"I couldn’t believe he was human!" 😲 Devon Petersen recalls the first time he saw Phil Taylor in the flesh in South Africa ⚡️ #LoveTheDarts
"It looked like he was floating not walking!" - Devon Petersen recalls magical first meeting with Phil Taylor
PDCTuesday, 24 September 2024 at 19:00
Devon Petersen was active on the PDC Pro Tour from 2011 to 2023. However, he lost his Tour Card late last year. During his time on tour though, the South African managed to collect a number of memorable moments.
On the latest episode of the 'Love the Darts' podcast for Sky Sports, Petersen recalled his first ever meeting with the greatest of all time, Phil Taylor. "All of our experience of these pros was through VHS cassettes. The likes of Andy Fordham, Kevin Painter, Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow... all of them," Petersen begins. "When they came over to South Africa, it was the biggest thing. It was like seeing the biggest celebrities!"
"When I saw Phil Taylor for the first time, I couldn't even believe he was human. To me, it looked like he was floating not walking!" Petersen laughs warmly. "That was when he was really at his peak at that time as well. It was just fantastic and ground breaking for me. I realised my dream in reality really. When they started coming more often, it then became my biggest goal to actually qualify and play on the world stage."
Devon Petersen with his signature dance before every game
So far in his career, Petersen has made it to the biggest stage in darts on nine separate occasions, three times reaching the last 16 stage in 2014, 2019 and 2021 respectively. "When people used to ask me 'what do you want to be?' I always used to say graphic designer from a creative perspective. But when it came to darts, I wanted to be a professional. People would laugh! It just wasn't heard of in South Africa.
Petersen went to Q-School in 2011 and captured his PDC Tour Card there. "The year before that in 2010 was my greatest year locally. I won African titles and it was almost my graduation because if you don't do that, are you able to go over and be confident that you can compete at the highest level," he concludes. "I told my Dad my plans and he didn't think I was serious. I said I'm going to win the World Championship qualifier and then go over and become a pro. It was almost manifesting in that way."
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