating

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former Wor ...

11–3 in the final. In the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix, Taylor lost 3–1 against James Wade. This was the first time that Wade had beaten Taylor in a major televised knockout tournament. At the European Championship, Taylor lost 10–9 in a thriller to

. Taylor comfortably progressed to the final of the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

and a meeting with

. Despite taking an initial 5–0 lead, the final was by far his closest match of the event as Chisnall fought back to 10–10, before Taylor rediscovered his best form to win another five unanswered legs and seal his sixth Grand Slam title 16–13.

2015

Taylor reached the semi-finals of the 2015 World Championship without facing a top 16 player. His closest game came in the third round where he edged past

4–3. Taylor maintained his unbeaten semi-final record in World Championships as he won his 20th by beating Raymond van Barneveld 6–2 and faced Gary Anderson in the final. From 3–1 down, Taylor won nine of the next ten legs to move 4–3 up and then missed three darts to lead 5–3. Instead he fell 6–4 behind, but again rallied to draw level missing one dart at double 12 for a nine darter in the process. However, more failed attempts at doubles proved costly as he could not take out double 16 with three darts to hold throw in the deciding set and was defeated 7–6. The 32 180s the pair threw during the game broke the PDC World Championship final record of 31 which was set in Taylor's match against Van Barneveld in the 2007 final. Taylor won the last UK Open Qualifier by overcoming Ian White 6–2 in the final. He lost 10–6 in the quarter-finals of the

itself. In week seven of the

, Taylor averaged 115.80 against Van Barneveld but was defeated 7–4. It is the eighth highest televised average of all-time and the highest to lose a match. He went into the penultimate round of fixtures needing a victory over Anderson to stand a chance of progressing but, when he lost 7–5, it marked the first time in the 11-year history of the event that Taylor did not qualify for the play-offs. He did average 102.95 over his 16 matches, second only to Van Gerwen's 105.15. Taylor picked up his second title of the year at the ninth Players Championship with a 6–4 victory over Anderson in the final. He thrashed Anderson 11–3 in the semi-finals of the Dubai Darts Masters, before missing too many doubles from 8–6 ahead of Van Gerwen in the final, to lose 11–8. Taylor and Lewis played in the final of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

against Scotland's Anderson and Peter Wright and it went all the way to the final singles match in which Lewis beat Wright to win England's third title in the event. Taylor had kicked off the final by beating Wright 4–0 whilst setting the highest individual average in the history of the event at 113.43. He followed that up by holding on from 7–2 ahead of Wright in the final of the inaugural Japan Darts Masters to edge it 8–7. Taylor's 38-match unbeaten streak at the World Matchplay dating back to 2007 ended this year at the semi-final stage as Wade defeated him 17–14. After the event he slipped from second place to third in the Order of Merit, but then retained his Perth Darts Masters title by seeing off Wade 11–7. His third World Series of Darts win of the year came at the Sydney Darts Masters with an 11–3 thrashing of

. A shock 2–0 elimination in the first round of the World Grand Prix followed at the hands of

, despite Taylor averaging 97.03 in the double to start event, the second highest of all 32 first round players. He also missed a dart at the bullseye for a nine-dart finish during the match. Taylor held 3–0 and 7–3 leads over Van Gerwen in the final of the

, but then missed far too many doubles and went on to lose 16–13. The defeat meant that Taylor held no majors for the first time since 1994.

2016

In the third round of the 2016 World Championship,

missed one dart to knock Taylor out and the match went to a deciding set. Taylor went 2–0 up in legs and a missed a match dart himself in the next, before Klaasen fought back to win the final set 4–2. In the semi-finals of the Masters, Taylor missed seven match darts to beat Van Gerwen and would lose 11–10. Taylor reached the final of the first UK Open Qualifier and lost to

6–2, but went one better in the third event as he averaged 109.59 in a 6–2 win over Van Gerwen to end a nine-month drought of a ranking title win. Van Gerwen broke Taylor's world record televised average with 123.40 in week four of the

. An hour later Taylor averaged 115.25, currently the 12th highest of all-time as he overcame

