PDC World Darts Championship Review: Wright claims title number two

The 21/22 PDC World Darts Championship is in the books with Peter Wright claiming his second World Championship victory, backing up his 2020 triumph with a 7-5 victory over Michael Smith in the final.

It was a terrific few weeks of action that began with Richie Edhouse’s 3-2 victory over Peter Hudson and culminated in Wright’s brilliant victory in front of a packed Alexandra Palace crowd.

The darts was of high quality and the stories non-stop, so let’s have a greater look at what is now a staple of the festive calendar.

The Champion

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Few would begrudge Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright his victory, except maybe fans of Michael Smith, and the Scotsman hit some serious highs in his bid to reclaim the title.

Wright began the tournament with a comfortable 3-0 win over Ryan Meikle, who made it to the second round for the first time. Australian Damon Heta provided the next obstacle and he gave Wright a big scare, going into a 2-0 lead before the champion rallied to win the next four sets.

Ryan Searle was dispatched with surprising comfort in the fourth round before a fantastic encounter with Callan Rydz. The Geordie was a couple of sets up on two occasions before Wright claimed victory in the deciding set.

Fellow Scot Gary Anderson was laying in wait for the semi-final and it was another for the ages. Wright raced into the lead before the ‘Flying Scotsman’ launched a comeback. Snakebite was always able to keep ahead though and won it 6-4 to advance to the final. In doing so, he broke the record for the most 180’s recorded in a match with 24.

This is where the 51-year-old joined the likes of Anderson, Adrian Lewis and Michael Van Gerwen as a multiple World Champion. Wright earned a 2-0 lead before ‘Bully Boy’ Smith started to perform. The man from Saint Helens went ahead in the seventh set before the pair traded the next two.

At 5-4 in sets and 2-0 down in legs, Wright looked like he was starting to fade and Smith would claim a maiden World title. However, there was to be another twist. Wright found the energy reserves from deep down and raised his game to a staggering level to which Smith had no answer.

One dart at double 16 was all that was needed to leave Wright victorious and Smith disconsolate, meaning a sixth defeat in a major final for the Englishman.

Wright celebrated as all great sportsmen should, with a Pot Noodle and a cup of tea.

Match of the tournament

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There are several candidates here including the aforementioned semi-final between the two Scottish veterans. Gerwyn Price’s 4-3 win over Kim Huybrechts was a nail-biter that the Belgian will rue having missed chances to knock the defending champion out.

Smith’s 4-3 victory over Jonny Clayton in the last 16 will live long in the memory. The Welshman came into the tournament off the back of a great year and went into a 2-0 lead before being pegged back. The duo traded the next two sets before Smith claimed the decider to lay down a marker for the rest of the competition.

The pair hit 25 maximums between them and the fact Clayton lost out with a 102 average tells you all you need to know. It was a shame for the ‘Ferret’ but shouldn’t take away from the exceptional year just gone.

Moment of the tournament

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Three nine-dart finishes were record, the most of any World Championship. Darius Labanauskas and Gerwyn Price made their own personal history but neither could compare to Willie Borland’s in his first round match against Bradley Brooks.

It’s one thing to hit a perfect leg but it’s another thing entirely to hit one in the deciding leg of your first ever match at the World Championship. ‘Ally Pally’ erupted as Borland celebrated jubilantly on stage while Brooks could do nothing but applaud.

Borland may or may not go on to win titles in his career but he has a special moment like that which will remain with him for a lifetime.

His name will go down in the history books as the first player ever to hit a televised nine-darter in a deciding leg.

The fans

Now to something that caused a lot of consternation. The crowd.

Due to Covid restrictions, many of the foreign fans couldn’t make it over for the tournament this year and the mood at times was described like an English football away day.

Those playing against English players were booed at times and the chant of ‘Scotland get battered’ could be heard on numerous occasions, which is quite ironic considering who won the lot on January 3rd.

Price has portrayed a pantomime villain on many occasions but some of the stuff chanted at him left a sour taste and can’t have been nice for his family to hear.

A lot of genuine darts fans were left embarrassed amid calls for the tournament to be moved to other countries in the future. That scenario feels a long way off but the very mention of it should make Barry Hearn take some notice.

Breakout star

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Callan Rydz made it to the quarter final of the World Matchplay in 2021 but few would have predicted him to match that feat in London.

The Newcastle man was making his third appearance on the biggest stage and blitzed the opening three rounds, failing to drop a set before dispatching Alan Soutar in round four.

The 23-year-old gave a great account of himself and pushed Wright all the way in the quarter final before eventually suffering defeat.

Rydz has steadily climbed the rankings over the past three years and it seems unlikely that this will be his only appearance at the bank end of the Worlds.

Biggest disappointment

It’s hard to look past the fact that Michael van Gerwen, Vincent van der Voort and Dave Chisnall had to pull out of the tournament after testing positive for Covid. Van Gerwen hasn’t been at his best this year but has won multiple World titles and can never really be discounted.

It’s a desperate shame for people that build up to this all year only to see their run come to an end due to something that they have very little control over. We should all hope that this is the last year of having to deal with these issues.

There are plenty of major tournaments ahead in the year to come and remember, it’s only 11 months until the best of the lot starts again.

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