John Part Claims Darts' PDC World Championship Title
2nd January, 2008
John Part has become the fifth man to win a world title more than twice after thrashing Kirk Shepherd 7-2 in the PDC World Championship final.
The Canadian had previously won the BDO title in 1994 and PDC crown in 2003, and in this final raced to a 4-0 lead at Alexandra Palace. The wildcard qualifier Shepherd, playing in his first ever world championship, did hit back to make the score 5-2, including a maximum 160 checkout. Before the final, the bookmakers made Shepherd a 500-1 shot to win the title.
The 41-year-old winner said: "It is unbelievable, absolutely fantastic, I just came over and wanted to have a good performance. I've had a good year in 2007 and I knew I was playing good enough to get far into the tournament but never imagined winning it.” "It is harder when you are older. I was worried as it was getting hot and the fingers were getting slippy. Kirk seemed to be getting confident so I'm happy I closed it out when I did because he could have been a lot of trouble."
Shepherd was gracious in defeat: "I have reached the final of the hardest darts competition in the world and I am so proud of that, I would have liked to have played better but you can't take it away from John, a worthy champion.” "I didn't start off well - at 4-0 down against a player like John it is very hard to get back into it. But I'll be back, this is the start of things."
