Phil Taylor – The Power

When discussing the history of professional darts, it is impossible to ignore Phil Taylor.

Nicknamed “The Power”, Taylor dominated professional darts for decades and established records that transformed expectations of what a player could achieve.

His career included an astonishing 16 World Championship titles, 16 World Matchplay victories, six Premier League titles, 11 World Grand Prix titles and numerous other major championships.

Taylor didn’t simply win tournaments. During the peak of his career, he often dominated opponents with enormous averages, relentless scoring and ruthless finishing.

His story is equally remarkable because of where it began.

Before becoming one of the biggest names in darts, Taylor worked in factories in Stoke-on-Trent. His journey from factory worker to record-breaking professional champion became one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of the sport.

Growing Up in Stoke-on-Trent

Philip Douglas Taylor was born on 13 August 1960 and grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

His childhood was far removed from the glamorous arenas and major tournaments that would eventually define his life.

Taylor left school at 16 and entered the world of work.

He held several jobs during his younger years and worked in the ceramic industry that has long been associated with Stoke-on-Trent.

It is an extraordinary contrast.

The man who would eventually dominate televised darts and earn millions through the sport once spent his working days producing ceramic bathroom fittings.

Darts would eventually offer Taylor an entirely different future.

Meeting Eric Bristow

One person played an especially important role in Taylor’s early development.

That person was Eric Bristow.

Known as “The Crafty Cockney,” Bristow was already one of the biggest stars in world darts.

Taylor was playing locally when Bristow recognised his potential.

Bristow decided to help him.

It proved to be an extraordinary investment in talent.

Taylor practised relentlessly and began competing more seriously.

Within a few years, the apprentice would find himself facing his mentor on the biggest stage in darts.

The First World Championship

Taylor entered the 1990 BDO World Championship as a relative outsider.

He was unseeded and started the tournament at odds of around 125–1.

Few expected him to become World Champion.

Taylor kept winning.

Eventually, he reached the final.

Waiting for him was none other than Eric Bristow.

The mentor was now facing his protégé.

What happened next announced Taylor to the darts world.

He defeated Bristow 6–1.

Phil Taylor was World Champion.

It was the beginning of something nobody could have predicted.

Taylor would eventually win the World Championship another 15 times.

World Champion Again

Two years later, Taylor returned to the Lakeside Country Club and captured another world title.

The 1992 final against Mike Gregory became one of the most famous matches in BDO World Championship history.

The contest went all the way to a deciding set.

Gregory had opportunities to win.

Taylor survived and eventually secured a dramatic 6–5 victory.

He was now a two-time World Champion.

But professional darts was about to change forever.

The Split in Professional Darts

During the early 1990s, disagreements over the direction of professional darts led many of the leading players to break away from the BDO.

Taylor joined the group.

The organisation they helped establish eventually became the Professional Darts Corporation – the PDC.

The early years were difficult.

But televised darts gradually grew.

Taylor became the dominant player of this new era.

His combination of scoring power, finishing and almost obsessive practice created a standard that opponents struggled to match.

Eight World Championships in a Row

Winning a World Championship once is incredibly difficult.

Winning it twice is extraordinary.

Taylor did something almost unbelievable.

From 1995 through 2002, he won eight consecutive PDC World Championships.

Think about what that means.

For eight consecutive tournaments, every player entered knowing that Taylor was the man they had to stop.

Nobody managed it.

Dennis Priestley, Peter Manley and John Part were among the elite players Taylor defeated in finals during this extraordinary run.

Some finals weren’t even close.

Taylor defeated John Part 7–0 in the 2001 final and Peter Manley by the same score in 2002.

His domination had become almost frightening.

The Power

A great darts nickname needs to be instantly recognisable.

Taylor found the perfect one.

THE POWER

The nickname was reportedly inspired by the song “The Power” by Snap!

Few sporting nicknames have fitted their owner better.

At his peak, Taylor possessed enormous scoring power.

He could produce 180 after 180 while simultaneously finishing combinations with incredible efficiency.

“The Power” became more than a nickname.

It became a brand recognised throughout darts.

