/180/ AWARDS FOR 2017

>Player of the Year: Rob Cross
This time last year, Rob Cross was an electrician from Kent who had made a grand total of £12,700 from the PDC circuit following an impressive performance against Michael van Gerwen in the UK Open last 32 and domination of the Challenge Tour, earning him a PDC Tour Card for 2017. In just 10 months, Cross has gone from a darting also-ran to a darting superstar, having won 4 PDC Players Championship events, made 2 European Tour finals, reached the European Championship final and becoming the first player since Kirk Shepherd to reach the World Darts Championship final on debut. The difference is, Cross is infinitely a better player than Karate Kirk will ever be. Cross WILL be a major winner, whether that's today or some time in the future. He has the ability, the temperament, the composure and most importantly of all the bollocks to win one. It says a lot about him when in just 10 months he's achieved more major defeats of Michael van Gerwen than World #2 Peter Wright has ever achieved.

>Best Match of the Year: 2018 Worlds Semi-Final 2 (MvG 5-6 Cross)
Quite possibly the greatest semi-final ever and easily up there with the greatest matches ever seen on the Alexandra Palace stage. This was blow-for-blow action, neither man wanting to surrender and when one broke, the other broke straight back. An incredible final set saw eight missed match darts, six of them from the Dutchman, and it went to a sudden death leg that Cross claimed, all the while played at a 100+ average. It was only let down by the crowd being fucking morons and booing both players on key doubles, but that's the downside of marketing the game to pissheads. Cheers, Bazza.
Other candidates: 2018 Worlds Quarter Final 3 (MvG 5-4 Raymond van Barneveld), all 4 quarter-finals at the UK Open, any match where Taylor lost

>Best Phil Taylor Defeat of the Year: 2017 Grand Slam Semi-Final 2 (MVG 16-8 Taylor)
Following the utter patheticness of Taylor's whinging over Daryl Gurney not pouring him a glass of water and subsequently smashing the shit out of Superchin as a result, it was wonderful to see him get humped by the man he embarrassed at Blackpool earlier in the year. After MVG went mad at 12-8, Taylor told him to stop celebrating to which the response was "Fuck off, cunt." Maybe tonight could top that for sheer hilarity.
Other candidates: any other game where Taylor lost

>Best Individual Performance of the Year: Jamie Lewis, 2018 Worlds Last 32 Match 16 (4-1 v Peter Wright)
You may be surprised at this choice, but it could be the moment Welsh darts got a new star. Young Lewis, who had to qualify via the PDPA qualifier after an awful year on tour, lost the first set but bounced back in incredible style, winning set 2 in 36 darts, edging a tight 3rd and thundering in a 121 on the bull with Wright waiting on 16 to tie it up for a 3-1 lead before rounding out the performance with a comeback in the fifth set. His performances later on in the tournament proved this wasn't a one-off, although his £85,000 will need to be backed up in 2018 if he's to avoid having to go through that route ever again.
Other candidate: Rob Cross, 2018 Worlds Semi-Final 2 (6-5 v MvG)

>Biggest Upset of the Year: Mensur Suljovic winning the Champions League of Darts
This was a remarkably difficult decision to make because there have been so many in 2017. But the incredible maiden major victory for Austria's very own Mensur Suljovic was the winner. He entered the tournament off another strong World Matchplay run, but nobody thought he was in consideration for the title, not even himself! But 3 straight wins in the group stage over Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall followed by a remarkable 160 to beat Raymond van Barneveld in the semifinal set it up for a rematch with Gando, a man known for being unable to cope with Mensur's pace. It proved to be key as Mensur served it home for an 11-8 victory on that beloved D14 to complete one of darts' unlikeliest victories.
Other candidates: Paul Hogan knocking out Gando and Adrian Lewis back-to-back at the UK Open, Steve Hine eliminating Peter Wright from the Players Championship Finals, John Henderson eliminating MVG and RVB at the World Grand Prix, Glen Durrant beating Dave Chisnall at the Grand Slam, Jamie Lewis' entire 2018 Worlds run, Paul & Harith Lim eliminating Gary Anderson & Peter Wright from the World Cup

>Most Hilarious Match/Moment of the Year: 2017 World Series of Darts Last 16 Match 3 (Gerwyn Price 6-5 Corey Cadby)
Take one steroid-abusing former rugby player with a tendency to get involved in arguments and add an arrogant bogan who calls himself "The King" despite having won fucking nothing. What you get is comedy gold between Wales' #1 player and Australia's greatest new talent. Both players were roaring at each other throughout the game and trying to nut each other. The match ended with the Iceman roaring to the crowd while having the most pathetic handshake imaginable with Cadby, who stormed off. It was top cunting.
Other candidates: the 28-dart leg in 2018 Worlds Last 64 Match 27 (Simon Whitlock v Martin Schindler), John Norman Jnr.'s antics at the World Cup, any match where Taylor lost convincingly

