In sports, there are always favourites.
The top players (or teams) are always expected to win the big titles, and most of the time, they do!
There are, however, times when the underdog does the unexpected. Odds heavily stacked against them, low expectations, yet somehow, they defy the odds.
We love underdog stories and darts is no different.
Over the years, there’ve been several high profile tournaments where we still can’t quite believe who the eventual winner was…
Below is a list of some of the most unexpected title wins in darts, ranked by how unlikely or spectacular they were.
SEE MORE LISTS ON DECENT DARTS
👉 7 darts players who could’ve had better careers ‘IF’ Phil Taylor didn’t exist
👉 7 most UNDERRATED darts players of all time
Darts Players Most Unexpected Title Wins
10) John Part – 2003 PDC World Championship
John Part is a two-time PDC world champion so nothing looks unexpected in hindsight but his first title in 2003 was unexpected.
In 2001, Part made it to the final of the World Championship becoming the first non-english player to reach the final since its inception in 1994.
He met Phil Taylor in his prime though. Taylor would win 7-0 and the following year Taylor would beat Peter Manley in the final 7-0.
From 1995-2002, Phil Taylor won eight consecutive world championships 🤯
This was a prime Taylor just destroying everyone but in 2003, Part finally did the impossible and beat him to win the 2003 World Championship.
He won 7-6 despite Taylor averaging just shy of 100 (99.98) in the final.
Part is a worthy champion but at the time this was a completely unexpected win as everyone was accustomed to Taylor winning it every year, regardless of who he faced!
9) Larry Butler – 1994 World Matchplay
New darts fans reading this will have never even heard of Larry Butler before.
In 1994, the PDC had just formed.
Dennis Priestley won the first ever PDC World Championship and the second ever PDC major event was the inaugural World Matchplay, where Priestley was once again in the final and expected to win.
Instead, the tournament was won by the unseeded Larry Butler in a shock 16-12 win over Priestley in the final.
Larry Butler is the only player from the United States to win a PDC major title and he would only ever play a handful of tournaments in the PDC during his darts career.
In 2016 he would make it to the BDO Winmau World Masters final but outside of dozens of titles in the US, his record in BDO/PDC major tournaments is sparse.
We really don’t know how he won this tournament.
8) Luke Littler – 2024 Premier League
Luke Littler shocked the darting world in 2024 as the 16 year old would make it to the final of the 2024 World Championship.
This was an unreal accomplishment that has forever changed the trajectory of darts.
He didn’t win it though so that’s not why we’re here…
After only just earning his tour card and turning 17, Luke Littler was included in the 2024 Premier League line-up. This completely rattled the darts world with many saying he wasn’t ready to play in it, he hadn’t earned his place, he was too young, etc…
It was a controversial decision for sure.
After week 16, Littler was top of the Premier League table going into the playoffs.
Luke Littler would win the 2024 Premier League, beating world champion and world number one Luke Humphries in the final and his comments post game summed up his ‘undeserved place’ label.
“There were people doubting me when I was selected but now I’ve picked up the trophy. They’re not doubting me anymore!”
At the start of the year no one expected him to be in the Premier League, never mind winning it!
7) Phil Taylor – 1990 BDO World Championship
Phil Taylor & unexpected title.
Doesn’t sound right does it?
In 1990, however, this was legitimately the case.
The greatest darts player of all time was an unseeded 125-1 odds outsider going into his first ever BDO World Championship.
He had made the semi-finals of the World Master the year prior and was being sponsored and mentored by Eric Bristow, the five-time World Champion, so Taylor had potential but the odds demonstrate that he was far from the player we know him as.
1990 changed that though as he would surprise darts fans by beating heavy favourite and mentor, Eric Bristow, 6-1 in the final.
This was Taylor’s first major and world title, the first of an eventual 16. A tally and record unlikely to ever be bested.
See also – 6 RIDICULOUS Phil Taylor records that will never be broken
This was the tournament that would kickstart the rise of a legend and it’s one that he was NEVER expected to win.
6) Rob Cross – 2018 PDC World Championship
In 2018, Rob Cross would make his world championship debut as the 20th seed.
Having only turned professional the previous year, Rob Cross is one of darts greatest underdog stories in general.
The former electrician would beat the likes of Michael Smith, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Micheal van Gerwen on route to the final where he would meet Phil Taylor who was playing his last ever professional match.
This was truly captivating.
A rank outsider or the ultimate ending for Taylor’s career.
Darts fans didn’t know who to support but it would be Rob Cross who would go on to win in convincing fashion beating Taylor 7-2.
Cross is a multiple major winner so this wasn’t a fluke tournament but at the time it was so unexpected and it’s one of darts true underdog stories.
