ANALYSIS: What does Daryl Gurney missing the World Matchplay really mean in crossroads moment for Superchin

Daryl Gurney currently sits 26th in the PDC Order of Merit, the first time in over a decade. Missing out on the World Matchplay by £750 to Dave Chisnall, the Northern Irishman has seen the conversation focus on just how far he has fallen.

A 2017 Grand Prix Champion and 2018 Players Championship final winner, there’s been a lack of reasoning behind this decade-long rollercoaster. This rollercoaster has been downward since 2021, with the club axed from the Premier League after a disappointing campaign in 2020, and this fall has started. What has happened? How does the best Northern Irish darts player fall so dramatically?

In 2019, Daryl Gurney was ranked 3rd in the world, with 2 majors under his belt and competing in the Premier League; he was one of the best darts players in the world. Not just the titles, but semi-final runs at the 2017 UK Open, World Matchplay and European Championship showed that the major wins weren't flukes; they were a matter of time. Ten 100 averages across the season in 2017, and 14 in 2018 personified Gurney’s powerful scoring and clinical finishing.

During this time, his 2017 average was at an all-time high of 95.26, hitting 387 180s across the calendar year, becoming the third-best player in the world at 180 hitting. What’s most revealing, his first 9 carried his power-scoring reputation; at 104.41 and hitting 40.29% of his checkouts, Gurney’s game was elite. Hitting 110 and two 109 averages during this 2 year phase of 2017-2018, the highs must be appreciated to understand just how far he fell. In the 2018 Players Championship final, he beat 2017 World Champion Michael van Gerwen in the final. He belonged in the elite of darts, and he was beating those around him regularly.

Anderson twice, Wright three times, Whitlock three times. Juxtaposed with today, Gurney couldn’t touch his former self. The ceiling was set at the height of a skyscraper, but it hasn’t been moved, just less regularly hit.

Daryl Gurney sat his darts upright during his peak years of 2017-2019, allowing him to fit more darts in the treble bed with contributed to his 180 hitting. Landing at a 25-degree angle, his smoother, faster, and cleaner release flicked into the 180s and allowed him to hit 1353 180s during this three-year time period. Compared to 2024-2026, Gurney has hit just 718. This 635 gap can be explained by a 20-degree decrease in the angle at which his darts land on the board.

Superchin lands his darts at a flatter angle of entry, 5 degrees, meaning the habit of aiming his dart at the top of the triple 20 bed that he got so used to during his peak is now redundant. A flat dart at the top of treble 20 wire means that no matter how Gurney plays, hitting a 180 will be harder. This has forced him to start to aim at the bottom half of the treble and stack his darts, with such a change meaning what Gurney used to be so deadly at is now his kryptonite.

180 hitting isn’t his only statistical decline; by every metric, there is one. Winning a peak of £370,000 in 2019, his recent 2025 numbers come to just over half of this at £186,750, showing why he has fallen to 26th in the world. To reach his peak ranking year, it would take Gurney two years to accumulate that amount of money today, and missing out on the Matchplay in 2026 isn’t helping this ugly picture. But when did the spiral start? After 2020’s Premier League campaign, losing 9 games and finishing 8th after a semi-final the year before, the contrast is enough to damage any player's confidence. Since then, his win percentage has gone down, coinciding with a collapse in averages. 2021 started the spiral, and it has been more gradual than people claim.

His average has dropped by three points over nine years, with such slow erosion making it harder and harder to dig himself out of the hole he has dug. 92.02 in 2026 with a first nine average of 100.20 isn’t an elite player, nor is it a 26th-ranked player in the world; it’s below what the top 64 requires. Just two games averaged 100 present a problem with his game: Gurney hasn't found the tip of his ceiling for years.

A win percentage of 55% in 2025 and 2026, compared to his 2017 figure of 71%, represents a 16% gap that erodes any player's confidence. He gets to doubles at a slower pace, requiring nearly twelve darts or more to get to a functional double with his 100.20 first 9, and then, with a dropping checkout percentage to 38.7% in 2026, he can’t finish these legs. From almost every perspective, Gurney's 2026 game tells a story of decline

Despite all this happening, Gurney won the 2025 World Cup of Darts with Northern Ireland, finishing clinically with Josh Rock to make history for the country in Frankfurt. Hitting 17 out of 22 doubles for his country, Gurney made two ton-plus averages against Wales to bring the trophy home. However, underneath this attention over Gurney’s clinical finishing is a scoring stat no one else has talked about. An 81 tournament average and hitting 100+ just 36% of the times he stepped at the oche showed the World Cup of Darts wasn’t a fluke for Gurney; it was actually a very good representation of who Gurney is.

Always filled with passion, he converted this when it mattered for his country on TV, but for himself, his doubles won’t have this psychological backing behind him. His first dart T20 has dropped to 31.2%, and through this, fewer 180s are produced. His functional doubles percentage has remained stable at 47% in the last 12 months, showing his finishing rate when faced with a double is consistent whether playing for himself or his country. The underlying problem is getting down to this double, with Josh Rock filling this void for Northern Ireland, hiding Gurney’s weakness. The doubles aren't the problem. Getting to them is. And until Gurney solves the scoring issue that has plagued him since 2021, the clinical finisher the World Cup showed will remain hidden behind a game that can no longer give him the platform to use it.

