Michael Smith has fallen to 19th in the PDC Order of Merit and after announcing that he is suffering from arthritis in his hand, another stat is showing how difficult it will be for the St Helens player to stop the drop.
From 2018 – 2022, Michael Smith would make it to eight PDC major finals, and finish runner-up on each occasion, putting him firmly in the category of one of darts best ever ‘nearly men’.
See also – Best players to never win a major title
He would finally make it over the line and win the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts title.
This gave him the momentum and confidence boost to go on and win the 2023 World Darts Championship.
Bully Boy has one of the smoothest throws in darts and when he’s on form, not only is he a joy to watch but he’s capable of beating anyone.
Unfortunately, since winning the World Championship two years ago, Smith has been on a gradual downfall that has sped up in recent months…
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Michael Smith’s Ranking Drops
After winning the World Championship, Smith admitted he “took too much time off”, feeling that he’d reached his main career milestone.
He played just 16/30 Players Championship events on the ProTour in 2023, and didn’t make it to the final of any ranked or non-ranked PDC major events.
This form continued into 2024.
He was runner-up in the World Series Finals, made it to finals night of the Premier League, and would win the World Cup of Darts alongside England partner and world number one, Luke Humphries.
Very respectable results and signs of Smith being back to his best. The issue however was that these were big results in non-ranked tournaments.
His ranked major results read – 4R, 2R, 5R, SF, 1R, 2R, RR, 2R.
This was a year where Smith was defending the Grand Slam and World Championship prize money.
Going into the 2025 World Championship, Smith faced the prospect of dropping out of the top 16 in the Order of Merit.
Something he was well aware of, with media interviews asking him about his “defense of a king’s ransom” in ranking money.
A loss in his first game (second round) would secure that fate and a first round exit at the 2025 Winmau World Masters means that Smith currently sits joint 19th in the OoM.
His recent form also suggests that he WON’T be looking to break the top 16 but faces further drops…
Michael Smith has Lost NINE of his Last TEN Matches
In the last four months, Michael Smith has now only won one of his last ten matches, highlighting just how much he is struggling at the moment.
His form going back to the 2024 Grand Slam in November reads – LLWLLLLLLL
As mentioned at the top of this article, Smith has come out to talk about struggling with arthritis but it’s not just on the big stage that he’s finding it hard to pick up results.
Smith has lost in the first round of the first four Players Championship events of 2025.
To climb back up the rankings Smith needs results on the ProTour and in the big tournaments, but he is finding neither at the moment.
Michael Smith is a recent World Champion, there’s no denying that he has the track record and ability to win a major(s) and climb back up the rankings.
With recent changes to the Euro Tour and increased competition between players ranked 16-32 though, Smith is going to find it very difficult to climb back up to a position of the sports elites.
Hopefully his fortunes can turn around because this is looking like one of the most tragic downfalls we’ve seen in darts! 😞
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