5) Ritchie Edhouse – 2024 European Championship
2024 was the year of the underdog in darts.
We could have added Mike De Decker to his list for his World Grand Prix win but Ritchie Edhouse at the European Championship was the epitome of unexpected titles.
The semi-finalists for this tournament were Luke Woodhouse (ranked 35th), Ritchie Edhouse (ranked 39th), Jermaine Wattimena (ranked 40th) and Danny Noppert (ranked 15th). The average ranking of these four was 32.
That is pretty much unheard of in a major tournament semi-final. Edhouse was a 250-1 outsider for this tournament and despite putting up solid numbers on the ProTour, he’d never won a PDC title.
‘Madhouse’ instantly received a cult-like following with fan pages taking off on X and Facebook.
We said earlier that people love an underdog story and Edhouse really caught the love from darts fans after smashing Jermaine Wattimena 11-3 to lift the title.
4) Glen Durrant – 2020 Premier League
Glen Durrant was a three-time BDO world champion in consecutive years from 2017-2019 whilst lifting several other major titles in the organisation.
Following these performances he’d turn pro in 2019 and had a great debut campaign in the PDC. Semi-finals at the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Grand Slam saw Duzza get a call up to the Premier League in 2020.
In a field that included Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price, Micahel van Gerwen and Gary Anderson, Durrant would defy all expectations but not only topping the Premier League table but also going on to win the playoffs.
Despite several major BDO titles, this was Durrant’s only PDC major title and finals appearance. To this day, Durrant admits that even he doesn’t know how he managed to win the Premier League that year.
When the player that won claims that the title was unexpected then you know it should be ranking highly on a list like this…
3) Andrew Gilding – 2023 UK Open
Darts fans love this one!
Andrew Gilding, also known as Goldfinger, really stunned the darts world in 2023 when he beat HEAVY favourite Micahel van Gerwen to lift the UK Open title.
MVG has won 47 major titles in the PDC, been to 64 finals and has well over 100 professional titles to his name.
Gilding had never won a professional title and to this day, the UK Open is still his only professional darts title in a thirteen year pro career.
His run to the final was fortunate as he avoided many top 16 players but MVG really was like a final boss and most thought this was where the run would come to an end.
People say Gilding had outside odds of 1000/1 before the tournament (though we can’t find any confirmed odds), he shouldn’t have been in the final but the way he would gracefully and methodically approach the oche to triumph over MVG is going to remain one of the best underdog wins in darts history for a long time to come!
2) Scott Waites – 2010 Grand Slam of Darts
Scott Waites is a 2 x BDO World Champion so you might be wondering how he is ranked so high up on this list?
Well, a very common opinion by darts fans is that players who stayed in the BDO to win multiple titles ‘can’t hack it in the PDC’.
Scott Waites is an interesting case study.
The Grand Slam of Darts is a PDC event but they used to invite the best performing players from the BDO to compete until the BDO went into liquidation in 2020.
The tournament is unique in that it’s a double-in, double-out tournament (meaning players need to hit a double to begin scoring and to win the leg) with many feeling it’s one of the most difficult to win.
In 2009, before he was a BDO World Champion, Scott Waites surprised the darts world by making it to the final of the Grand Slam. He came up against a certain Phil Taylor in the final though and took a 16-2 hammering.
The following year he defied the odds to make it to the final again!
This time he went one better beating James Wade to win the tournament.
Waites spent the majority of his prime playing in the BDO and working as a carpenter.
Coming from the BDO and making a major final two years in a row whilst winning one is an upset many didn’t see coming and really showed that there was quality darts players around who just weren’t professional players 🤷🏻♂️
1) Keith Deller – 1983 BDO World Championship
Possibly darts first and greatest underdog story was Keith Deller beating Eric Bristow to win the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship.
On his tournament debut as a qualifier, Deller would beat Jocky Wislon, John Lowe and Eric Bristow to lift the trophy.
This meant he defeated the top three ranked players at the time to win the title with arguably the toughest route to a final we’ve ever seen.
It wasn’t just the run that was legendary, Deller won the tournament with one of the most iconic checkouts in darts history.
Bristow underrated his opponent and instead of attempting a shot at the bull with his opponent back on 138, Bristow set himself for a double on his next throw. The ‘next throw’ never came…
Related – The best ‘when darts players get COMPLACENT’ moments
Deller took out a sensational 138 with T20, T18, D12 to secure one of the biggest upsets in darts history.
Deller could never reach this standard again with a British Professional title being his only other major title in darts, however, the 1983 title will live long in the memory of many darts fans!
READ NEXT
➡️ Darts players then and now (the changing face of darts players)
➡️ Most controversial CHEATING moments in darts