7–5. In March, Taylor was beaten in the semi-finals of the

10–6 by Van Gerwen. He was also convincingly beaten by Van Gerwen in his eighth

final by 11 legs to 3. Taylor and Lewis won their fourth

crown by overcoming the Netherlands in the final, with Lewis beating Van Gerwen in the deciding match. Taylor only competed in one

PDC European Tour The PDC European Tour is a series of darts tournaments held across Europe organized by the Professional Darts Corporation. Starting in 2012 with five events, the number of events has steadily risen with eight held in 2013 and 2014, nine in 2015, te ...

event during 2016, which was the Austrian Darts Open, but he won the title, defeating Michael Smith 6–4 in the final. During the final of the World Matchplay, Taylor encouraged the crowd to do a clapping chant made famous by the Icelandic football team in

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

when Van Gerwen was throwing. It did not seem to affect Van Gerwen though, as he won 18–10. Taylor is still the only player to have won the Sydney Darts Masters after he beat Van Gerwen 11–9 for his fourth title in the event. Taylor participated in the inaugural Champions League of Darts, an event that was broadcast on the

...
. It was the first time since 1993 that Taylor had played in an event shown by the station and he dominated it by winning 52 legs over the weekend whilst only losing 19, culminating with an 11–5 victory over Van Gerwen in the final. Taylor had surprise 2–0 and 10–3 defeats to Steve West in first round of the World Grand Prix and

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player. He plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously played in the British Darts Organisation (B ...

in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. He also lost 16–10 to Peter Wright in the quarter-finals of the

2017

Taylor matched

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

's record by making 28 consecutive appearances at the World Championship in the 2017 edition. He didn't drop a set in matches against

David Platt David Andrew Platt (born 10 June 1966) is an English former professional football coach and player, who played as a midfielder. Born in Chadderton, Lancashire, Platt began his career as an apprentice at Manchester United before moving to Crewe ...

and

and had a three sets to nil lead against

in their third round match. Huybrechts took two consecutive sets, but missed darts to force a decider and Taylor hit double seven to set up a quarter-final match against Raymond van Barneveld. In a rematch of the final ten years prior, Taylor recovered from a 3–1 deficit but lost the next two sets and, consequently, the match. Taylor was sixth in the world rankings after the World Championship. On 27 January 2017, in an interview conducted before the start of the 2017 Masters, Taylor officially confirmed that he would retire after the 2018 World Darts Championship. He also stated that he would cut down on his non-televised appearances in the 2017 season. He did not play in the Grand Prix or

. He reached the semi-finals of the Masters, losing 11–9 to Gary Anderson. He finished third in the table in the 2017 Premier League and trailed Peter Wright 4–0 in the semi-finals. Taylor gained the lead for the first time at 7–6, but missed a host of doubles including one to win the match and was beaten 10–9. Taylor did make a final appearance at the World Matchplay, which he had previously said was his favourite tournament. He won the tournament for a sixteenth time, progressing to the final with victories over career-rivals van Barneveld (11–3), van Gerwen (16–6), Lewis (17–9), before beating Peter Wright 18–8 in the final, in what would be his last major win. Taylor also won a world series event in his final season, and reached the final of his last event in the series, which he lost to Wright. In August, Taylor won the inaugural Melbourne Darts Masters by successfully defeating Peter Wright 11–8 in the final.

2018

The 2018 PDC World Darts Championship was Taylor's 29th world championship appearance, surpassing the record he held jointly with

. He had previously announced that he would retire after the tournament. He entered the tournament ranked 6th in the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded f ...

. Wins over

Chris Dobey Chris Dobey (born 31 May 1990) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career His first major TV appearance came in the 2015 UK Open where he lost 5–1 in the first round to N ...

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who has played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was a former top 10 player. Playing career Pipe was a boxer in his youth, and, as a staunc ...

Keegan Brown Keegan Brown (born 5 November 1992) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2014 PDC World Youth Championship. Career Early career Brown began playing darts at the age of ni ...

, Gary Anderson and

took him to his 21st world final, extending his own record. However, he was beaten 7–2 in the final by Rob Cross, who was making his first appearance in the tournament. During the match, Taylor also missed a double for a nine-dart finish, which would have been his first in a world championship match. Taylor said afterwards: "I tried my best but he was like me 25 years ago, he was relentless and didn't stop putting me under pressure." He added: "It was like an old man against a young man, it was a mis-match. That's it for me because I haven't got the energy or interest to beat

or him (Cross)."

2022

Taylor took part in his first competitive darts event since 2018, when he entered the inaugural 2022 World Seniors Darts Championship. He lost to

in the quarter-finals.

Rivalries

Dennis Priestley

and Phil Taylor played each other in five World Finals, with Priestley winning in 1994 and Taylor emerging victorious in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. 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 quarter finals of the 1991 World Championship, and in the British Matchplay final later that year. Their early meetings in the WDC were also won by Priestley, who defeated Taylor in the final of the 1994 World Championship, and in the Last 16 of the 1995 UK Matchplay. However, since Taylor's win over Priestley in the 1995 World Matchplay final, Taylor has only lost once in all competitions and hasn't been beaten on television by Priestley since 1995. Taylor and Priestley remain great friends. 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. Taylor and Priestley met in competition on at least 44 occasions, with Taylor winning 37 and Priestley winning 6, with 1 draw.

John Part

Taylor's next rivalry was with Canadian

, 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 The 2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic was the second major Professional Darts Corporation Las Vegas Desert Classic darts tournament. It was held in the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada in early July. 26 players competed in the tourna ...

(13–10 in the semi-final), the

2004 UK Open The 2004 Budweiser UK Open was the second time the Professional Darts Corporation held the tournament which had quickly earned the nickname the "FA Cup of Darts". It was held at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium between 4–6 June 2004. Budweiser ...

(8–6 in the quarter final) and at the 2005 World Matchplay (16–11 in the quarter final). Part won the 2008 PDC World Championship and became the second player after Taylor to have won the tournament more than once. Taylor and Part met in competition on at least 37 occasions, with Taylor winning 31 and Part winning 6.

Raymond van Barneveld

Van Barneveld switched to the PDC in 2006. Their first clash came in the

2006 Premier League Darts The 2006 Holsten Premier League the second year of the Professional Darts Corporation's popular darts league. The 2006 league was launched with the top six players in the PDC world rankings and the addition of a wildcard player, Raymond van Ba ...

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 The 2006 Budweiser UK Open was the fourth year of the UK Open darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was held at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton, between 9–11 June 2006. Phil Taylor was the defending champion but got k ...

with an 11–10 quarter-final success, which he followed up with success in the semi-finals of the

, winning by four sets to three. Taylor later defeated van Barneveld by three sets to one in the World Grand Prix. They then met in the final of the 2007 PDC World Championship at the

. The match has been described as the greatest game in the history of darts. Despite being up three sets to nil at one point, Taylor was defeated by van Barneveld seven sets to six in a sudden-death leg. Taylor responded to his loss by defeating van Barneveld on two occasions in the

2007 Premier League Darts The 2007 Holsten Premier League was a major darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The prize money for the 2007 event increased by almost £100,000 compared to 2006. The overall fund was £265,000 with the eventual win ...

and beating him in the final of the inaugural US Open. Van Barneveld later defeated Taylor in the quarter-finals of the

by 11 legs to four. Taylor lost his top spot in the PDC World Rankings to van Barneveld in January 2008, but regained it in June. In major PDC tournaments in 2008, Taylor defeated van Barneveld twice in the

, lost by 10 legs to nine in the quarter-finals of the

, but won the World Grand Prix against his rival by six sets to two. The rivalry continued into 2009 with the two meeting in the

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, which was higher than van Barneveld's 100.11 average. 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". The first win for Van Barneveld in a televised tournament after the 2008 UK Open came almost six years later. In the 2014 Premier League Darts the pair met three times. Twice during the league states, with both matches ending in a draw. Then, in the semi finals they met again. Despite an early 4–1 lead for Taylor, the match turned around and Van Barneveld won the match 8–5 to claim his first televised victory against Taylor in more than six years. Van Barneveld defeated Taylor in both their league encounters in the 2015 Premier League, winning 7–4 despite Taylor hitting a 115.80 average, and winning 7–2 in the second encounter. In the 2017 World Championship van Barneveld defeated Taylor in the quarter-final. Taylor and van Barneveld met in competition on at least 83 occasions, with Taylor winning 61 and van Barneveld winning 18, with 4 draws.

