Taylor raises his game yet again with power surge

Taylor v van Barneveld:Despite two decades as the high-king of the sport of darts, PHIL TAYLORhas not relinguished his grip

THERE WAS a time when darts was considered a major sport. A time when Jocky Wilson, John Lowe and Eric Bristow were household names.

This weekend, the biggest annual tournament in darts begins again, but, much like professional snooker, it has long since vacated its seat at the high-table of popular sports.

It hasn’t helped that the sport has been pulling in two different directions for two decades now, with one of the major and unfortunate consequences being that darts fans were denied a natural rivalry.

Phil “The Power” Taylor, is, without doubt, the greatest player to ever hold a dart, and is a protégé of the five-time world champion Eric Bristow, who he fittingly defeated to claim his first major title – the 1990 Embassy Championship. The same year, Raymond van Barneveld broke into the pro ranks, taking the route offered by the British Darts Organisation. Taylor choose the Professional Darts Corporation.

It was a rivalry denied – the equivalent if Nadal and Federer played for two separate tennis federations who refused to have anything to do with the other.

Inevitably, though, keeping the two best players in the world apart was difficult to maintain, and impossible to justify and, 10 years ago, the two met for a one-hour challenge at the Wembley Conference Centre.

It was, inevitably perhaps, billed as the “match of the century”, but Taylor confirmed what PDC supporters had long suspected, that their man was not only far beyond anything the PDC could muster, but also better than the BDO could produce.

Still, the appetite for the rivalry only grew and when van Barneveld crossed over to the dark side (or from the dark side, depending on if you sit with the PDC or BDO) in 2006 darts fans got what they were looking for.

After making the jump, van Barneveld beat Taylor in the UK Open (his first PDC title) and in the semi-finals of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, working his way into the top 32 and an automatic place in the World Championship.

The two worked their way to the decider. For the organisers and the fans, it was the dream final, and lived up to expectations. After a three-hour epic van Barneveld won in a sudden-death final leg in the 13th set.

The Dutch player threw an incredible 21 180s in the final – the first time more than one million viewers watched a darts game on Sky television – and 51 during the tournament, beating the record of 49 set by Taylor the previous year.

The Power, however, has worked to re-establish his control over the world of darts and if the 2007 final was a classic, last year’s decider was a procession, with Taylor defeating his friend and biggest rival, 7-1, thanks to a phenomenal three-dart average of just under 111.

“I think he has 32 voodoo dolls that look like darts players,” said van Barneveld afterwards, who in the quarter-finals became the first, and to date only player, to throw a nine-dart finish at the championship, earning a bonus of €23,000. “He puts us out every time. He’s the greatest on earth. What can you do? A couple of years ago he was averaging 102 every single time and now I’m averaging 102. I played a computer. Clearly practising 10 hours a day is not enough.”

And despite two decades as the high-king of the sport, Taylor has not relinguished his grip. So far this year he has finished first in the World Matchplay, the World Grand prix, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, UK Open, German Championship, European Championship, Players Championship, Grand Slam of Darts, South African Masters and the Irish Players Championship.

On the official PDC website, a grinning picture of Taylor accompanies the message asking fans to vote for their player of the year. Taylor has held the award for the past two years, with van Barneveld picking it up the previous year.

Since the World Championship final last January, Taylor and van Barneveld have met on seven occasions – with The Power winning every meeting. Still, there is no doubt the Power versus Barneveld is the biggest draw in the game and it’s no coincidence that, since van Barneveld moved to the PDC, the prize-money for the World Championship has increased significantly each year – this season jumping by £200,000 to reach the magical figure of £1 million (€1.1 million).

There is some Irish interest in the tournament, with Cavan’s Aodhagan O’Neill playing a preliminary-round match on Saturday and Fermanagh’s Brendan Nolan in the first round proper the following day.

But much of the attention will centre on the two biggest names on the bill, and this Friday the odds-on favourite begins his bid for a 13th PDC world crown – and a 15th world title in total – when he meets Colin Monk, with world number two van Barneveld taking on New Zealand’s Warren Parry on Sunday.

From there it’ll be a long journey for both players if the walk-on music on the final day is Snap’s I’ve Got the Power and Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger.