For each era of darts, there’s always 3-5 players that are considered fan favourites. For the 2020’s, Michael Smith is one of those players.
‘Bully Boy’ is one of the greatest 180 scorers the game has ever seen and with his smooth, yet rapid throwing action, he’s a delight to watch when in full flow.
Few players can look as smooth and effortless as a Michael Smith on form but he’s not just a “trebles for show” kind of player either.
Smith has had some of the best moments in current PDC memory and in this article we’re going to relive some of his best.
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5) Grand Slam of Darts Win
From 2018-2022, Bully Boy was dangerously close to picking up a reputation of a ‘nearly man’.
This reputation would be shared with other top players like Dave Chisnall and Mervyn King who had countless runner-up positions in PDC majors but no titles to show for it.
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Smith went to eight finals during that five year spell with two of the finals being the World Darts Championships.
To keep falling at the last hurdle was hard viewing for a player clearly so talented but just missing that something needed to take him over the finish line.
That moment finally came during the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts where Smith beat his good friend Nathan Aspinall 16-5 to finally secure a PDC major title and set him on his way to more from then on…
4) Nearly Hits Nine Darter in CONSECUTIVE Legs
With so many nine-darters being hit in the modern game, it’s hard to truly appreciate this perfect leg any more.
At the time of writing this, Andrew Gilding and Vincent Van der Voort both hit a nine-darter in a floor event at the 2024 Players Championship 20. The standard that players are throwing is crazy at the moment.
Therefore, the magic of the nine-darter has faded slightly.
Related – The most MEMORABLE nine-dart finishes of all time
It still has its moments though as Smith proved in the 2023 Premier League. In a match against Jonny Clayton, Smith left himself the D12 for a standard nine-darter but missed by a wire.
This had the crowd going and in the following leg Smith only went and hit back to back 180’s to tee up another opportunity at a nine-darter.
Unfortunately he hit a single 20 on his 7th dart so missed the opportunity again and while he didn’t actually achieve a nine-darter in either leg.
The fact that he had the opportunities though hadn’t been seen before and just demonstrated the excitement he can bring to matches when in full flow.
3) Wins World Cup of Darts for England
His most recent title came at a time when he desperately needed one.
After becoming World Champion in 2023 (more on this later 👀), Smith then went on an absolute barren spell for over a year.
He admitted that he got complacent after winning the World Championship but even with that admission, he had a shocker of a year for a defending world champion!
He could only make it to the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix, all other ranked majors were early exits. This trend continued into 2024 and many fans couldn’t work out how he had dropped off so much in form and seemingly ability.
The biggest burden came when he was selected to represent England alongside Luke Humprhies in the World Cup of Darts.
His PDC Order of Merit rank of 3rd made him eligible to represent England, partnering World Number 1 Luke Humphries.
This was met with fan outrage though because Luke Littler, despite a low position of 24th in the Order of Merit, was by far the in form player having just won the Premier League.
With so much pressure on Smith’s selection combined with his form, it was a relief for darts fans (especially England) to see him raise his game and win the title along with Humphries.
Related – Micael Smith says “pressure is OFF” after World Cup of Darts win
2) Arguably Has the BEST Leg of Darts of All Time!!
After making it to the 2023 World Darts Championship final, Smith and Michael van Gerwen would have one of the best legs of all time.
We mentioned nine-darters not being as magical any more but in the same leg Smith and MVG were BOTH on for nine-darters.
Between the PDC and Sky Sports YouTube channels, this leg has over 5 million views and is one of the most watched moments in darts history!
This had definitely never been done before and after MVG missed the D12, Smith would take the opportunity to win the leg, secure the nine-darter and surely create the momentum needed to go all the way in this final.
He is one of very few players to hit a nine-darter in a World Championship final and this leg would lead to the best moment of his career so far…
1) Wins 2023 World Championship
No surprises for this one.
Michael Smith’s best moment in darts (to date…) is of course winning the 2023 World Darts Championship, achieving the World Number 1 ranking position and cementing his place in darts history.
As we said earlier, Bully Boy was coming dangerously close to being considered a nearly man with so many runners-up placings in PDC major tournaments but the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts was the catalyst he needed to then go on and reach the pinnacle.
Just a few months after his first major win Smith went on to secure the biggest win of his career.
After dispatching the likes of Martin Schindler, Stephen Bunting and Gabriel Clemens, Smith would meet MVG in the final.
It was an epic final with one of the best legs of all time (above) and one in which Smith would come out winning 7-4 against a perennial winner in MVG.
Smith is still relatively young at 33 years old and after finally cracking the elite by winning some major titles, it’s hard to see him not winning more in the near future.
If he puts in performances like those above then we’re sure we’ll be updating this list in a few years to be a ‘top 10’…
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