“I actually rate him even higher” — John Part makes a striking comment about Luke Littler in comparison to Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor

John Part has experienced almost everything the sport of darts has to offer during his long career. The three-time world champion has faced the biggest names across several generations and now follows the developments at the very top of the game as a commentator. In an extensive interview with Online Darts at the World Grand Prix in Leicester, the 60-year-old Canadian discussed darts’ rise in North America, Luke Littler’s special qualities and the debate over the current standard of the sport.

Part celebrated his 60th birthday this year, but is not yet thinking about a life without darts. In fact, the former world champion still regularly steps up to the oche himself.

“I hit the big 6-0 — the treble 20 — this year,” Part joked. “It's intimidating. But I'm trying to work things out and trim up a bit, taking care of myself. So, yeah, I'm pretty cheerful, and I get to play some darts here and there. My local leagues have started up at home, and I'm still playing in the CDC events. I also get to do my job working on commentary, so I get a bit of everything, and it keeps life interesting."

One development that gives Part particular satisfaction is darts’ growing popularity in North America. The US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York draws large crowds of enthusiastic fans every year. Part says it is now clear that interest in the sport is no passing trend.

"I think it's three or four years now that I've been there. With every year we're there, it seems more and more natural. At first, you were just hoping for anything like that in North America, that kind of atmosphere. I guess in the first year or two, you just think, "Well, is it real?" But it certainly is. We've found that out. There really is a genuine love for the game."

The Canadian hopes the event’s success will encourage other organisations to invest more in North American darts. “The fans bring it and support that event, which is definitely what we need in North America. It'd be really nice if that translated into some more CDC-type events featuring North American players. I mean, they've had a lot to offer at the US Masters in any case, so I think they've proven themselves worthy of support and other opportunities. But, yeah, the US Masters has turned out to be a really big launching point for darts in North America."

Part is also encouraged by the standard of players across the continent. Although he is cautious about comparing it with his own early years, he sees the field growing stronger. “I think it's as good as it's been for quite a while, at least. And I'm biased. When I started in the early '90s, there was quite a haul of dart players you'd run into and try to compete against. They all had their own legends, but now we're in a whole new era. I think we're rebuilding that kind of atmosphere where there's definitely a pecking order."

Part notices that whenever he enters a tournament himself. His status as a three-time world champion means opponents are especially motivated to beat him. “I get people's attention with the name tag, and I'm a scalp they want to get. They're wary of me, at the very least, so I have to be pretty sharp to compete with most of these guys.”

The conversation inevitably turned to Luke Littler. The young Englishman suffered a surprise first-round exit at the World Grand Prix, losing to Luke Woodhouse. The defeat sparked plenty of debate about his form, but Part believes results like that are given far too much weight. “Absolutely, you can lose, and anyone can be off their A-game.”

Part pointed to the exceptional performances Littler produced earlier this season at the World Matchplay. “I guess we got that ridiculous Matchplay performance from Luke Littler, averaging 110 every round or whatever. I think that was essentially what it was — a 110 tournament average. But that's not the norm. That's not normal, even for him.”

The Canadian says it is impossible to maintain the same intensity and motivation all the time. That applies even to a talent like Littler. “You only have so much energy, perhaps, to put into this or that. To be truly motivated, play your best and care, you need to manage that energy. I don't think he's going to worry too much about it."

The former world champion sees no reason to doubt Littler’s ability. He expects the Englishman to focus on hitting his best form at the right moments. “I don't think there's any concern about his form or ability. I would say the timing is what's going to be important for him. I would presume the Grand Slam will be important, and definitely the World Championship. If he's right by then, that's all that matters. And I think he's right now. He just had an off game."

Part belongs to the select group of players who saw both Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen at the peak of their powers. That makes his opinion of Littler all the more interesting. Asked how the young Englishman compares with those two greats, Part was full of praise. “I mean, a lot higher, I think, in a way, because he's so young. He's coming through, and he's already done all this.”

According to Part, Littler’s greatest strength lies not only in his scoring or finishing, but above all in his mindset. The Englishman has enjoyed so much success at such a young age that winning has become almost second nature to him. “There's the learning curve. He got it done as a teenager, and possibly even as a pre-teen. It's as though he's been conditioned in his mind to win.”

That, Part believes, makes life particularly difficult for his rivals. While other players have to learn how to handle success and the pressure that comes with it, Littler seems to have few such concerns. “It's a vicious curve for everyone around him who has to compete against him. He just keeps feeding into the idea that he's going to win.”

The way Littler deals with defeat particularly impresses the Canadian. “He's not familiar with losing too much, and he's not worried about losing very much. It just happens once in a while, because he wins so much anyway. It's like this one — it's truly not a bother."

Part even suspects that Littler needs very little time to move on after a disappointment. “I'm sure he just says, 'Okay, well, I'll win a whole bunch more later, and that'll be fine.'"

Part also addressed a debate that regularly resurfaces among darts fans: is the standard at the very top lower today than it was, say, ten years ago?

When Michael van Gerwen, Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright were among the world’s elite, the competition seemed exceptionally strong. Some fans believe the current standard behind Littler and Luke Humphries is less impressive. Part strongly disagrees. “Not at all. No, I think what happens is that you look back and remember all the best moments.”

The Canadian illustrated his point with advice he often gives to up-and-coming players. “Don't worry about your bad visits when you play in a tournament. I say this to new players. People won't remember your bad visits. They'll remember the good stuff. The same goes for your matches. People remember your good matches and good performances much more readily than they'll ever remember when you were just a bum and got thrashed 4-0 in the second round of a World Championship or something."

Part believes the vast amount of information available today plays a major role in shaping perceptions. “We tend to remember all the matches the players are playing now because we're watching them. We have so much more access to every match a dart player plays. They're practically all streamed in one form or another.”

Things were very different in his own day. Part recalls that many ranking tournaments were run by outside organisers, sometimes even at holiday parks. There were no detailed statistics. “When I started, we were playing ranking tournaments run by outside organisations at holiday camps and places like that. There was no DartConnect, no averages and no information on those events.”

That, he says, can wrongly create the impression that players never produced exceptional averages away from televised tournaments. “The only averages we ever got were from television. Some people presume we never produced great averages in opens and things like that, but that would be wrong too."

Part can easily imagine that players posted averages back then that would still impress today. “There was some pretty spectacular darts in those opens, especially over best-of-five-leg matches. I'm sure there were some crazy averages in there, because I'm pretty sure I would have been beaten by somebody hitting three 12-dart legs at some point.”

The Canadian believes the main difference lies in how performances are recorded and reported. Today, almost everything top players do is analysed in detail, while many impressive matches from the past were simply never documented.

"The information stream wasn't there, and even the reporting on it wasn't there. We know so much more now. I think it's under the microscope, and we're too picky. No offence," Part concluded with a wink.