Gary Anderson is the champion of the world!
One of the best players of the modern era.
by Stuart Pyke
And he finally fulfilled his darting destiny on Sunday January 4, 2015 when he realised his dream of winning the World Championship. The Scot victorious in one of the best ever World finals, beating Phil Taylor by 7 sets to 6."Unbelievable" was Gary's verdict! One of the most popular ever World Champions, there is no doubt that he thoroughly deserved his historic triumph. The best player, the right winner, a fabulous achievement.
"I always believed I would be World Champion, even in the dark days," he said. "It was what my career in darts has been all about."
And he won it in style as he brushed aside the 2014 World Champion Michael van Gerwen with a breathtaking performance in the semi-finals, then held his nerve to win a thrilling deciding set against Taylor.
The Team Unicorn star had done it the hard way! Anderson also silenced the critics who doubted he had the game or the temperament to win. How wrong they were!
"It is extra special and always will be because I beat Van Gerwen and Taylor to win it. There aren't many who can say that!"
His spectacular victory at the Alexandra Palace capped a remarkable year. He won seven big tournaments on the PDC Pro Tour and then won another TV 'Major' when he claimed the prestigious Players Championship in Minehead. But the holy grail had passed him by until that memorable night when he took out Taylor to be crowned World Champion.
A cheque for 250,000 pound saw Anderson back to No.3 in the world rankings. It was a brave and courageous turn around. Gary's career had hit the rails in 2013 after the sad loss of both his father and brother.....darts was the last thing on his mind. He dropped out of the top 16 and it looked like he would never get the chance to achieve his destiny.
But a heartbreaking defeat to eventual champion Van Gerwen at the 2014 World Championship changed everything. He was 3-1 up and lost 4-3. The normally laid back Scot was red with rage. It was THE turning point. It was the day everything changed. It was the moment you can say Anderson stepped on the path to winning the World Championship.
Unicorn developed some new darts. The first weekend that Gary played with them at the start of February 2014, he won the German Darts Championship, beating Justin Pipe in the final. It was the start of what turned out to be a quite incredible year. Six more Pro Tour titles followed.
He went to the Ally Pally in the form of his life having just won his second PDC 'Major'. Gary put down a huge marker by sweeping aside the field in one fantastic weekend in Minehead to win the Players Championship Finals. Those seven Pro Tour victories in 2014 saw him head to the tournament as the No.1 seed but in a twist of tungsten fate, he was handed the toughest possible draw.
Anderson had to average 106 to beat Dutchman Christian Kist 6-5 in the 1st Round! Then it was Stephen Bunting standing in his way, but another virtuoso performance saw Gary win 10-5. But arguably his best display came in the quarter-finals when he finally beat Taylor again in a TV 'Major' knock-out tournament. He was brilliant winning 10-6. Little were we to know it at the time, but it was one of the keys to him winning the World Championship Final.
The Scot beat Vincent van der Voort 11-7 in the semi-finals and was too good for Adrian Lewis in the final.....an 11-6 victory to see him crowned Players Champion.
It certainly made him battle hardened heading for the biggest stage and the biggest tournament in the world of darts where ultimately he stood tall and proved that he was the very best in the business.
His victory at Minehead had seen Anderson elevated to No.4 seed for the Alexandra Palace. He made his customary nervy start, beating American Scott Kirchner 3-1 with an 85 average, but Anderson grew in confidence and stature.
In round two he came up against in-form Dutch ace Jelle Klaasen and in truth the Unicorn star produced one of the best performances of the year to win. He was three sets to one down and 2 legs to 1 behind.....Klaasen was sat on 89 for the match but Gary came up with a superb 84 finish on the bull to stay alive. It changed everything! He stormed back to make it 3-3 and in the deciding set, Anderson was unplayable....12 darter, 12 darter with a 126 finish and 11 darter including two 180s to complete a sensational fightback.
After that, you really did start to believe that this was Anderson's time.