The First Televised Nine-Darter

The nine-dart finish is one of the most celebrated achievements in darts.

A player starts from 501 and reaches zero using the minimum possible nine darts.

Taylor produced several during his career.

One of them became particularly historic.

During the 2002 World Matchplay against Chris Mason, Taylor produced perfection in front of the television cameras.

The moment became part of darts history.

Taylor had already won multiple world championships.

Now he had delivered one of the sport’s most memorable perfect legs.

Two Nine-Darters in One Match

If throwing one nine-darter is extraordinary, imagine throwing two.

In the same match.

Taylor did exactly that.

During the 2010 Premier League final against James Wade, Taylor produced two perfect legs.

One nine-darter can define a player’s entire career.

Taylor produced two during a major televised final.

It perfectly demonstrated the extraordinary level he could reach.

The King of Blackpool

If there was one tournament where Taylor’s dominance became almost absurd, it was the World Matchplay.

The tournament is played at the famous Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Taylor loved the venue.

And his results showed it.

He won the tournament 16 times.

Between 2008 and 2015, he also produced an incredible 38-match winning streak at the venue.

His statistics at Blackpool are astonishing.

Taylor won 99 of his 107 World Matchplay matches.

He also produced a tournament average of 114.99 against Barrie Bates in 2010, a World Matchplay record.

For years, beating Taylor at the Winter Gardens was one of the toughest challenges in professional darts.

The Rivalry With Raymond van Barneveld

Every dominant champion eventually needs a great rival.

For Taylor, one of the most famous was Raymond van Barneveld.

The Dutchman arrived in the PDC after becoming a multiple BDO World Champion.

Fans immediately wanted to see the two champions face each other.

Their rivalry eventually produced one of the greatest World Championship finals ever played.

At the 2007 World Championship, Taylor and Van Barneveld battled all the way to a deciding set.

The match eventually required a sudden-death leg.

Van Barneveld won.

For Taylor, it was a rare defeat on the biggest stage.

For darts, it was an unforgettable match that helped demonstrate how exciting the growing PDC could be.

Sixteen World Championships

Taylor continued collecting world titles.

He defeated Raymond van Barneveld in 2009 and Simon Whitlock in 2010.

Then came 2013.

Taylor reached another final, this time against a young Dutch superstar named Michael van Gerwen.

Van Gerwen represented the new generation.

Taylor represented the established champion.

The Power won 7–4.

It was his 16th and final World Championship title.

That number remains one of the defining statistics in darts history.

Sixteen times, Taylor finished a World Championship as the last player standing.

Taylor vs Michael van Gerwen

As Taylor moved towards the later years of his career, Michael van Gerwen emerged as the new dominant force in professional darts.

Their meetings became another fascinating rivalry.

Van Gerwen possessed incredible natural speed and scoring power.

Taylor had decades of experience and one of the strongest competitive minds darts had ever seen.

Sometimes Van Gerwen won.

Sometimes Taylor reminded everyone why he had dominated the sport for so long.

One particularly memorable example came during Taylor’s final World Matchplay appearance in 2017.

He defeated Van Gerwen 16–6 in the quarter-final.

Taylor then continued through the tournament and defeated Peter Wright 18–8 in the final.

At 56 years old, The Power had captured his 16th World Matchplay crown.

An Extraordinary Final Matchplay

Taylor had already announced that 2017 would be his final full season.

His farewell appearance at the World Matchplay therefore carried enormous emotional significance.

The draw wasn’t easy.

He defeated Gerwyn Price.

Then Raymond van Barneveld.

Then Michael van Gerwen.

Then Adrian Lewis.

Finally, Peter Wright waited in the final.

Taylor won 18–8.

After more than two decades of domination at the Winter Gardens, The Power had won the tournament one final time.

One Last World Championship Final

Taylor entered his final World Championship knowing that his professional career was almost over.

Yet he produced one more remarkable run.

At 57, Taylor reached the final.

His opponent was tournament debutant Rob Cross.

Cross won 7–2.

Taylor therefore finished his professional PDC career in a World Championship final – the same stage on which so much of his legend had been created.