>Worst Match(es) of the Year: 2017 Lakeside Worlds Prelim 3 (Roger Janssen 2-3 Mark McGrath), Prelim 6 (Raymond Smith 3-2 Davy van Baelen) AND 2018 Worlds Last 64 Match 28 (Justin Pipe 3-2 Bernie Smith)
Two perfect examples of why making the preliminary round at any World Championship the same length as the first round is a bad idea. In the former, Belgium's Janssen and New Zealand's McGrath managed to both average under 82 over 21 torturous legs in 75 minutes (to compare that to decent players, Joe Cullen and Jermaine Wattimena's 20 leg fixture at the 2018 Worlds took just under half an hour) while the awful pace of Australia's Smith against another Waffle in van Baelen meant they struggled to achieve a mid-80s average in 90 minutes of horrendous play. The last choice has been included not just because of Justin's "cough" when Kiwi Smith was throwing for the match, but in that it took yet another 90 minutes for a 5-set nothing with neither player averaging 90. We all knew Pipe's slow, but this was on another level. At least Taylor raped him the next round for his cunt antics.
Other candidates: 2017 Grand Slam Group F Match 5 (Robbie Green 3-5 Peter Machin), the 2017 World Matchplay final (Taylor 16-8 Wright), any other match where Taylor won

>The "Peter Wright" Award for Most Improved Player: Daryl Gurney
He may be a big-chinned Unionist and an utterly irritating prick with annoying stage antics and a lack of emotion. But this year Daryl Gurney finally made it as a player. He was the only person to make it to the last 8 of every single 2017 major, which saw his ranking shoot up from 24th to 4th. His World Grand Prix victory was well-earned in the end, if helped by both MVG and RVB being taken to town by John Henderson, but crashing out to the same giant Scot at the Worlds in R2 tainted his year.
Other candidates: Darren Webster

>The "John Part" Award for Biggest Disappointment: Adrian Lewis, Dave Chisnall AND James Wade
Two big scorers and one of the most clinical finishers in the game all provided their own share of disappointment in 2017 as their careers have gone on the slide. From Aidey's general disinterest and lack of effort that saw him miss both the European Championship and the Grand Slam to Chizzy's failure to make the last 8 of any major and Wade getting humiliated at the Grand Slam, it's no wonder that between them they won a grand total of 2 events in 2017. It is also no surprise that all 3 failed to make it past the first round of the 2018 Worlds, with Lewis's loss to German qualifier Kevin Münch the most shameful of the lot.

>The "Wayne Mardle" Award for Most Underwhelming Player: Kim Huybrechts
Belgian's #1 got into the Premier League solely on the fact he was the 10th highest ranked eligible player (with Mensur Suljovic rejecting the offer and Robert Thornton and Michael Smith having been relegated). Unsurprisingly, the world #12 struggled to cope with the PL, becoming the first player in its history to fail to win a match. This has been compounded by a remarkably terrible TV streak; since losing to Alan Norris in the UK Open quarter-finals, the Hurricane has failed to win any match in a ranking major. For someone who has floated around the top 16 for the past few years, to not win a single ranking TV game in 9 months is bewildering.

>The "Andy Fordham" Award for Biggest Comeback: Simon Whitlock
After a disappointing 2016 that saw him reach just a single major quarter-final and drop out of the top 16, Australia's #1 finally recaptured some of his best form with quarter-final runs in both the UK Open and the European Championship with the small matter of a World Grand Prix final in between to get back to the top 10. Unfortunately for the Wizard, his behaviour towards Berry van Peer during the Grand Slam of Darts damaged his reputation and his 2017 never really recovered, exiting the PCFs and the Worlds at the last 32 stage.

>The "Leisure Centre" Award for Biggest Floor Jobber: Joe Cullen
The Rockstar finally lived up to his eternal billing as a "future World Champion" by claiming his first ever ranking titles this year with two of them. That aside, he has gone barely anywhere in the majors, with runs to the last 16 in both the UK Open and World Grand Prix his furthest ventures in the tournaments that matter. His last 64 Players Championship Finals and 2018 Worlds exits at the hands of Jamie Caven and Jermaine Wattimena saw him blow multiple match darts in both games; anything resembling a run to a major final is still a long way off for the former postman.
Other candidates: Ian White, Jonny Clayton

>The "Kirk Shepherd" Award for Biggest Breakthrough: Rob Cross
See the first entry of this entire list. It couldn't have been anyone else.