Convincing wins against Spanish qualifier Cristo Reyes and former Allay Pally finalist Peter Wright followed to set up that semi-final showdown against Van Gerwen. After the World Championship defeat the previous year and an agonising last leg defeat to the Dutch star in the 2014 Premier League semi-finals, it was all the motivation Anderson needed. He was the man in form. It was Van Gerwen who should be worried. And so it proved!
There was no way Anderson was going to lose that Saturday night in London. He raced into a three sets to one lead and although Van Gerwen came up with some stunning darts of his own to level, the Scot reeled off three straight sets to book his ticket in the final. A 102 average and 50% on the doubles. He hardly missed 'tops' in the match. So one more big hurdle stood in his way....Phil Taylor
But that terrific win over Taylor only four weeks earlier in Minehead had convinced Anderson that this was his World Championship and he didn't disappoint with a performance laced with class, confidence and courage.
The final lived up to all expectations. Anderson was superb. He held it all together when in the past, by his own admission, he may have capitulated. It was a real nail-biter.
Anderson started well as he established a three sets to one lead. However Taylor stormed back as he won 9 of the next 10 legs to go ahead for the first time in the final at 4-3. The big turning point came in the 8th set when Taylor missed three darts at D12 for a 5-3 advantage. Anderson stepped in to level and found another gear as it was his turn to win three consecutive sets. It was 6-4. He was closing in!
Winning the 9th set was reward for real guts and determination because at the start of the set he lost 180 points on the floor....the third dart going in the T20 but knocking the other darts out. Taylor wasn't finished though and he hit back to take this epic final into a deciding set.
They'd been on stage for nearly three hours. But Gary Anderson saved the best for last. A clinical 72 finish to take the opening leg.....he then broke the Taylor throw and in the next leg the Scot banged in his 19th 180 and he hit the sweetest D12 of his life. He was the champion of the world! He had the Sid Waddell Trophy in his grasp.
That last 180 by the way, took his tournament tally to 64 - a record for the World Championship
"I won't be content with just one!" He said. "I want more TV titles and more success. I play for the enjoyment but I also play to win!"
It was a remarkable achievement rewarded with honours at the glittering PDC AWARDS night at The Dorchester Hotel. Player of the Year by a country mile! It is a hugely different Gary Anderson to the player who joined the PDC ranks in 2009. We had all got a glimpse of how good he was when he reached Grand Slam semi-finals when he was with the British Darts Organisation.
His first PDC 'Major' came in 2011.
After a string of near misses, Anderson finally won a 'Big One', when he was crowned 2011 Premier League Champion on a dramatic night at Wembley.
Gary finished a superb third in the league stage in his first season in the Premier League, but there was no stopping him on finals night at Wembley in May 2011, when he beat Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals, before dismantling Adrian Lewis in the final to win the title and a cheque for 125,000 pound.
He knows he should have won a lot more. Gary has lost finals at the Grand Slam, UK Open and Players Championship to Taylor.....and in that remarkable 2014 he really should have reached two more TV Finals.....the Unicorn man was edged out in the semi-finals at the World Matchplay by Taylor in one of the best games in the history of the tournament, and he lost the World Grand Prix semi-final to James Wade 4-3 after leading 3-1.
Don't forget that Gary is also a member of the exclusive 9 dart club.....players who have hit a 9 darter in a TV 'Major'. He achieved the feat at the 2012 UK Open against Davey Dodds.
He also still holds the record for the number of maximums in a match in the Premier League - hitting 11 in his victory over Simon Whitlock in Birmingham in 2011.
Of course, he was also just edged out by Adrian Lewis in the 2011 World Championship Final.
But Anderson is a rare talent.
Hugely popular with darts fans and one of the sport's great entertainers..his landmark first win with the British Darts Organisation came in 2001 at the Welsh Open and he won dozens of tournaments, including the Gold Cup, British Open, British Classic, the prestigious Zuiderduin Masters twice and the BDO Grand Prix.
