Phil Taylor

The Power — the greatest darts player of all time, 16 World Championship titles, 214 professional titles and a 28-year career that transformed darts from a pub game into a mainstream televised sport. Taylor's dominance was so total and sustained that no comparison in any individual sport quite captures it — he won more than any opponent could comprehend.

Philip Douglas Taylor was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England on 13 August 1960. He was working in a factory and playing local pub darts when Eric Bristow spotted his talent and gave him financial backing to turn professional. He won his first World Championship in 1990. What followed was the most dominant individual career in any precision sport: 16 World Championship titles between 1990 and 2013 — eight consecutive PDC titles between 1995 and 2002 — 214 professional titles in total. He was the first player to hit a perfect nine-dart finish in a televised match and the first to hit two nine-darters in a single televised game. His match averages across his peak years routinely exceeded 100 per three darts, with peaks above 110 that no opponent could sustain. He retired after losing the 2018 PDC World Championship final to Rob Cross — fittingly, in what proved to be his last professional match. His legacy is simple: he created the standards by which every darts player since has been measured, and most have been found wanting.

• PDC World Champion 16x
• World Matchplay Champion 16x
• Premier League Darts 6x
• Grand Slam of Darts 2x
• First televised nine-dart finish
• First to hit two nine-darters in a single televised match