Since it’s maiden tournament in 1994, there have been 11 different winners of the PDC World Darts Championship. But who are the biggest price winners of the World Darts Championship in history?
Biggest Price Winners Of The PDC World Darts Championship In History
John Part – 2008 – 66/1
The biggest priced winner of the PDC World Darts Championship is officially John Part. The Canadian was priced as long as 66/1 with UK bookmakers to go all the way in the 2008 World Darts Championship.
‘Darth Maple’ went on to do just that, winning his second world championship title following his 2003 victory five years prior. For his victory at the Circus Tavern in 2003, Part was seeded at number two, but five years later had fallen outside of the Top 10 in the PDC Order of Merit.
Just before the first dart was thrown in the tournament, Part was priced as long as 66/1 with UK online gambling sites to go all the way and win a second title. Tihs is due to the fact that Part had had a terrible year in 2007, not even reaching the final of any major darts tournament.
As the tournament progressed, Part’s odds were slashed. The great Phil Taylor fell at the quarter-final stage to Wayne Mardle, as did Kevin Painter. Raymond van Barneveld had also been eliminated, with Part making the most of the ‘big guns’ falling at previous hurdles.
This ended up being the Canadian’s last ever victory in darts, so not a bad one to end on. In fact, Part never even made it to another televised final. His path to the trophy in 2008 was charmed, but John Part certainly made the most of it.
Rob Cross – 2018 – 16/1
Another big priced winner of the PDC World Darts Championship is of course Rob Cross’ victory in 2018. ‘Voltage’ was seeded at number 20 heading into the tournament at Alexandra Palace, but had only won his PDC Tour card 11 month prior.
Cross went off at 16/1 pre-tournament with the best sports betting apps. His victory at Ally Pally was his first PDC major title, but he had made the final of the European Championship just two months prior to the Worlds.
He also reached the quarter-final of the Grand Slam of Darts and the semis of the Players Championship Finals, so it was apparent that Cross was a dark horse heading into the 2018 Worlds.
Although he went off at around 16/1, according to Oddschecker, Cross had been backed by a select few punters, likely his close friends, at as big as 400/1 with some UK bookmakers.
Cross’ price dropped rapidly as the World Darts Championship drew closer, with 20% of bets placed since the 2017 World Grand Prix on Rob Cross – more than any other place bar Michael van Gerwen.
Cross got lucky in the semi-finals with ‘MVG’ missing several match darts, but he rode his luck and got into the final. ‘Voltage’ destroyed the great Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor 7-2 in the final, lifting the Sid Waddell trophy at the first time of asking.
Raymond van Barneveld – 2007 – Seeded 32
A definitive price cannot be found for what Raymond van Barneveld’s pre-tournament odds were at the 2007 World Darts Championship, but he was seeded as a huge outsider at 32 in the Order of Merit.
This is by far and away the lowest a player has been ranked that went on to win the Worlds. This should of course be a major headline as one of the biggest upsets in darts, but it isn’t. This is due to the fact that ‘Barney’ was a four-time winner of the BDO World Championship and had won the UK Open just six months prior.
Van Barneveld’s victory came as no huge surprise to the darting world, as he was ranked as the fourth favourite with live-betting sites ahead of the tournament.
The reason the Dutchman was ranked so low in the Order of Merit is because the world ranking system is based on ranking points acquired on a rolling basis over a two-year period. ‘Barney’ only joined the PDC in February 2006, meaning he only had 10 months of darts prior to the Worlds in the PDC.
Raymond van Barneveld’s class and talent was obvious to everyone, hence why his win wasn’t quite as big a shock as his seed suggests.
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