James Wade

James Wade has won nine PDC major titles since he burst onto the scene in 2006. Wade handed Taylor his first defeat in a

match in 2008. Another major win for Wade against Taylor was in the final of Championship League Darts 2010. The quarter-finals of the 2014 World Grand Prix was the first time Wade defeated Taylor in a televised knockout match. They have met in the final of the World Matchplay four times in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2012 with Taylor victorious each time. In the 2014 Masters, Wade knocked out Taylor in the semi-final en route to winning the tournament. In the 2015 World Matchplay Wade Broke Taylor's 38 match winning streak at the Winter Gardens by defeating Taylor 17–14 in the semi-final. Taylor and Wade met in competition on at least 71 occasions, with Taylor winning 51 and Wade winning 14, with 6 draws.

Adrian Lewis

During the early part of

' career until 2007, he was Taylor's protégé having practised together in their home city Stoke-on-Trent and made his

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debut in 2004, aged 19, at the

. However, Lewis has kicked on since then and has amassed four PDC major titles including two consecutive World titles in 2011 and 2012. The pair have been part of what has been a feisty rivalry at times. Taylor beat Lewis 5-0 in the World Championship quarterfinal in 2010. They met again in October 2010 in the World Grand Prix semi-final. Lewis would win that encounter five sets to four. Lewis and Taylor have met in four PDC major finals during their rivalry. These have included the finals of the 2008 and 2011 European Championship which Taylor won 11–5 and 11–8 respectively, the final of the 2013 Masters which Taylor won 10–1, as well as the final of the 2013 World Matchplay where Taylor averaged 111.23 and won 18–13. The latter involved Lewis playing in his first Matchplay final where he averaged 105.92 and hit 19 maximums. Taylor and Lewis met in competition on at least 74 occasions, with Taylor winning 55 and Lewis winning 17, with 2 draws.

Michael van Gerwen

Despite there being an age gap of almost 30 years between the two, in 2013

became the world number two behind Taylor and has been tipped to take over Taylor's dominance of the sport. The pair's first meeting saw Taylor win 3–2 when the Dutchman was 17 years old, before van Gerwen beat him 3–0 in the Masters of Darts and 7–6 in the International Darts League. Taylor then won 15 consecutive games against him encompassing a span of five years, during which van Gerwen struggled for form and confidence. However, in October 2012 Van Gerwen won his first PDC major and when the two met in the last 16 of the 2012 Grand Slam of Darts, the match was billed as a clash between the two best players in the world. It was this match which truly started the rivalry as both players averaged more than 110 for long parts of it, with Taylor at one point gesturing for van Gerwen to get out of his way when he paused in retrieving his darts. Van Gerwen took the match 10–5 with it being signalled as the start of a new era in darts. The two then met in a Players Championship final with van Gerwen coming back from 5–4 down with back to back finishes of 164 and 124 to win in a final against Taylor for the first time. During the final of the 2013 world championship Taylor fought back from 4–2 down in sets to win 7–4. A few months later, van Gerwen became the first player other than Taylor to finish top of the table of the

with the two meeting in the final which van Gerwen won 10–8. Afterwards Van Gerwen called Taylor the greatest and said that no one will match his achievements in darts. Taylor then won the next three high-profile meetings which included the finals of the Sydney Darts Masters and Championship League Darts. Taylor had won six major titles since the Premier League loss, whilst Van Gerwen hadn't won any until they met in the final of the 2013 Players Championship Finals. Van Gerwen won seven successive legs from 6–3 down before emerging victorious 11–7. In January 2014, Van Gerwen won the

and replaced Taylor as the world number one, and a month later inflicted the first whitewash over Taylor in

history by beating him 7–0 in 13 minutes with an average of 109.59. Van Gerwen whitewashed Taylor 4–0 in the final of the

