PHIL TAYLOR

'Philip Douglas Taylor' (born August 13, 1960) is a multi world champion . His nickname is 'The Power'. His 13 World Championship titles makes him the most successful darts player of all-time.

Contents

Life and career

9 Dart Finishes

Professional Setbacks

Rivalries

Outside darts

World Championship final results

References

External links

Life and career

Born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent to Douglas and Elizabeth Taylor, he left school at the age of 16 and quickly entered work at JF Sale and Co. in Burslem. Between jobs there were moments of unemployment, but Phil indulged in his favourite hobby - darts. It was his playing in the pubs of Stoke-on-Trent that brought him to the attention of Eric Bristow, one of the most popular and well known figures in the game in the 1980s. Bristow decided to sponsor Phil to the tune of £10,000 on the condition that it had to be repaid. With this money Phil could practice and enter low-level tournaments. His rise to the top from this moment was nothing match of his illustrious career [3] - a classic encounter against Mike Gregory which went right down a tie-break leg in the final set of the match.
As darts enjoyed a resurgence Taylor's career went from strength to strength and he has now clocked up 11 PDC World Championships to bring his haul to 13 world titles. This included the 2001 trouncing of John Part when he averaged 107 with each visit to the board and 72.5% checkout rate---one of the best performances ever seen.
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. In 2004, he beat Andy Fordham having led 5-2 (sets) when the match was abandoned due to Fordham complaining of feeling unwell.
Taylor's overall list of titles is unprecedented. As well as 13 World Championships, he has won eight World Matchplays, seven World Grand Prix, three Las Vegas Desert Classics, two UK Opens, three Premier Leagues (remaining unbeaten in 44 matches) and one World Series Of Darts title. He has even won a BDO title in 2006, the World Darts Trophy, when the Dutch organisers invited PDC players for the first time.

9 Dart Finishes

Taylor has often talked in interviews and his autobiography about his quests to achieve the perfect leg of darts - a 9 dart finish.
He finally achieved the feat on television for the first time in 2002, at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, Lancashire, during his quarter final match against Chris Mason in the Stan James World Matchplay Championship. He hit 7 consecutive treble 20s, followed by treble 19 and double 12.
In 2004, he repeated the feat in Bolton again live on television during a match in the UK Open Championship, making him the only player in the game's history ever to have achieved the feat more than once on television.
On 12 June, 2005 he achieved the feat for a third time on television, during a semi final clash in the 2005 UK Open Championship. He hit seven treble twenties followed by treble 19 and double 12. He went on to win the competition beating Mark Walsh in the final.
Taylor also managed to achieve a nine-darter on Dutch television on May 8, 2007 at the 2007 International Darts League against Raymond van Barneveld. His prize for this achievement was an Opel Tigra Twin Top valued at €26,000. Taylor then donated the prize to a friend, Raymond Penninkhof from Pendon Darts who had been involved in an accident the previous weekend and had his van written off.^[1]
On June 9, 2007 at the UK Open, Taylor achieved a nine dart finish in his fifth round match against Wes Newton. It was his fifth televised perfect game and the third time he had achieved it at the UK Open in Bolton. He hit seven treble twenties followed by treble 19 and double 12. He earned a £20,000 bonus for his achievement, which was given to him by the PDC. Taylor went on to win the game 11-5.

★ Video of Phil Taylor's 9 dart finish v Chris Mason - World Matchplay 2002 at the 2002 World Matchplay Darts

★ Video of Phil Taylor's 9 dart finish v Roland Scholten - UK Open 2005 at the UK Open 2005

★ Video of Phil Taylor's 4th televised 9 dart finish v Raymond van Barneveld at the 2007 International Darts League

