“Go and get the tour card done” – John Part’s words that pushed Tyler Thorpe over the line at Q-School

At Q-School, the margins between success and failure are often decided away from the scoreboard. For Tyler Thorpe, the moment that tipped everything in his favour did not come from a winning dart, but from the words of a three-time world champion.

Facing John Part was already one of the biggest tests of Thorpe’s week. What followed afterwards mattered even more. In a tournament defined by pressure and uncertainty, a brief exchange with one of the sport’s most respected figures became a turning point, the kind of validation that sharpens focus rather than relieves it.

Thorpe had already done the hard part on the board, but it took time for his mind to catch up with what was unfolding. “I finished the game and in my head I thought I needed one more win,” he explains in conversation with Tungsten Tales. “Then everyone started shaking my hand and saying, ‘Congratulations.’ Part of my mind was thinking, ‘Have you done it? Have you actually done it?’ I kept telling myself, ‘No, you’ve got one more game. You’ve got one more game. Let’s get it done.’”

Only when he walked back to the table and was told he was “in the green” did everything finally fall into place. “Dan Dawson appeared out of nowhere and I just… it was so overwhelming,” Thorpe said. “Nothing could ever replicate that feeling.”

That surge of emotion was the culmination of a journey that was anything but straightforward. Thorpe had considered Q-School before, but chose not to make the leap initially. “I was going to go last year, but I don’t think I was in the right headspace and my form wasn’t great,” he said.

Progress came gradually. Towards the end of 2023, results began to move in the right direction, including a semi-final appearance on the Development Tour. But the start of 2024 brought fresh challenges. Thorpe moved into his own place and spent months balancing long working days with an intense darts schedule.

“I was putting a lot of effort into darts and a lot into work,” he said. “I was waking up early five days a week, getting home, having an hour, then going straight out to darts. I was playing seven days a week. Vaults, locals, everything.”

The work eventually paid off. A single month changed everything, even if Thorpe still finds it hard to explain exactly why. He won the ADC Tour in Leicester, followed by the MODUS qualifiers the following week, before claiming a Development Tour title shortly after. “I didn’t even know what was happening,” he admitted. “The ability had always been there, but mentally I’d always struggled when pushing deep into competitions. Suddenly it felt like I was unstoppable.”

With confidence growing, Thorpe made a clear decision. “Right, Q-School this year, that’s the one,” he recalled thinking. His initial aim was deliberately modest. “That was my original goal anyway, just make Stage Two and get experience.”

When an email arrived while he was at work, confirming he had already secured a place in Stage Two, the pressure lifted instantly. “Once I’d already achieved that, it felt like a free hit,” he said. “I played with less pressure, and that’s when my game is at its best. I’m very relaxed and I just take things as they come.”

That relaxed approach proved vital, because Q-School delivered a major test straight away. In his first match of the day, Thorpe was drawn against former world champion John Part.

“I knew he hadn’t played his best all week, he even said that himself after the game but I never really fear who I play,” Thorpe said. “Obviously, his experience was the biggest concern.”

Part opened with heavy scoring, prompting a familiar reaction. “It always feels like the world’s against you sometimes,” Thorpe said. “Then against me he opens with 140, 139, 140. I’m thinking, ‘Why me? Come on, just let me be.’”

Thorpe ran out a 6-0 winner, though he was quick to acknowledge the scoreline did not tell the full story. “He missed a few darts at doubles, and afterwards he said to me, ‘That wasn’t a 6-0 game,’” Thorpe said. “I agreed with him.”

What followed mattered even more. “He told me to go and get the tour card done,” Thorpe added. “Hearing that from someone like him really gets you going. You don’t want to let people down, so I just cracked on.”

Later in the week, Thorpe crossed paths with other established names, including Steve Beaton and Mervyn King, moments that underlined the scale of what lay ahead. The reality of joining the ProTour, and competing alongside the best players in the world, was no longer theoretical.

Away from the oche, that new reality also brought change. Thorpe switched jobs and moved into working in a dart shop, a decision that helped restore balance. “I moved to working in a dart shop, which was a massive relief,” he said. “Instead of playing competitions seven days a week, I could practise in the shop when it was quiet.”

He is clear about the importance of that balance. “I always say life comes first,” Thorpe said. “Even when darts is the most important thing in your life, if you’re not enjoying life, you’re not going to play your best.”

Thorpe has leaned on advice from players who have already walked the path. “I’ve had advice from people like Darren Webster and Jack Main,” he said. “I always listen to people who’ve been there and done it.”

As for his ambitions, Thorpe is clear. “This first year, I want to play on the Ally Pally stage,” he said. “The second year is about making sure I’m in the top 64.”

Thorpe’s relationship with darts began early, before a long pause. “I grew up in the pub and started throwing darts at four or five,” he said. One early memory still stands out. “I nearly hit my first 180 at six, two treble 20s, then a treble one. I was gutted.”

He went on to play pub darts in his early teens, followed by county youth and Super League youth, before stepping away during exams and university. It was only later that the game truly pulled him back. “In my second year at uni, I put a board up and started hitting 180s for fun,” he said. “It felt completely different.”

The decisive moment came when he joined a Super League team in Preston and encountered a new standard. “The standard was a massive step up,” Thorpe said. “I thought, ‘Let’s see if this works.’”

It was a gamble, but one that has paid off. “Now I’m proving it,” he said. “If you put the work in, you reap the rewards.”