, en route to the Netherlands' 3–0 win over England. In July, they contested the final of the World Matchplay; Taylor won 11 of the first 13 legs and went on to win 18–9, averaging 107.27. The loss reduced Van Gerwen to tears on the stage afterwards. In August, the pair met in the final of the inaugural Perth Darts Masters with Taylor fighting back from 6–3 down in legs to win 11–9 whilst averaging 105.08. At the 2016 Masters van Gerwen became the first player to win 5 matches in a row against Taylor. Taylor defeated Van Gerwen 11–5 in the final of the inaugural Champions League of Darts tournament in September 2016, having defeated him 10–4 in an earlier group match. When Taylor retired, he had played Van Gerwen 62 times, winning 34 and losing 26, with 2 draws. Taylor won 6 of his last 9 matches against Van Gerwen before his retirement.

Nickname

Taylor had the nickname "The Crafty Potter" in the early 1990s, reflecting his status as the protégé of

(who was nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney") and his job in the ceramic industry. However, Taylor soon achieved success in his own right. In July 1995, Taylor was given the nickname "The Power" by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

production manager, Peter Judge, during the 1995 World Matchplay in Blackpool. Judge told Taylor that he should have a nickname and "The Power" became the serendipitous choice after Judge stepped on an empty CD case of

Snap! Snap! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has been through a number of line-up changes over the years, including American singers, songwriters and rappers Thea Austin, Turbo B ...

's " The Power".

Outside darts

Taylor and his former wife Yvonne (born 1963) have four children: Lisa (born 1983), Chris (born 1984), Kelly (born 1989) and Natalie (born 1992). He has written an autobiography with the late Sky TV darts commentator

. He supports his hometown football club, Port Vale. He was also inducted into the Stoke-on-Trent Hall of Fame when it was opened in January 2011. Taylor was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2001 New Year Honours The 2001 New Year Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British honours system, where New Year's Day, 1 January, is marked in several Commonwealth countries by appointing new members of orders of chivalry and recipient ...

. Taylor's father Douglas died from bowel cancer in 1997 and his mother Elizabeth died in 2015.

Indecent assault conviction

In October 1999, following an exhibition match in Fife, Scotland, 39-year-old Taylor returned to his van accompanied by two women, aged 23 and 25, who subsequently accused him of

indecent assault Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in some common law-based jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime and has significant overlap with offences referred to as sexual assault. England and Wales Indecent assault was a broa ...

. Taylor denied the charges, but the indecent assault accusations became public in March 2001 after he was found guilty in Dunfermline Sheriff Court, and the sentencing in May 2001 saw Taylor fined £2,000. As a result of his conviction, Taylor's MBE nomination from the 2001 New Year Honours was annulled before he was awarded it.

Television and music appearances

Taylor's achievements in darts have led to guest appearances on television. He also appeared in

Justin Hawkins Justin David Hawkins (born 17 March 1975) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and YouTube personality best known for being the founder, lead singer, and lead guitarist of The Darkness. He was influenced by rock bands of the 1970s and ...

' solo project British Whale's music video for a cover of the Sparks song, " This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us". He made several appearances on the ITV

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

'', hosted by comedian

Jim Bowen James Brown Whittaker (born Peter Williams; 20 August 1937 – 14 March 2018), known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedian, actor and television personality. He was the long-time host of the ITV game show ''Bullseye'', ...

and professional darts commentator

Tony Green Anthony John "Tony" Green (born 29 January 1939) is an English sports commentator and television presenter. Darts career A former amateur player, who played county darts for Lancashire, he was the BBC's lead commentator when they showed t ...

. He has appeared on several

...
television shows over the years. On 2 February 2009, he made a guest appearance in ITV's 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. On 1 January 2012, Taylor appeared on '' OMG! Jedward's Dream Factory'', an Irish children's reality television show which pop duo

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward (a portmanteau of their first names), are an Irish singing and television presenting duo. They are identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in the sixth ...

helped to fulfil the wishes of children who have previously written in to the show. An episode featured a girl named Laura, a huge darts fan who wrote into the show wanting to meet and play darts with Taylor. It was recorded in 2011 when the World Grand Prix was in Dublin. On 12 March 2012, Taylor made a guest appearance on ''

A Question of Sport ''Question of Sport'' (previously ''A Question of Sport'') is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is the "world's longest running TV sports quiz". Following a pilot episode in December 1968, broadcast on ...

