(VIDEO) PDC World Darts Championship Memories: Kirk Shepherd’s Fairytale Run

The 2008 PDC World Darts Championship was always going to go down in history. It was the first time the venue now synonymous with the festive darting extravaganza, the Alexandra Palace, held the event. However, it soon became apparent that the change in venue was soon to become just a footnote in the real story of the tournament...

Going into the event it’s fair to say even the most devout darts fans wouldn’t have known all that much about the 1000/1 outsider known as “The Martial Dartist”, Kirk Shepherd. A winner of the Winmau World Youth Masters in 2003 and a 2-time BDO young player of the year, Shepherd had only qualified for the event by winning 5 straight matches in the final, last chance saloon qualifier the previous month.

When the draw for the tournament was made the standout first-round tie was the then 13-time World Champion Phil Taylor vs the future 3-time champ Michael van Gerwen. Kirk Shepherd was given a tough draw, up against the no4 seed Terry Jenkins. Jenkins who had reached 3 major tv finals during the previous 12 months and despite losing all 3 (to Phil Taylor in the 2007 Premier League Final, Raymond van Barneveld in the Desert Classic Final and James Wade in the World Matchplay final), “the Bull” was fancied by many to have another deep run. However in a sign of things to come it didn't turn out that way as Jenkins missed 7 match darts before Shepherd snatched victory by 3 sets to 2.

Next up was the experienced, 29th seed Irishman, Mick McGowan and for the 2nd time in successive matches, Shepherd managed to survive match darts before sneaking through. McGowan passed up 4 opportunities to seal his spot in the next round with the 21-year-old Englishman winning it in a tie break 4-3.

The 3rd round saw the tournament begin to open up, reigning and defending World Darts Champion Raymond van Barneveld lost his hold on the title after he fell to a 4-2 defeat to Kevin Painter. Shepherd meanwhile faced up against Welshman Barrie Bates. A former UK Open finalist Bates was ranked 13th in the world and like Shepherd was breaking new ground by reaching the last 16 for the 1st time in his career. However, much like Jenkins and McGowan before him Bates was left rueing double trouble at vital times, missing 3 set darts to go 2-1 up before blowing another 4 to take a 3-2 lead with Shepherd eventually running out a 4 sets to 2 winner.

“One Dart” Peter Manley was the man who stood between the previously unknown Kirk Shepherd and a spot in the final 4 of the PDC World Championship. Manley was known as “One Dart” for his tendency to only need a single arrow when throwing at a double and with a big part of Shepherd's run being down to opposition players missing crucial doubles, it was on paper at least, all perfectly set up for this to be the end of the road for Shepherd.

The best thing about sport however is the fact that nothing is won on paper and on Saturday 29th of December 2007 Kirk Shepherd showed this once more. “One Dart” proved to be a misnomer as Manley let 2 match darts come and go with Shepherd showing nerves of steel yet again and picking up another shock win 5-4.

Indeed it was turning into a tournament of shock results as crowd favourite Wayne Mardle came from 3-0 down to win 5-4 against Phil Taylor. This meant that for the first time in the PDC World Darts Championships' 15-year history, Taylor would not be in the final. Instead, it would be Mardle and Shepherd left to battle it out for a maiden World Final appearance. Despite Mardle being the heavy favourite after his exploits in the previous round it was Shepherd who started the better of the 2, racing into an early 3-1 lead. Mardle would fight back however and start to take control of the tie with a 4-3 advantage.

But Shepherd wasn't ready for this fairytale run to end, he came roaring back and reeled off the final 3 sets winning by 6 sets to 4 and becoming the first qualifier and youngest man ever to reach a PDC World Championship Final. Mardle later said of the match "Everything you need to be in a world final, I lacked in abundance, apart from ability. You don't reach five World Championship semi-finals without being good enough. My attitude stunk."

And so it was that this 21-year-old bricklayer had reached the World Championship Final, beating the world number four, a 3-time former world finalist and beating the first man to knock out Phil Taylor before the final, guaranteeing himself at least £50,000 in the process. His opponent? A 2 time former World Champ, the Canadian “Darth Maple” John Part. Sadly for Shepherd, it was to end up being one step too far. Part ruthlessly dispatched Shepherd by 7 sets to 2, becoming the first man in history to win a World Darts Title in 3 different venues having won the 1994 BDO World Championship at the Lakeside, the 2003 PDC title at the Circus Tavern and in 2008 at Alexandra Palace.

Even sadder for Shepherd and his new legion of supporters was that this was as good as it ever got for him, now aged 36 he has failed to qualify for a World Championship since 2011 and at the start of 2022 handed in his tour card, effectively retiring due to problems with dartitis.

Speaking to “The Darts Show Podcast” in 2019 Shepherd said of the whole experience “In a way, I wish I had never done it. I felt I had to try and live up to those expectations.”

Whatever happens from now until the end of time however Kirk Shepherd will be able to call himself a World Darts Championship Finalist and nothing will ever be able to take that away from him.