Averaging 100+ is essential for Gurney to stay in 2026. Wiping away opponents and almost guaranteeing wins is needed for any player's confidence, ranking, money, and qualifying for the majors. Producing eight in 2025 and two so far in 2025, they are far from his peak numbers, but still impressive. Averaging 110.17 against Scott Williams at the Players Championship 23 in 2025, as well as 107.20 against Gian Van Veen in Leverkusen last year, shows that during spells, Gurney can beat anyone. This has become less regular, and they have all been produced in floor events.

Four 100+ averages in European tours, six in Players Championships, mean that in lower-pressure scenarios compared to TV events, the ceiling exists. However, a player’s reputation, especially one as prestigious as Gurney's, is built on performances on TV, meaning that in the last 18 months, the TV has been starved of Gurney’s best. The best is hidden away, but not just this; it isn’t coming out as often. The ceiling hasn’t disappeared, just harder to access. He can compete at the top level; the fans just don’t see it.

During the last 18 months, deep runs have been few and far between compared to his peak, with 2017 eclipsing anything post 2021 Gurney has produced. With a 2025 World Cup of Darts victory being the highlight and that not going on the rankings, prize money has steadily declined. Two European Tour semi-finals are the highlight, with the Flanders Of Darts Trophy producing victories against Ratajski and Rydz before running into World Number One Luke Littler, which spelt out a positive weekend for Gurney.

Most recently, reaching the semi-finals at the 2026 Austrian Darts Open, losing out to eventual champion and Northern Ireland teammate Josh Rock, also showed positive signs. Furthermore, a 2025 European Championship and a 2025 Players Championship Finals quarter-final ended 2025 in a way many thought 2026 would look better. Now, it looks like by the time 2027 rolls around, this money won’t be defended.

Whether Gurney reaches these events is based upon these strong runs. The highlight on tour supplies a bleak picture; just a quarter-final at PC4 in 2026 shows his reliance on European tour events and majors to maintain his rankings. Even in his peak, Players Championship wins didn’t come easy; he won just two during this time period, meaning a drought of 7 years had accumulated. This means that without strong tour form and now losing out on majors such as the Matchplay, Gurney’s main source of ranking money is shortening.

A ranking based on European tours, which come few and far between without the comfort of a top 32 place, means that a further slip is inevitable. Earning just £24,500 on tour in 2025 shows that at a rate of £816 per event, Gurney’s ranking doesn’t just rely on majors; it is structurally built by them.

This stresses the importance of missing out on the World Matchplay. The second-largest competition in darts, with new 2026 prize money regulations, Gurney is at risk of being leapfrogged by those who idolised him a decade ago. Although the gap was minimal between qualifications, his Matchplay history suggests he didn’t miss out on much. First years of first-round exits mean that Gurney came into the Matchplay with worse form on Blackpool than any player.

This misses the point, however, with a format similar to pro tour events, but extended his straight-leg performances exposed him. His 2017 days are now evidently behind him. Everything he thrived from: long legs, close conditions, and power scoring to a degree, he was the fourth best player in the world at hitting 180s has fallen. The irony of not winning a match on the stage for 5 years and finally being cut is precise and painful. Ingredients that once produced a 103.26 average against Gary Anderson in 2017 seem to be in the past. Whether Gurney can produce this seems so reliant on his 180 hitting, which will never come back with his flat darts.

The only answer that comes out of this is that Gurney will realistically never come back to his best. The Matchplay was the killer blow. It finally exposed his tour form, and lack thereof, to the world. This pressure will mount and force change, yet with such psychological stress on each game, performances won’t come easier. At 40, crossroads are emerging, and Superchin seems to be slowing down. Missing out on £225,000 will hurt, but not as much as his technical issue. His flat dart is, in theory, addressable, but in practice, could be best ignored or played around. A decade ago, Gurney played at a quicker pace and flicked his dart.

Describing his 2026 self, a methodical player who almost places his darts on the board emerges, showing that Gurney’s best can’t be produced because it's a different layer entirely. For a player who needs every ounce of prize money, missing out on even a second-round funding of £22,500, the positives seem to be eluding Gurney. Daryl Gurney's story in 2026 is not one of a finished player. It is one of a player whose game has drifted far enough from what made him great that the gap feels permanent, even when the evidence suggests it isn't. The World Cup proved the finishing is still there. The floor events proved the scoring isn't. Those two things cannot coexist at the top level indefinitely, and right now the scoring is losing.

What makes Gurney's situation uniquely compelling is that the cause is identifiable. A flat dart landing angle reducing treble twenty access, dropping his first dart T20 percentage from 35.83% to 31.20% across eighteen months, producing fewer 180s, leaving harder positions, creating more pressure on the double. The chain is clear. Whether a player of 40, with the psychological weight of five consecutive Matchplay first-round exits and a ranking in freefall, can reverse a technical habit built across years of competition is the question nobody can answer for him. The spiral is real. But so is the 110 average against Williams twelve months ago. Those two facts belong in the same sentence, and the honest verdict on Daryl Gurney sits somewhere between them.