He retired with 16 world titles and an enormous collection of major trophies.

The Numbers Behind The Power

Statistics don’t tell the entire story of a sportsman’s career.

But Taylor’s statistics are impossible to ignore.

His record includes:

• 16 World Championships
• 16 World Matchplay titles
• 11 World Grand Prix titles
• 6 Premier League titles
• 6 Grand Slam of Darts titles
• Multiple UK Open and Players Championship Finals victories
• Numerous televised nine-dart finishes
• Decades competing at the highest level

Those numbers explain why Taylor became the benchmark against which later generations of champions have been compared.

A Remarkable Practice Routine

Taylor’s success wasn’t simply the result of natural ability.

Practice played an enormous role.

He became famous for spending hour after hour working on his game.

Taylor studied opponents and looked for ways to improve his preparation.

He understood that darts was not simply about throwing three arrows towards a board.

Consistency required repetition.

Pressure required experience.

Finishing required confidence.

And confidence came from knowing that he had done the work beforehand.

That mentality became one of the foundations of his extraordinary career.

What Made Phil Taylor So Good?

Taylor’s dominance cannot be explained by one ability alone.

He was an outstanding scorer.

He was an exceptional finisher.

He was mentally strong.

And perhaps most importantly, he was incredibly consistent.

A player might produce one brilliant match against Taylor.

But winning a major tournament often required beating him over a long format.

That was considerably harder.

Taylor could maintain a high standard over dozens of legs and multiple tournament rounds.

If an opponent missed doubles, he punished them.

If an opponent scored heavily, Taylor could score even more heavily.

If someone produced a 12-dart leg, Taylor was capable of responding with one of his own.

The pressure became relentless.

Changing Professional Darts

Taylor’s career coincided with an enormous transformation in professional darts.

When he started, prize money was relatively modest and many leading players still needed ordinary jobs.

By the later stages of his career, professional darts had become an arena sport.

Thousands of fans attended tournaments.

Major matches attracted huge television audiences.

Players could earn substantial prize money and become full-time professionals.

Taylor’s dominance became a major part of that story.

Fans tuned in either to watch The Power win again or to see whether somebody could finally defeat him.

His rivalries with Dennis Priestley, John Part, Raymond van Barneveld, Adrian Lewis and Michael van Gerwen helped create memorable eras in professional darts.

From Factory Worker to Darts Legend

Phil Taylor’s journey can be summarised through an extraordinary collection of milestones.

• He grew up in Stoke-on-Trent.
• He worked in factories before becoming a professional player.
• Eric Bristow recognised his potential and helped his early career.
• He defeated Bristow to win his first World Championship in 1990.
• He won his second BDO world title in 1992.
• He became one of the founding-era stars of the organisation that became the PDC.
• He won eight consecutive PDC World Championships from 1995 to 2002.
• He threw the first live televised nine-darter on British television.
• He produced two televised nine-darters in one Premier League final.
• He won the World Matchplay an incredible 16 times.
• He won 16 World Championships in total.
• He finished his professional career by reaching the 2018 World Championship final.

The Legacy of The Power

Professional darts has continued to evolve since Taylor’s retirement.

New champions have emerged.

Michael van Gerwen became one of the dominant players of the following generation.

Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Michael Smith became World Champions.

Luke Humphries reached world number one.

Luke Littler emerged as a teenage phenomenon.

The scoring standards continue to rise.

But Taylor’s career remains one of the reference points whenever greatness in darts is discussed.

Sixteen world titles.

Sixteen World Matchplays.

Eleven World Grand Prix titles.

Six Premier Leagues.

Six Grand Slams.

Perfect legs.

Huge averages.

Decades of dominance.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Taylor’s career is that it began so modestly.

There was no guarantee that the young factory worker from Stoke-on-Trent would become a professional athlete.

There certainly wasn’t any guarantee that he would completely transform his life through darts.

Yet through talent, practice, determination and an extraordinary desire to win, Taylor climbed from local darts to the very summit of the sport.

And once he reached the top, removing him proved extraordinarily difficult.

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