Phil Taylor: “A nine-darter is harder than a hole-in-one”

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Phil Taylor likes winning.

“I can’t play tiddlywinks without trying my best,” he says. “My daughter beat me at pool once and I went down the pool hall for 10 days on the trot, so that I’d get her next time. That’s life, isn’t it? It’s all about winning.”

It’s a character trait that came to the fore when he took up golf a decade ago. The problem was he got addicted to it – quickly – and it started to have an impact on his darts, forcing him to pack his golf bag away. 

Now though, after winning an unprecedented 81 major titles and a record 16 World Championships, The Power has picked his clubs up once again… 

I’ve only just taken up golf again after not playing for a few years.

When I started I was shooting in the 130s, but after a month I was breaking 100. That’s when I got addicted to it – and I had to stop because it was affecting my darts. Now I’m getting older, I’ve started again. It’s great exercise. I live by a golf course near Stoke. 

The strengths of my game?

I haven’t got any! I need to practise more, like anything really. You’ve got to put the hours in. I practise darts for about three hours a day. 

Golf could learn a bit from darts.

Our sport has grown in popularity because it’s simple. There aren’t too many rules, it’s easy to follow and it’s quick to play. They could certainly jazz golf up a little bit. 

It’s flattering that some people say I’ve done for darts what Tiger did for golf.

Going back a few years, when darts wasn’t high on the agenda with people, the press said I made them write about it, because I was winning, winning, winning. It forced the press to write about us. 

My dream fourball would have to include winners.

I admire winners. So I’d love to play with Alan Shearer or David Beckham – they both have the same mindset as me – obviously Tiger Woods and my favourite golfer, Freddie Couples. I love his laid-back attitude, the fact he just gets on with it with a smile on his face. And the course? It would have to be Augusta. 

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A hole-in-one is golf’s equivalent of a nine-dart finish.

I’ve had a few of the latter (18), but none of the former. I came close, hit the flag once… but it would have gone about 500 yards past if it hadn’t!

I do think a nine-darter is harder than a hole-in-one. 

You can a have a bit of luck to get an ace; but you’ve got to be so accurate to check out with nine darts. There’s no luck involved. 

I could teach Tiger to be a decent darts player.

The two are similar in that you need excellent hand-eye co-ordination and loads of bottle. He could handle the pressure. Sir Alex Ferguson introduced dartboards into the Manchester United training ground to help them with hand-eye co-ordination. They wanted me to go
up there to play with them. 

The best golfer on the darts circuit…

Keith Deller is pretty good. But Russ Bray – the referee with the husky voice – is the best. He plays off four or five. 

I’ve just been fitted by Benross for some golf clubs. 

I’ve always been fitted for my darts. It’s all about the grip for me; if two darts bang together in the board they can chip bits off the grip, so mine are scalloped out, to feel smoother and brush off other darts. I use a new set every time I play. 

People say golf and darts aren’t real sports.

Well I wish they weren’t! Why? Because then darts would be my hobby, and you don’t pay tax on pastimes or hobbies. It would save me about £1.5 million a year! 

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Like golf, the money in darts is so much more now than when I started. 

I earned £5 million in prize money alone in 2012. When I was starting out you had to get to the semi-final just to break even, with travel costs and so on, whereas now you get £4,000 just to turn up. But that gave me the incentive to win – because I needed to earn the money. 

I don’t know what I’m going to do when I finish darts.

I’m 53 now, I’ve got a place in Tenerife and another one near Lytham St Annes, so I’ll definitely play more golf. But I’ll never be able to stop working or playing darts. I eat, breathe and sleep darts. I used to have to go to the board and hit three 180s before I’d allow myself to go to bed. Sometimes, I’d do it in five minutes but, on a bad night, it could take an hour. But I’m an old fogey now. I just go to bed. 

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