'Lack of oxygen in high temperatures'' - John Part felt the heat in darting pomp at World Matchplay

Two-time runner-up

Twice Part made it to the final of the World Matchplay. In 2002, he forced Phil Taylor to the limit. The game was won 18-16 by "The Power," but Part had Taylor working hard for it. "It really was breathtaking to play in finals there," he looks back. “The first final, against Phil, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to what was going on in the audience.

“I trusted they weren’t going to be negative. I knew they liked watching good darts, and I was trying to deliver that.I came quite close in that final with Phil but he just sprung up at the end. I got to 16 [legs] first but not to 18.”

Three years later, he still got his revenge against Taylor, although it was "only" in the quarterfinals. That win was mentally leaden, he says. “I was fortunate enough to beat him in a quarter-final a few years after that. My strengths, when it came to dealing with someone like Phil, actually came in the sets format, when I could afford to be a little more up and down in my game.

“But at my best in career, my standard was quite high. Although it wasn’t Phil’s standard, I could still compete with him and the best in the game.”

After his win over Taylor, Peter Manley awaited him in the semifinals. That match, won 18-16, demolished him mentally.

“It was hard. I had a tough semi-final with Peter Manley. Prior to that [in 2003], in the Desert Classic, he benefited from me beating Phil in a semi [by winning the tournament]. It was like I had done the hard work [by beating Taylor] and Peter had reaped the benefits.

“I didn’t want that to happen again. He was ahead of me in the semi-finals of the Matchplay. I rallied [to win 18-16] but it was pretty draining, especially off the back of beating Phil, which was very draining.

In the final match, Part faced Colin Lloyd, who eventually took the title 18-12. “It wasn’t the best match we ever had but it reminds me of the calibre of the matches me and Colin would have. It was phenomenal at times.

“They didn’t have averages at every tournament back then but we’d have 110 [average] matches. There was no doubt in Colin’s abilities and how deserving he was to win major titles. It was appropriate that we had a major final against each other.

Part concludes by referring to the discussion of whether the level of darts today is higher than in his day. "People think darts is more competitive now but believe me, back in those days there weren’t a lot of easy games. You can’t trust averages all the time.”