John Part

John Part
File:JohnPart.jpg
Personal information
Nickname	Darth Maple
Born	(1966-06-29) June 29, 1966 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Home town	Oshawa, Ontario
Darts information
Playing darts since	1987
Darts	23g Cosmo Darts
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	The Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme from Star Wars)
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1991–1997
PDC	1997–
Current world ranking	23
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner 1994
World Masters	Last 16: 1995, 1997
World Trophy	Last 16: 2007
Int. Darts League	Last 32 group: 2007
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner 2003, 2008
World Matchplay	Runner up: 2002, 2005
World Grand Prix	Runner up: 2002, 2003
UK Open	Runner up: 2004
Grand Slam	Quarter-final: 2007
European Ch'ship	First round: 2008, 2011
Premier League	6th: 2005, 2009
Desert Classic	Winner 2006
US Open/WSoD	Semi-final: 2007
PC Finals	Second round: 2009
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
Blueberry Hill Canada National Championships Canadian Open Cleveland Darts Extraveganza Golden Harvest North American Cup Ireland Open Autumn Classic Ireland Open Spring Classic North American Darts Championship PDC Eastbourne Open PDC Nations Cup Singles PDC Northern Ireland Open Players Ch'ship (AUT) Players Ch'ship (CAN) Players Ch'ship (DER) Players Ch'ship (GIB) Players Ch'ship (HAY) Shanghai International Darts Open Soft Tip Bullshooter World Championship UK Open South West Regional Final Vauxhall Autumn Open Vauxhall Spring Open WDF World Cup Pairs West Tyrone Open Windy City Open	2001, 2002 1995, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007 1995, 2001, 2004 2002 2004 2002 2002 2010 2000 2002 2002 2011 2011 2011 2008 2007 2009 2008 2003 2003 2002, 2003 1993 2002, 2003 2002, 2003
Other achievements
PDC World Number 1 January to June 2003 Member of Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame Achieved a nine dart finish in the 2011 World Matchplay

John Part (born June 29, 1966 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian professional darts player, who is nicknamed Darth Maple. Part is a three-times World Champion, having triumphed in the BDO World Championship in 1994 and the PDC World Championship in 2003 and 2008. His 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic title and a host of other tournament wins make him statistically North America's greatest darts player ever.

Career

1987-1994 - Beginnings and the BDO World Championship

Part was given a dartboard by his parents as a Christmas present in 1987 and has played the sport ever since. Though television coverage of darts in Canada is rare and live coverage is almost non-existent, Part was still able to view the World Professional Darts Championship and the World Masters, where he would learn his game from some of the most famous champions in the sport, particularly Bob Anderson. Little is known of Part's formative darts years, but he won his first significant title at the Syracuse Open in 1991 and became a professional in the same year. It is assumed he had great success in the North American circuit as he was soon representing Canada in the WDF World Cup. Part has stated that he was 'produced as a darts player by the North American game', and that his experiences playing against some of the greatest North American players of the time gave him the capability of winning world championships.

By 1993, Part was Canada's highest ranked player and was competing in prestigious events sanctioned by the British Darts Organisation. A prestigious win soon came in the 1993 WDF World Cup, where he and Carl Mercer won the Pairs Championship for Canada. Nevertheless, when he qualified for the 1994 BDO World Championship, he was still a relative unknown. This was the first BDO World Championship since the acrimonious split in darts, and, as a result, the field included many newcomers and debutants, including Part himself. In the first round Part defeated second seed Ronnie Baxter in straight sets, and thereafter swept through to the final, dropping only one set en route. He faced the charismatic veteran Bobby George in the final and won 6-0 in sets. Seven years after receiving his first dartboard, Part had won a World Championship; he was the first non-British player to do so, and he is one of the few players to win the tournament on their debut. Part's achievement of dropping only one set in winning a World Championship is only matched by Eric Bristow's similar feat in the 1984 World Championship.

1995-2000 - Lean years and move to the PDC

Part is generally regarded to have failed to consolidate his early success for most of the 1990s. Despite more wins on the North American circuit, including the Canadian Open and Canadian National Championships in 1995, he struggled to make an impact in the major tournaments in the United Kingdom. In the 1995 BDO World Championship, he only one won match in defending his title; he lost in the second round to Paul Williams. He was also unable to make it to the quarter-finals of the World Masters during his entire BDO career. He qualified for the 1996 and 1997 BDO World Championships, but continued to suffer successive second round defeats. Despite his initial whirlwind success, Part was struggling to reach the heady heights of his breakthrough win. Following the conclusion of the 1997 BDO World Championship, Part left the British Darts Organisation to join the rival Professional Darts Corporation, and has competed in PDC sanctioned events ever since then.

PDC Success

He entered the PDC in 1997, but didn't make an impact until 2001 when he reached his first World Championship final, where he was whitewashed by Phil Taylor 0-7 who comprehensively averaged 108 to Part's 92. He reached the final of the World Matchplay in 2002 and was again beaten by Taylor in a much closer final, by 16 legs to 18. He also lost to his fierce rival in the 2002 World Grand Prix.

Part exacted his revenge on Taylor in the 2003 World Championship by winning his first PDC World Championship crown. He managed to beat Cliff Lazarenko, Jamie Harvey, Chris Mason and Kevin Painter to play Taylor yet again in the final. Part led 3-0 and 4-1 in sets, but Taylor bounced back to win four sets in-a-row to lead 5-4. Part did not let the shift in momentum affect him as he won the next two sets to lead 6-5, before Taylor leveled to take the game to a deciding set. Part broke Taylor's throw to win the set by 3-1 in legs and to win the title by 7-6. He became world number one from January to June afterwards. The remainder of the season also proved successful for Part as he played Taylor for the second successive year in the World Grand Prix final and lost again, this time 3–7. He also reached the final of the 2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic where he was beaten by Peter Manley, 12–16 (legs).

Part could not defend his World Championship crown in 2004 as he crashed out in the third round to Mark Dudbridge 3–4. The rest of 2004 was not as good as previous years as he only reached the final of the UK Open where he was defeated by Roland Scholten 6–11.

He lost to Dudbridge again in the 2005 World Championship this time in the fourth round and by a 2–4 scoreline. He subsequently dropped down the world rankings somewhat in 2005 and 2006, but still enjoyed a major championship success in August 2005 when he reached the World Matchplay final. He beat Phil Taylor in the semi-finals 16-11 before losing to Colin Lloyd 12-18. In July 2006, he added the Las Vegas Desert Classic trophy to his haul of championship wins, beating Raymond van Barneveld, 6 sets to 3 in the final.

In 2007, he returned to some of his best form. Starting from 19th in the rankings, he managed to reach the semi-finals of the inaugural US Open, the World Grand Prix and the Las Vegas Desert Classic. These consistent performances meant he entered the 2008 World Championship as the 11th seed. He managed to win the tournament by coming through a tight quarter-final match against James Wade 5–4 and then beating Kevin Painter in the semi-final to set up a final with the rank outsider, Kirk Shepherd who was a qualifier for the event. Part's greater experience shone through as he stormed into a 4–0 lead and eventually closed out the match 7–2. Victory ensured he joined Taylor, van Barneveld, Eric Bristow and John Lowe as the only players then to have won a World Championship more than two times. With this win he also became only one of two players to have won the PDC World Championship more than once, the other player being Taylor. He also became the first player to win the World Championship in three different venues – having won the 1994 BDO at the Lakeside, the 2003 PDC at Circus Tavern and now the 2008 PDC at Alexandra Palace. This has since been equalled by Taylor.

Despite winning the World Championship, Part had an indifferent 2008. He finished bottom of the Premier League and suffered early exits in the US Open, Desert Classic and the inaugural European Championship. He did however reach the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix.

Part was defeated in the first round of the 2009 World Championship, losing 3-0 to American Bill Davis - the second time in which Part has lost his first match in the World Championship, having won the title the previous year (he was knocked out by Mark Dudbridge in 2004 having won the title in 2003). Part was defeated by Kirk Shepherd in the second round of the 2010 World Championship in a repeat of the 2008 final, only recording a 76 average in a 4-1 loss. This result meant Part droped down the rankings and did not appear in the 2010 Premier League.

In June 2010, Part came through a large field of players to win the PDC North American Darts Championship in Las Vegas. However, he was whitewashed 0–3 by Danish qualifier Per Laursen in the 2011 World Championship and almost went out of the top 32.

He won his first players championship since 2007 in February 2011 in Derby convincingly beating Mark Walsh 6-0 with 104.86 average. On the previous day he narrowly missed double 12 for a 9 dart finish. Part stated "he had nothing to lose" and that illness had stopped him reaching where he wanted to be at the World Championships. Part's form continued when he won another players championship in May 2011 in Austria by thrashing Denis Ovens 6-0 in the final, having earlier overcoming Phil Taylor 6-2. The win granted him qualification for all the major televised tournaments in 2011, something which he failed to do in 2010 except for the UK Open.

