We’re used to seeing some truly unbelievable finishes in darts.
Players hitting a high checkout when trailing and completely turning the match around.
The top players perform when it matters most, that’s kind of what is required to be the best.
Sometimes though, players can fumble on the biggest stage.
It doesn’t matter if you’re ranked number 1 or unseeded, male or female, 10 year pro or a debut player… There have been moments where players have completely choked and blew an opportunity.
These moments are very rare to see though. We might miss 30 darts at D1 but it’s usually rare for a pro to miss more than 3 darts at a checkout.
Therefore we’ve compiled a list of the biggest choke moments in darts.
Moments where a player just completely bottles it and trust us, there are some serious bottle jobs on this list… 👀
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6 Biggest CHOKE Moments In Darts History
Michael Smith Misses 3 Match Darts for First Major Title
Between 2018 and 2022, Michael Smith finished runner-up in 8 PDC major finals. He was quickly developing a reputation as a nearly man.
While he would eventually win the Grand Slam of Darts in 2022 and the World Championship in 2023, his match against Peter Wright in the 2020 Masters was a serious choke moment for Smith.
Like we say, he was building a reputation as a nearly man and in the final of this competition, he was tied 10-10 in legs with Wright in a game that was first to 11.
Smith was first to the double with 40 remaining (against the throw) but threw a no score, single 20, and no score to give Peter Wright the opportunity to snatch it.
Wright didn’t let him off.
He missed the first two darts at the D16 and you could feel the pressure but his 3rd dart was in and Smith was left to rue the missed opportunity at his first major title.
Jan Van der Rassel Has Most Missed Darts In a PDC World Championship
In 2006, Jan Van der Rassel surprisingly beat Steve Beaton in the opening round of the PDC World Championship as a qualifier.
That takes some steel to beat a player of Beaton’s experience and quality.
Surely Jan must have a solid mindset when it comes to the big occasion?
Well…
In the next round he faced US debutant John Kuczynski
In the deciding set, Jan went 2-1 up on legs but missed 2 match darts at the double. It went to sudden death and both players ended up on 5-5.
Jan would miss 9 attempts to win the match and ultimately lost, meaning his 11 total missed match darts in this game are a PDC World Championship record.
Not the kind of record you want as a professional player!
James Wade 2012 World Championship Semi-final (Breeze Incident)
In a match where Adrian Lewis was not happy about a breeze and wouldn’t return from a break until it was sorted, this was maybe not the main talking point.
James Wade is widely regarded as the best player to never win a World Championship and this was the best opportunity he ever had.
Andy Hamilton was already through to the final (not Taylor, Anderson or MVG) and Wade was beating Lewis 5 sets to 2 with a match dart at D18. He missed and the game changed.
Lewis caught form, Wade was missing doubles, busting finishes and even hit an accidental D17 when a single would have left him a finish.
It wasn’t so much one shot that was a choke in this game but a sequence of legs and sets for James Wade.
Also, don’t be confused by the clip above. This isn’t Wade choking, It’s Adrian Lewis doing the opposite.
He came from behind, got to a finish and didn’t mess around, 161 checkout to go on to the final.
That’s how it’s done!
Mervyn King Misses MULTIPLE Darts to Win First PDC Major
James Wade appears again but this time to benefit from another player choking on the big occasion, this time it was unfortunately Mervyn King.
Remember earlier we said Michael Smith was in danger of becoming a nearly man, well, King has that unfortunate title (at least it’s a title though 👀).
He has many major titles in the BDO but in the PDC he has 7 runner-up places but no titles. Dave Chisnall is the only other player to have a similar accolade card with 6 PDC runner-up finishes (and no titles).
The 2014 Masters final is considered to be one of the best comebacks in a major final as Wade fought back from 9-2 down to win 11-10 with an amazing 135 checkout to win.
King missed 7 chances to win the match. There was little pressure from Wade for the doubles so we can only imagine he put himself under a tonne of pressure to win his first PDC major…
King was fuming at Wade’s celebration after winning as we see him mouthing the words “really?”.
Most feel King’s reaction is in poor taste though and not the celebration. Wade had an epic comeback, King blew his chance and he knew it…
Peter Wright Misses 6 Straight Match Darts in Premier League Final
Between 2014 and 2019, Peter Wright faced Michael van Gerwen in 9 PDC major finals and lost every single one of them.
** In 2020 he’d make up for that by beating MVG to claim the 2020 World Championship.
MVG was dominant during this time, however, there was one occasion where Wright was 100% guilty of choking on the big stage. The 2017 Premier League Final.
Peter Wright was leading 10-9, first to 11 legs and got down to D16 first while MVG was still back on 92.
This was it, Wright’s moment.
He missed three darts at the D16 and you could feel the pressure.
MVG didn’t capitalise though and Wright had an unlikely second chance.
He missed again and MVG went on to win.
After missing those darts you could see how deflated Wright was. Mentally he’d checked out knowing he’d just missed the best opportunity he’d get.
This is up there with one of the biggest misses in recent memory.
Anastasia Dobromyslova 2016 BDO World Championship
Anastasia Dobromyslova is the 3rd most successful women’s player in the BDO World Championships.
She has three finals wins and a runners-up placement (trailing Lisa Ashton and Trina Gulliver).
Coming into the tournament she was the 5th seed and faced Anca Zijlstra in the first round.
Anastasia came from behind to make it 1-1 on sets and had a 2 leg lead so she was playing for the match.
She missed a single dart at D20 to win, only for Anca to take out a 122 finish (T18, 18, Bull).
Anastasia then missed 7 darts to checkout in the next leg and Anca made it 2-2 on legs to go into a decider.
Both players eventually ended up on D1.
The pro’s make it look so easy with their 40% checkout rates but seeing two players on D1 is the most relatable thing for an amateur darts players 🫣
Anastasia would miss a total of 10 match darts this leg to lose the match.
In total, Anastasia missed 18 match darts to beat Anca in what ended up being both the biggest choke and biggest upset in BDO Women’s history. There’s also an argument for the biggest choke of all time.
What Next
See, even the best can choke when the pressure is on.
It’s rare but we managed to find as many of the BIG choking moments that we could, when you’re missing match darts to win a major then you know it’s a choke…
Do you think we’ve missed any?
Let us know in the comments below if there’s any bigger chokes and we’ll come back with a part II 👇
Read more: The 9 GREATEST darts matches of all time