Lowest Ranked Previous Winners of the PDC World Darts Championship

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13 December 2022

Lowest Ranked Previous Winners of the PDC World Darts Championship

The remarkable Phil Taylor won this historical competition 14 times, the classy Michael van Gerwen is a three-time winner, while both Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis have taken the title twice.

Those established stars have left very few opportunities for a lowly ranked player to upset the and win the title.

It has happened, but on only three occasions has a player seeded outside the top 10 won the World Championship.

Here’s our list of top five lowly ranked and unseeded players that have reached the final or won the World Championship crown.

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2007 Raymond van Barneveld Seeded No. 32

On face value, as the lowest-seeded winner of the World Darts Championship, Raymond van Barneveld should be the headline act in a list of upset winners of the sport's Holy Grail.

However, as he had won the UK Open six months beforehand, his victory was no huge surprise.

He had also made the final of the 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic and was a semi-finalist in the Premier League. Before joining the PDC he had also won the BDO World Championship four times.

And so, it must be pointed out Raymond van Barneveld won the 2007 World Championship as a lowly seeded player because seeds are allocated on player's position in the PDC Order of Merit.

This world ranking system is based on ranking points acquired on a rolling basis over a two-year period.

Van Barneveld did not join the PDC organisation until February 2006 and so he did not have the opportunity to amass as many ranking points as his rivals.

His class and form were obvious to everyone and he started the competition as the fourth favourite.

2018 Rob Cross Seeded No. 20

Rob Cross only turned professional 11 months before the 2018 World Championship so he too never amassed a full 24-month quota of ranking points – which are calculated on prize-money won in ranking tournaments.

The World Championship was the first PDC tournament victory for Cross but in the two months beforehand he had made the final of the European Championship.

He followed-up with a quarter-final appearance in the Grand Slam of Darts and also made the semi-finals of the Players Championship finals just three weeks before the ‘Worlds’.

Cross can consider himself fortunate to beat , who missed multiple match darts in a nail-biting thriller, in the semi-final.

But he made short work of Phil Taylor in the final with a 7-2 victory, which announced his arrival as one of the darting greats.

2008 John Part Seeded No. 11

Canadian John Part was seeded No.2 when he won the title in 2003. Five years later he had fallen outside the top-10 in the Order of Merit.

He had won the 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic – for the princely sum of $15,000 – but 2007 had been fruitless and he did not make an appearance in the final that season.

Therein his 2008 World Championship victory was a genuine massive shock as he was available at 66/1 with several at the outset.

But as Raymond van Baneveld (seeded two) fell at the third round (to Kevin Painter) and Phil Taylor went at the quarter-finals (to Wayne Mardle) his odds were rapidly slashed.

It is fair to say Part did have a charmed path to the 2008 final. His victory was the most unlikely in the history of the PDC event. Sadly for ‘Darth Maple’ fans, the player never won another tournament or made another televised final.

2008 Kirk Shepherd Unseeded Qualifier

An unknown 21-year-old sheet metal worker from Kent, Shepherd may not have won the World Championship in 2008.

Priced at 500/1 with most UK bookmakers, he performed miracles to make the final which he lost to John Part.

Earning his place in the tournament in a qualifier, Shepherd had only played in four majors in the preceding four years and had never gone beyond the third round in any of them.

Nevertheless, he beat number four seed Terry Jenkins in the first round, the number 13 Barrie Bates in the third round, number five Peter Manley in the quarter-finals, and Wayne Mardle in the semis. In every match, he was priced 5/2 or bigger.

Of course, Part beat him in the decider but £50,000 for his second place was not to be sniffed at.

Shepherd has never performed to the same level of form but he retains his tour card and only in his 30s, he may yet make a return to the sport's biggest stage.

2010 Simon Whitlock International Qualifier

Entering the competition as an ‘International Qualifier’, Whitlock had been on the BDO circuit for five years before joining the PDC and contesting the 2010 World Darts Championship.

He was not a big winner, in fact, he had never won a BDO major.

Regardless, he marched to the final of the 2010 World Championship by accounting for Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-final to meet – and ultimately lose to – Phil Taylor.

The Australian was soundly beaten by Taylor in the decider (7-3) but there was no castle lost in defeat. He averaged over 100 in the final.

Unlike Shepherd, Whitlock kept his momentum and while he has never won a PDC major, he did spend the next five years amongst the top-10 in the Order of Merit.