BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Phill Nixon - The stay-at-home dad who nearly became world champion with an unlikely comeback against Martin Adams

In this column, we regularly take a trip back in time with a particular darts player. Today, we do so with Englishman Phill Nixon, who came close to producing a huge shock by winning the World Championship on his debut.

Phill Nixon was born on March 13, 1956, in Durham. For many years, he was a very solid player in local leagues in England, but he rarely competed on the international stage. His best results for a long time were a quarter-final at the 2002 Winmau World Masters and a semi-final at the 2004 British Open.

That changed when he managed to qualify for the 2007 BDO World Championship. However, Nixon’s route through qualification was far from easy. He had to battle through regional and national qualifying tournaments to earn a place in the international qualifier for the World Championship. There, Nixon fulfilled his dream and made his World Championship debut at the age of 50.

Despite that achievement, bookmakers gave him virtually no chance, pricing him at 150/1 to become world champion—joint lowest odds of all participants that year, alongside Dutchman Albertino Essers.

It didn’t bother Nixon, nicknamed ‘Nixy’ and ‘The Ferryhill Flyer’. In the opening round, he immediately caused a major upset by defeating seventh seed Darryl Fitton 3–1. Nixon averaged 92.43 in that match, placing him among the top 10 highest averages of the tournament. One round later, tenth seed Martin Atkins was also dispatched 4–1.

In the quarter-finals, Nixon briefly stood on the brink of elimination, but ultimately edged past Scotland’s Paul Hanvidge 5–4. So, on his World Championship debut, Nixon marched straight into the semi-finals. There, he faced another surprise package, Dutchman Niels de Ruiter. The pair produced an exciting contest, but Nixon prevailed 6–4 to set up a final against top seed Martin Adams, who—like Nixon—was chasing his first world title.

The final began disastrously for Nixon. He failed to win any of the first six sets and went into the break trailing 6–0, with barely any hope left of becoming world champion.

Most thought the excitement was over—but nothing could have been further from the truth.

Adams missed four match darts in the following sets, and Nixon capitalised, clawing back to 6–1, 6–2… and eventually 6–6. A frenzied Lakeside crowd erupted.

In the deciding set, Adams ultimately proved just too strong. Nevertheless, Nixon still took home a tidy £30,000 for his runner-up finish.

Thanks to his strong World Championship performances, Nixon qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts in 2007 and 2008, where top players from both the BDO and PDC competed.

In 2007, he lost 5–4 in the group stage to James Wade and Pat Orreal. His only win came against De Ruiter—a repeat of their World Championship semi-final—where he triumphed 5–0. It wasn’t enough to reach the knockout stage.

In 2008, he again exited in the group phase. After a 5–0 loss to Phil Taylor, he was beaten 5–1 by Vincent van der Voort. His only victory came against Andy Jenkins (5–3).

A year after reaching the final, Nixon returned to the BDO World Championship in 2008. As fate would have it, he was drawn against Martin Adams once again.

In a rematch of the previous year’s final, Nixon lost 3–0. He never found his rhythm and posted an average of just 77.61—well below his usual standard.

It proved to be his final World Championship appearance. In the years that followed, he faded from the spotlight, aside from a quarter-final at the 2012 Winmau World Masters.

Nearly twenty years on from his remarkable run, it would have been fascinating to look back on Nixon’s career with him—but sadly, that’s no longer possible.

In June 2013, Nixon was diagnosed with stomach, liver, and lung cancer. He passed away on August 9 of that same year at the age of 57.

He left behind his wife Suzanne and eight children. What makes his story so remarkable is that at the time of his World Championship debut, Nixon was a househusband who played darts purely as a hobby. Only after reaching the final did he decide to take the sport more seriously—but that opportunity was cut short.

Martin Adams said after Nixon’s passing: “I’d known him a lot of years before he came to prominence at the Lakeside in 2007. He was a great darts player, a great competitor and a very nice man with it. Sadly we’ve lost a very good man all-round in our sport, who was respected and liked by everybody.”

The BDO also paid tribute: “Phill was always proud to pull on the England shirt and England were always pleased to have him in the team. Phill played seven times for England in full internationals, winning on five occasions, he also played three times in representative matches for England.

“Phill Nixon was one of the great characters in the game and will be sadly missed by everyone who had the pleasure of meeting him.”

And Bobby George added: “So saddened to hear the news of Phill Nixon losing his fight against cancer. A lovely fun guy who will never be forgotten.”

With only two World Championship appearances, you might not immediately place Nixon high on the all-time list. Yet his story continues to inspire even the current generation. A man who spent years competing at regional and national level, only to make his World Championship debut at 50.

But above all, it is that extraordinary 2007 final that will be remembered time and time again. Nixon was not the first debutant to reach a World Championship final—and he didn’t win it. But coming back from 6–0 down to level at 6–6 had never been seen before in a World Championship final.

The atmosphere inside the Lakeside Country Club that night is hard to put into words. With his performance, Nixon proved one thing above all: you should never give up on your dream. While many sports impose an age limit on peak performance, darts remains a game where glory can still be achieved later in life.