During the first round of the 2011 World Matchplay, John hit a 9 Darter against Mark Webster and came from 7-1 down to within one leg at 9-8. He subsequently lost the match but hit a milestone in his darting career with his first ever televised perfect game.

He qualified for the World Grand Prix, in which he won his first round match against reigning World Champion Adrian Lewis. He lost in the last 16 against eventual finalist Brendan Dolan, 1-3.

At the 2012 World Championship he made it to the quarter-finals for the first time since his 2008 title. He dropped just three sets on his way to the last 8 by defeating John Henderson, Richie Burnett and Kevin Painter. He was involved in one of the greatest matches ever seen at the World Championships against James Wade. Wade opened up a 3-1 set lead, before his form started to dip to coincide with Part scoring heavier and hitting more doubles to win 3 sets in a row. The players broke each other's throws twice in the deciding set to require a sudden-death leg, which Wade managed to win. Part said afterwards that it was "the greatest game I've ever lost!".

Part represented Canada with Ken MacNeil in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they were beaten 2-3 by England in the second round, having lost a sudden death leg.

Part won the first PDC North American pro tour event in July 2012, beating top American player Darin Young 6 legs to 1 in the final in Chicago.

Television Commentary

In June 1994, BBC commentator Sid Waddell decided to leave the BBC to join Sky Television. This left just Tony Green as the only commentator on the event. Part is considered to be one of the games's best "counters" or "spotters" (the ability to work out scoring shots or where the next dart may be thrown). This knowledge is essential to a darts commentator and contributed to Part being chosen by the BBC to join Green in the commentary box during the latter stages of the 1995 Embassy World Championships.

In 2012, Part returned to commentary as he was employed by ESPN for the 2012 European Championship.

Tournament finals

PDC premier event finals: 10 (3 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Legend World Championship (2–1) World Matchplay (0–2) Premier League (0–0) Other (1–4) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Runner-up 1. 2001 World Darts Championship Phil Taylor 0–7 (s) Runner-up 2. 2002 World Matchplay Phil Taylor 16–18 (l) Runner-up 3. 2002 World Grand Prix Phil Taylor 3–7 (s) Winner 1. 2003 World Darts Championship Phil Taylor 7–6 (s) Runner-up 4. 2003 Las Vegas Desert Classic Peter Manley 12–16 (l) Runner-up 5. 2003 World Grand Prix Phil Taylor 2–7 (s) Runner-up 6. 2004 UK Open Roland Scholten 6–11 (l) Runner-up 7. 2005 World Matchplay Colin Lloyd 12–18 (l) Winner 2. 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic Raymond van Barneveld 6–3 (s) Winner 3. 2008 World Darts Championship (2) Kirk Shepherd 7–2 (s) World Championship Performances 1994 (BDO) - Winner beat Bobby George 6-0 1995 (BDO) - Round 2 lost to Paul Williams 2-3 1996 (BDO) - Round 2 lost to Steve Beaton 0-3 1997 (BDO) - Round 2 lost to Roger Carter 1-3 1998 (PDC) - Round 1 lost to Paul Lim 1-3 1999 (PDC) - Round 1 lost to Alan Warriner-Little 0-3 2000 (PDC) - Round 2 lost to Dennis Smith 0-3 2001 (PDC) - Runner Up lost to Phil Taylor 0-6 2002 (PDC) - Quarter-finals lost to Phil Taylor 0-6 2003 (PDC) - Winner beat Phil Taylor 7-6 2004 (PDC) - Round 3 lost to Mark Dudbridge 3-4 2005 (PDC) - Round 4 lost to Mark Dudbridge 2-4 2006 (PDC) - Round 3 lost to Wayne Mardle 2-4 2007 (PDC) - Round 2 lost to Chris Mason 2-4 2008 (PDC) - Winner beat Kirk Shepherd 7-2 2009 (PDC) - Round 1 lost to Bill Davis 0-3 2010 (PDC) - Round 2 lost to Kirk Shepherd 1-4 2011 (PDC) - Round 1 lost to Per Laursen 0-3 2012 (PDC) - Quarter-finals lost to James Wade 4-5 References External links John Part's Profile and Stats on Darts Database John Part's helpful darting series offering advice on how to play and practice the sport