BACK IN THE DAY WITH: John Part: Three time world champion and the best player ever from outside Europe

In this column, we regularly go back in time with a particular darter. Today we do so with the Canadian, John Part.

John Part was born on June 29, 1966, in Toronto. He made his first appearance in 1993 when he and Carl Mercel won the WDF World Cup pairs. Thanks in part to that performance, he made his first appearance at the BDO World Championship in early 1994.

Because several players had recently joined the newly formed PDC and were no longer allowed to participate in the BDO World Championships, the field of participants was somewhat weakened at Lakeside. Among others, former champions such as Dennis Priestley, John Lowe, Eric Bristow and Phil Taylor were no longer competing at the Lakeside Country Club. However, Part did not care and defeated second seed Ronnie Baxter 3-0 in the opening round. This was followed by victories against Paul Lim (3-0) and Scott McCollum (4-0). Only in the semifinals did Part lose a set for the first time in the tournament, but that was still more than enough to win 5-1 over Ronnie Sharp. Thus, Part was immediately in the World Championship final on his debut. In the final, he faced an injured Bobby George, who was not at his best level due to back problems. Part did not care, however, and won 6-0 to celebrate his first world title. He was also the first player from outside Europe to capture a world title.

A year later Part was back at the BDO World Championship, but after a win in the first round against Paul Knighton, he lost to Paul Williams 3-2. In 1996 and 1997 Part again competed at the BDO World Championship, but each time the second round was his final destination.

Part decided to switch to the rival PDC federation after that 1997 BDO World Championship. For the first few years there, however, he managed to make little impression; a quarterfinal at the World Grand Prix in 2000 was his best performance in his difficult first few years with the PDC. The 2001 World Championship, however, proved to be a turning point. Part surprisingly reached the final there, although he eventually lost 7-0 to the then untouchable Phil Taylor. Part won only three legs.

He did not dwell too long on that defeat, however, and had now definitely arrived in the PDC. Later that year, Part reached the quarterfinals of the World Matchplay, but again Taylor proved far too strong, 16-4. And again at the World Championship he went down in the quarterfinals against Taylor (6-0).

In 2002 Part reached the final of the World Matchplay, where he faced Taylor again. This time it was particularly exciting, Part even led 16-15, but still lost 18-16. The Canadian remained in the hunt for that first major PDC title, but later that year he also lost to Taylor in the final of the World Grand Prix.

Part was closing the gap between him and Taylor, however, and before the start of the 2003 World Championship both men were considered the two best players in the world. Taylor was still top favourite for another world title, but Part was also given an outside chance. And rightly so it turned out! After victories against successively Cliff Lazarenko, Jamie Harvey, Chris Mason and Kevin Painter, Part reached the final in the Circus Tavern for the second time. This time, in what continues to be described as one of the best dart matches ever, Part did manage to hold off his biggest rival Taylor to win 7-6 and become PDC world champion for the first time. Of course, he was also the first non-Brit to win the PDC World Championship and to this day remains one of only four players to win both the BDO and PDC World Championships (Dennis Priestley, Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld are the others).

In the years that followed, Part still managed to beat Taylor regularly at TV tournaments, but he did not follow that up with tournament victories, going down against Roland Scholten in the final of the 2004 UK Open.

It wasn't until 2006 that another PDC major title followed. In the final of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, he defeated Raymond van Barneveld 6-3. At the World Championship between 2004 and 2007, however, he never got beyond the fourth round.

In 2006, Raymond van Barneveld came to the PDC and because he immediately impressed and made finals, not Part, but the Dutchman was no longer considered Taylor's biggest rival. The affable Part didn't make much of a statement, but was still determined to prove that he too was still to be reckoned with.

And so it proved at the 2008 World Championship. Part, dropped to 11th place in the world rankings, defeated Charles Losper, Mensur Suljovic and Alex Roy in the first rounds. A first real test then awaited in the quarter-finals against James Wade. Both men presented the public with a true spectacle and in the end it was Part who won 5-4. Kevin Painter then fell at the feet of Darth Maple in the semifinals, so Part had to face the surprising qualifier Kirk Shepherd in the final. With all his experience, Part, unlike several other players that World Championship, avoided upset by Shepherd and won 7-2 to take his second PDC world title. Moreover, he was the first player ever to win the World Championship at the Lakeside, the Circus Tavern and Alexandra Palace.

However, it turned out to have been Part's last great trick, because although he was there at the World Championship until 2015, he never managed to get beyond the quarterfinals. He also failed to impress at other majors.

In early 2017, Part, having just lost his Tour Card at the time, was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame for his services to the sport. He went to Q-School that same month and recaptured his Tour Card there. In 2019, however, he lost his Tour Card again, and despite several attempts to recapture it (including at the beginning of this year), he did not succeed.

In recent years, however, 'Darth Maple' has been concentrating mainly on his work as a commentator and analyst at Sky Sports, a role he also previously held at the BBC. He is also still occasionally active on the World Seniors Darts Tour.