Professional Setbacks

Before the formation of the PDC, Taylor suffered two defeats at the BDO World Championship, a 1991 quarter final to Dennis Priestley and a 1993 second round match to Kevin Spiolek. These losses are not often recalled because it wasn't until the PDC was formed and his tremendous run of success that subsequent defeats and setbacks have become more notable.
He has lost only three matches at the PDC World Championships since its inception in 1994, and has reached the final in each of its 14 years to-date. His 1994 defeat to Dennis Priestley, the 2003 defeat to John Part, and his 2007 final loss to Raymond van Barneveld prove that he is human and that there are always threats to his dominance. The ever modest Phil is always the first to admit this and to point to the fine quality of players at each tournament.
The only other high-profile finals that Taylor has lost came against Rod Harrington in the 1991 Winmau World Masters, Dennis Priestley in the 1993 UK Matchplay and against Bob Anderson in the 1993 Samson Darts Classic.^[2]
His 7-6 defeat to van Barneveld at the 2007 World Championship Final came after losing a sudden-death tiebreak. Taylor had many opportunities to win this match having led 3-0, 4-2 and 5-3. After the tournament, Taylor believed that he lacked the stamina necessary for him to have won and began a new health and fitness regime.
The World Grand Prix is possibly the tournament that Phil has suffered the most surprising defeats of his career. The unusual format of the tournament is that players must start a leg on a double and play shorter first round matches (best of 3 sets). Taylor has twice suffered first round defeats in this event. In 2001, he lost 2-1 to qualifier Kevin Painter and in 2004 by 2-0 to Andy Callaby. On the other seven occasions that he has progressed through the first round, Taylor has won the tournament.
He lost four matches in televised tournaments during the first half of 2006. This was unique for Taylor's record, who had not lost two major events in a row in 13 years. He lost to Jelle Klaasen and Simon Whitlock in the International Darts League tournament in Holland and twice in a row to Raymond van Barneveld in the UK Open and the Las Vegas Desert Classic.
2007 is proving to be Taylor's most barren run for major title success. Having lost his World Championship title on New Year's Day, he also suffered defeats at the IDL in Holland, the UK Open in Bolton, Las Vegas Desert Classic and World Matchplay in Blackpool (although another Premier League title came in-between).
An 11-4 defeat in Bolton to his main rival Raymond van Barneveld was one of the heaviest defeats in front of the TV cameras in his career. In Las Vegas, he was knocked out of the first round of a major tournament for the first time since 2004 by Mark Dudbridge and his semi-final defeat in Blackpool meant that he held neither the World Championship or World Matchplay titles for the first time since the first year of the PDC in 1994.

Rivalries

''See article:'' Taylor-Barneveld rivalry
The split in darts possibly cost darts of the rivalries that existed between Bristow, Lowe, Wilson and others during the eighties. The greatest rivalry was possibly between the two organisations instead of between players. But Taylor has had at least two great rivals during his career. First of all Dennis Priestley, who beat Taylor in the first ever PDC final would go on to contest a total of five World Finals with the Power. Overall though Taylor came out on top in this rivalry winning the other four world titles and several other major clashes during the subsequent years. Priestley's 1994 World Title victory over Taylor was his last head-to-head win on television.
Taylor's current great rival is Raymond van Barneveld. Whilst Taylor was clocking up World titles in the PDC, van Barneveld was amassing four in the BDO. Darts was denied a great rivalry as the two players were unable to compete against each other regularly due to the split in the game. That was until Barneveld's switch to the PDC in 2006. Already they have produced several great battles as they traded victories during 2006, with two wins apiece and a drawn match.
Van Barneveld was initially on top in 2007, winning the world title in January and beating Taylor 3-0 at the Masters of Darts in the Netherlands in February. Taylor then regained the initiative by winning their first 2007 Premier League match between the two 8-6 at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield having been 1-5 down at the interval, a three-dart average of 115 for the last six legs helped him overcome the deficit. Taylor also defeated the Dutchman in their second Premier League contest 8-5 at the Birmingham NIA in May. This was followed by a 7-4 win over van Barneveld in the International Darts League at Nijmegen, also in May, in which Taylor delivered a nine dart finish. In the final of the inaugural US Open at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, Taylor beat his rival by 4 sets to 1. However, the run of Taylor victories ended in the quarter finals of the UK Open at Bolton in June when Taylor lost 11-4 to van Barneveld - one of his heaviest ever defeats.
In the aftermath of his 2007 defeat to van Barneveld in the PDC World Championship, Taylor adopted a stricter fitness regime and changed his darts in an effort to regain the upper hand in his rivalry with the Dutchman, a regime that is being followed by the regional news program Midlands Today. He has since returned to his older darts, but has maintained his new dietary and training regime. This has apparently yielded dividends, after an uncertain start, since Taylor reports improved levels of concentration, which have been apparent in his four most recent wins over his great Dutch rival. The two remain great friends, frequently embracing following the conclusion of matches.

Outside darts

Phil is a family man and has four children - Lisa, Chris, Kelly and Natalie - to wife Yvonne. His popularity among darts fans has led to increasing business opportunities - such as writing his autobiography (with Sky TV darts commentator Sid Waddell), and appearances on TV such as "The Frank Skinner Show" where he dressed up in drag and sung alongside former Hear'Say singer Myleene Klass, and "Heads Up with Richard Herring" where he discussed his love of poker. Taylor also appeared on BBC's spelling competition, Hard Spell and has participated in televised celebrity poker.
In 2004, he recorded a song with Sharon Kelly, "Better Than the Best," which was written in his honour and featured a "rap" by Taylor. However, the song was never officially released. He also appeared in British Whale's video for "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us" in 2005, which featured a mock darts game against Justin Hawkins of The Darkness.
The one blemish on Taylor's career is an incident after a 1999 exhibition match in Scotland. Two young women, aged 23 and 25, accompanied Taylor back to his motorhome after the competition and later accused him of sexual assault. Taylor denied the charges but he was found guilty of a minor offence and fined £2000 ^[3]. As a result, his MBE nomination from the 2001 New Year's honours was cancelled and annulled in May 2002.^[4]
On December 28th 2006 Phil Taylor faced Chris Mason again in the 2007 World Championships. Prior to this, Mason had an interview with a British Newspaper regarding the match later in the day, saying that Phil Taylor was big-headed about his achievements. Phil Taylor defeated Mason but the match was overshadowed by comments made by Mason to Taylor following the match which were unheard on TV. Phil Taylor then confirmed in a post match interview that Mason had been disrespectful again, causing Taylor to storm off. Mason apologised to Taylor a week later.^[5][6]
Taylor was one of ten nominees for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 2006, the award went to Zara Phillips. On January 9, 2007 he won the PDC Player of the Year award at the inaugural PDC Awards Dinner held at the Dorchester Hotel in London's Park Lane.
On March 26, 2007, he and 4 of his fellow darts mates appeared as the "Power Posse" on the BBC game show Eggheads. In the head-to-head rounds, Phil challenged CJ De Mooi, on the subject of "Arts & Books", but in the best-of-3 questions, Phil got his first 2 questions wrong, whereas CJ got both his right, so the 3rd question for both players wasn't needed. The "Power Posse" eventually lost the match and the chance to win £26,000.
Phil is the cousin of former England football manager Graham Taylor.

World Championship final results

★ 'BDO World Championship'

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★ 1990: Phil Taylor beat Eric Bristow 6-1

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★ 1992: Phil Taylor beat Mike Gregory 6-5

★ 'PDC World Championship'

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★ 1994: Dennis Priestley beat Phil Taylor 6-1

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★ 1995: Phil Taylor beat Rod Harrington 6-2

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★ 1996: Phil Taylor beat Dennis Priestley 6-4

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★ 1997: Phil Taylor beat Dennis Priestley 6-3

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★ 1998: Phil Taylor beat Dennis Priestley 6-0

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★ 1999: Phil Taylor beat Peter Manley 6-2

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★ 2000: Phil Taylor beat Dennis Priestley 7-3

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★ 2001: Phil Taylor beat John Part 7-0

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★ 2002: Phil Taylor beat Peter Manley 7-0

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★ 2003: John Part beat Phil Taylor 7-6

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★ 2004: Phil Taylor beat Kevin Painter 7-6

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★ 2005: Phil Taylor beat Mark Dudbridge 7-4

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★ 2006: Phil Taylor beat Peter Manley 7-0

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★ 2007: Raymond van Barneveld beat Phil Taylor 7-6

References

1. Taylor donates 9-dart car prize to friend
2. [4] list of major darts tournament finals
3. Taylor fined £2,000 for indecently assault
4. Taylor's MBE cancelled and annulled The London Gazette
5. [5] Taylor v Mason controversy 2006
6. [6] Mason apologises to Taylor

External links

★ PhilThePower.com Official Web Site

★ Professional Darts Corporation PDC Web Site with current news of Taylor and other professional players.