''. In May 2012, Taylor, together with the seven other players who competed in the

, recorded a charity single with

Chas Hodges Charles Nicholas Hodges (28 December 1943 – 22 September 2018) was an English musician and singer who was the lead vocalist of musical duo Chas & Dave. Early life Hodges was born at the North Middlesex University Hospital in Edmonton on 2 ...

and his band called "Got My Tickets for the Darts" which was written by Chas. It was released on 18 May, the night after the play-offs at the O2 in London, where it was premiered. Proceeds from the single were donated to the Haven House Children's Hospice.

Awards and records

Taylor held records for high scoring in darts. His three-dart average per match records were the highest in the history of the game. Rob Cross is the only player with a winning record against him, having only faced him in the 2018 World Championship final. Taylor has a 56.67% win rate against Michael van Gerwen, the player with the most victories 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 Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from ...

. He was one of ten nominees for the

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. 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 the Hall of Fame are handed out the following January. *PDC Player of the Year: 2006, 2008–2012 *PDC Fans' Player of the Year: 2007–2011 *Best PDC Pro Tour Player/Floor Player: 2008, 2009 *PDPA Players' Player of the Year: 2008, 2009 * Best Televised Performance of the Year: 2016 *PDC Nine-Dart Club: 2006*, 2007+, 2008*+, 2009**, 2010*, 2011*+, 2012*, 2015*+ (*: Gold Pin Badge (Televised), +: Silver Pin Badge (Non-Televised)) *PDC Hall of Fame: 2011 *BBC Sports Personality of the Year (Runner Up): 2010

Career statistics

World Championship results

BDO

*1990: Winner (beat

6–1) *1991: Quarter-finals (lost to

3–4) *1992: Winner (beat Mike Gregory 6–5) *1993: Second round (lost to

1–3)

PDC

*1994: Runner-up (lost to

1–6) *1995: Winner (beat Rod Harrington 6–2) *1996: Winner (beat

6–4) *1997: Winner (beat

6–3) *1998: Winner (beat

6–0) *1999: Winner (beat

6–2) *2000: Winner (beat

7–3) *2001: Winner (beat

7–0) *2002: Winner (beat

7–0) *2003: Runner-up (lost to

6–7) *2004: Winner (beat

7–6) *2005: Winner (beat

7–4) *2006: Winner (beat

7–0) *2007: Runner-up (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 6–7) *2008: Quarter-finals (lost to

4–5) *2009: Winner (beat Raymond van Barneveld 7–1) *2010: Winner (beat

7–3) *2011: Quarter-finals (lost to Mark Webster 2–5) *2012: Second round (lost to

1–4) *2013: Winner (beat

7–4) *2014: Second round (lost to Michael Smith 3–4) *2015: Runner-up (lost to Gary Anderson 6–7) *2016: Third round (lost to

3–4) *2017: Quarter-finals (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 3–5) *2018: Runner-up (lost to Rob Cross 2–7)

Nine-dart finishes

Notes

Footnotes

References

External links

PhilThePower.com
Official Website * *
Phil Taylor profile on Darts Betting NewsTarget darts player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Phil English darts players PDC world darts champions English people convicted of indecent assault Sportspeople from Burslem Professional Darts Corporation founding players 1960 births Living people People stripped of a British Commonwealth honour Sports world record holders British Darts Organisation players BDO world darts champions World Series of Darts winners UK Open champions World Matchplay (darts) champions World Grand Prix (darts) champions Grand Slam of Darts champions Players Championship Finals champions European Championship (darts) champions Masters (darts) champions Premier League Darts champions Champions League of Darts champions Las Vegas Desert Classic champions Darts players who have thrown televised nine-dart games PDC World Cup of Darts English championship team Professional Darts Corporation Hall of Fame Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders