Nicholson lists his top five players who have never won a PDC major

Paul Nicholson released a column last May for Sporting Life which sees him list his top five players never to have won a major, since then only one player has come close multiple times to breaking that.

Nicholson begins with Terry Jenkins who has always been known as the nearly man in darts.

“Jenkins was able to play top level darts for many years despite it often being said that the game was ‘just’ a hobby. So as a hobby player, he’s probably the best ever,” said Nicholson to Sporting Life.

“From around 2006 to 2012 there weren’t too many better players than him in the world and he was still able to reach two more major finals after his peak years in 2014.”

“Terry was such a good player. He could beat the best players with sheer brilliance and also had a rare deadly style which allowed him to sneak darts over the top and underneath – very much like Martin Adams. He was also a workhorse who travelled the world over to compete and that’s why he had so many ranking points and earned so much money away from his other ventures.”

“For such a popular player like Terry was, the crowd would have dearly loved him to win any of the finals he reached.”

King misses another chance at The Masters

For Mervyn King who is next on the list, this is very much in the periphery after defeat to Jonny Clayton this past weekend in the final of The Masters.

“When we talk about natural talent, being a workhorse and longevity, then Mervyn has to be right near the top of the list.”

“Although the 2014 Masters against Wade went to a deciding leg, his best chance to win one of the most high-profile majors was the 2012 World Grand Prix.

Obviously there were things said about the crowd when they turned on him a little bit in that final and started to support Michael van Gerwen, but until that point he had been the best player in the tournament.”

“It was on a plate for him but it just seemed to go awry for him in those closing stages.”

Ian White is next on the list despite never having reached a major final which is a surprise in itself for Nicholson.

“He may not have reached a major final yet – which is flummoxing enough - but he’s won so many non-televised titles, particularly over the past few years, that he has to be included in this list.

We all want him to get that extra distance to see what he’s made of in a major televised final. However, he’s just one of those players who seems to have a huge barrier up when it really matters.”

St Helens duo round off list

Michael Smith is next up who among other finals has lost in two of the biggest in the World Championship and Premier League previously.

“He has an abundance of ability and talent so if he was able to improve 5% in his mental game then I have no doubts he’ll go on and win multiple majors in his career.”

“I’d never accuse Smith of being too much of a thinker during his visits but when you’re on the stage, the throwing is only 20% of what you do. The rest is what you’re not doing at the back of stage and that’s where I think he shows too much negativity during the times he’s not playing as well.”

Then it is the turn of Dave Chisnall who Nicholson believes has been affected by playing two players in particular in finals.

“Whenever he’s reached a final one of those two greats are waiting for him!

He met both in his two World Grand Prix finals in 2013 and 2019, Taylor in the 2014 Grand Slam while he lost out to MVG in the 2016 Masters and Players Championship Finals of the same year.”

“From a talent and average perspective, Dave has shown as much as Taylor and van Gerwen throughout his career and he can out 180 anyone in the world – so I find it flabbergasting that he’s not won a major yet.

Maybe it’s just that extra 0.5% of belief he needs to finally break that door down.

I still think there’s something huge waiting for him in his career – he’s way too good not to win a trophy.”