But his big breakthrough onto the world stage came in 2007 when Anderson won both the World Darts Trophy and International Darts League - displaying his talents to a big TV audience.
Both victories came in Holland where Anderson was already very popular on the exhibition circuit. He thrashed Taylor by 7 sets to 3 with a 104 average to claim the WDT and he beat Mark Webster at the IDL, after disposing of Adrian Lewis and James Wade in the knock-out stages.
Looking back, Anderson admits he should have switched to the PDC around that time, but the move across the great darting divide in February 2009 wasn't so much a leap of faith but a signal of his intent to play and beat the very best.
And that's exactly what the Scot has done.
Up to and including the World Championship triumph, Anderson had won 22 PDC titles and established himself as one of the best in the business..his biggest disappointment was that World Championship Final in 2011.
"My worst performance of the tournament," was how Anderson described his 7 sets to 5 loss to Adrian Lewis in that great final at the Alexandra Palace.
Anderson levelled the match at five sets apiece, before Lewis claimed the title...the laid back Scot though moved on a long time ago!
"Yes, it was disappointing to lose, but the day after I was already thinking ahead. I don't see the point of musing on any defeat because there is nothing I can do to change the result, so I move on," he said. "That has always been my philosophy and always will be!"
But that is Anderson the man and Anderson the player.
"People say that if I was any more laid back, I would be sleeping!" he joked.
He has never been one for the limelight, preferring to stay in the shadows...but that all changed after his World Championship victory!
At the Ally Pally in 2011, Anderson was recording magic numbers throughout the tournament...he beat Morihiro Hashimoto of Japan, Dennis Priestley, Andy Smith, Raymond van Barneveld and Terry Jenkins en route to the final.
Anderson banged in 58x180s and his tournament average was an incredible 103, with a high of 108.39 against 'The Pie Man'. His lowest average was in the final but even after 12 amazing sets of darts, he averaged 99.41.
He may have missed out in 2011 but his fabulous achievement at the Alexandra Palace to win the 2015 World Championship more than made up for the disappointment.
And his tungsten tale is now one of darting folklore!
Would you believe that Anderson may never have played darts and the first time he picked up a set of 'arrers', he was 24-years-old, living in the Scottish Borders and it was only because he was broke!
He takes up the story: "I would swap anything to knock 20 years off me, so I could start playing darts a bit younger!" "But it's true..I only started playing because I was skint! I was always into golf, snooker and pool but it was too expensive for me. I was at a caravan park, which my mate's dad owned and I didn't have a £1 coin to put in the pool table. There was a dart board on the site, so I picked up these old looking darts and had a throw."
Anderson continued: "I couldn't believe what happened but my first nine darts were 140, 180 and 140 and that was that. I guess there was no going back. But it was pure chance and the way I threw the darts all those years ago at the caravan park, is exactly the way that I throw them today!"
He then started to play in the local leagues and started winning tournaments with prize money of 1,000 pound and 500 pound. Anderson graduated to Super League with Mussleborough and then County darts with East Lothian and East Stirlingshire.
The journey had well and truly started for Gary Anderson.
He qualified for his first Lakeside World Championship in 2000 and although he never had the best of luck at the BDO World Championship, his best performance came in 2003 when he lost in the semi-finals to Ritchie Davies.
He was actually in a full-time job up until 2005/06...he worked for nearly 20 years at a building company near Edinburgh making marble fireplaces!
Anderson is also putting something back into the sport. He mentors and sponsors the hugely talented Team Unicorn star Michael Smith who is tipped for big things.....under Anderson's guidance, he will surely succeed!
Gary lives in Burnham-on-Sea with partner Rachel and has three sons - Ryan, Joel and now a new baby boy Tai who was born in 2014. That was another pivotal moment in Gary's career. Everything changed for the better and the birth of his third son was both a life-changer and game-changer. The 250,000 pound reward for being crowned World Champion gives his family security.
Gary Anderson World Champion.....hopefully the first of many!
From the Unicorn homepage with kind permission of the author