BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Phill Nixon who is best known for legendary World Championship final against Martin Adams

In this column, we regularly go back in time with a particular darter. Today we do so with Englishman Phill Nixon.

Phill Nixon was born on March 13, 1956, in Durham. For years he was a rock-solid player in local leagues in England, but at the international level he didn't make strides. His best results for many years were a quarterfinal at the 2002 Winmau World Masters and a semifinal at the 2004 British Open.

That changed when he managed to qualify for the 2007 BDO World Championship. Nixon, however, was estimated in advance to be virtually hopeless by the betting agencies, who placed him at 150/1 to become world champion.

Read also

BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Dennis Smith: 'Smiffy' who had a very strange technique

Shocks galore

It did not bother Nixon, however, and in the opening round he immediately pulled off a major stunt by sending seventh-seeded Darryl Fitton home 3-1. One round later, the tenth-seeded Martin Atkins went down 4-1. In the quarter-finals he was on the verge of collapse for a while, but eventually managed to beat Paul Hanvidge of Scotland 5-4.

So in his first World Championship, Nixon made it straight into the semifinals. There he took on the equally surprising Dutchman Niels de Ruiter. Nixon was eventually the strongest with 6-4 and could thus prepare for a final against the first-seeded Martin Adams, who like him was looking for his first world title.

Legendary final

That final began dramatically for Nixon. Of the first six sets, he managed to win none, so he went into the break with a 6-0 deficit and barely any hope of winning the world title. Gone excitement everyone thought, but nothing could be further from the truth. Adams missed four match darts in the following sets and Nixon took advantage by making it 6-1, 6-2 and eventually even making it 6-6. A frenzied Lakeside audience went completely crazy.

In that decisive set Adams proved too strong for Nixon, who added 30000 pounds to his account. Because of his strong performance at the World Championships in 2007 and 2008 he also participated in the Grand Slam of Darts, but each time he got stuck in the group stage.

Read also

BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Wayne Jones: major finalist at BDO and PDC, but lost both finals

Post Worlds slump and sad death

A year after his World Championship final appearance, Nixon was at it again at the 2008 BDO World Championship. This time, in a replay of the previous year's World Championship final, he had to lose 3-0 to Adams.

It was also Nixon's last World Cup appearance. In the years that followed, he fell away, except for a quarterfinal place at the 2012 Winmau World Masters.

In June 2013, Nixon received the terrible news that he had stomach, liver and lung cancer. On Aug. 9 of the same year, he died at the age of 57.