>The "Rob Cross" Award for Biggest Breakthrough (of someone not named Rob Cross): Dimitri Van den Bergh
The dancing Belgian didn't have a promising start to the year in the "big leagues", not qualifying for the UK Open and having little success on the floor. But the 23 year old ripped up the Development Tour, finishing second only to Luke Humphries, and truly made it following a strong World Series of Darts Finals performance where he beat Michael Smith and Raymond van Barneveld to reach the quarter-finals, where he lost to James Wade. A 6-2 thrashing of Josh Payne in the World Youth Championship final boosted Dimitri's confidence and after defeating Stephen Bunting, Jan Dekker and most impressively of all Mensur Suljovic at Alexandra Palace, went out to Rob Cross in a sensational quarter-final that saw the Belgian recover from 4-1 down to take it to a deciding set. More like that on the floor and Dimitri will be rocketing up the rankings.
Other candidates: Kyle Anderson, Diogo Portela, Cameron Menzies, Martin Schindler

>The "Erik Clarys" Award for Quickest Career Implosion: Jamie Caven
Jabba suffered a notable collapse from being World #30 before the 2017 Worlds to only making 2 majors in the 2017, compared to 5 in 2016, and fell out of the top 40 players in the world. Given the one-eyed stage jobber's notoriety for being absolute rubbish on TV, maybe it's best that he never appears on a big stage again.
Other candidate: Andy Hamilton and Wes Newton (for both losing their Tour Cards two years after being Worlds seeds)

>The "Peter Manley" Award for Worst Usage of Stage Tactics: Justin Pipe
Players being put off missing doubles by the crowd booing them has unfortunately become a regular occurrence in TV darts. Players putting off other players by coughing right next to them on match darts though? Well for The Force, he raised his cunt level to maximum in the 2018 Worlds last 64 by having the temerity to not just put off his opponent on a match winning D10 via the Charles Ingram / Tecwen Whittock method, but to do this to Kiwi qualifier Bernie Smith, a complete no-one in the world of darts who nevertheless posed a big threat to him, was downright sad and shows how far his ability has depreciated. His blatant lie afterwards that he didn't mean it was greeted with a mass of boos in his round 2 game with Phil Taylor who promptly bummed him. The day Pipe is never a threat to TV screens will be a joyous one.
Other candidate: Phil Taylor in everything

>The "Delusional Fuckwit" Award for Biggest No-Hoper: Wayne Mardle (for his bizarre 2018 Worlds predictions)
Hawaii 5or1 managed to outdo himself in the idiocy stakes this year by having a near-complete horror show of Worlds predictions. He thought that Daryl Gurney would struggle against Ronny Huybrechts (it ended 3-1 with Chin averaging well over a ton), Kim Huybrechts would make the semi-final despite not having won a ranking TV match since March (he lost 3-0 to James Richardson in R1), Michael Smith would make the other semi despite having only ever made 1 before (he didn't even get to the last 16) Gary Anderson wouldn't win 3-0 against Jeff Smith or Luke Humphries (he did quite easily in fact) and that he would beat Phil Taylor (nope). The only thing he even got close to getting right was saying Rob Cross would make it to the semi-final and that Jelle Klaasen and Stephen Bunting would have difficult round 1 ties.
Other candidate: the BDO (for genuinely thinking they haven't been overtaken by the PDC and calling Lakeside "the World's Biggest Darts Tournament")

>The "Terry & Tony" Award for Biggest Bottle Job: Peter Wright in the 2017 Premier League Final
Oh Peter. Picture the scene: you have never beaten Michael van Gerwen in a major. Your only major win is tainted by the fact he wasn't there. You are 10-9 up against the MVG throw in a race to 11 to win. You get down to a single dart finish with your opponent nowhere near. What you DON'T do is shit yourself so badly you miss SIX match darts to finally beat him and then completely collapse, not getting another dart at double in the match. This was pocketing of the highest order and it is hard to wonder if Wright will ever again come this close to breaking that MVG hoodoo.
Other candidates: Gary Anderson losing from 13-7 in a race to 16 against Wright in the 2017 Grand Slam of Darts semi, Paul Hogan losing from 3-0 in sets and 2-0 in legs against Glen Durrant in the 2017 Lakeside Last 16, Kyle Anderson missing 2 darts to beat MVG in the 2017 European Championship semi-final, MVG missing 6 darts to defeat Rob Cross in the 2018 Worlds semi, Wright gifting his walk-on privilege away in the World Matchplay final and being raped senseless by Taylor

>The "Should Have Been At Lakeside" Award for Worst Performance of the Year: Christian Kist at the 2017 European Championship
This was awful viewing, as the Lipstick's recurring arthritis struck at the worst possible moment against compatriot Jelle Klaasen. Kist's darts were weak and lifeless as he could only muster an average of 64.35 and unsurprisingly didn't even get near a finishing attempt.
Other candidate: Alan Norris against Simon Whitlock at the same tournament (where he managed to average under 90 and failed to win a single leg in a first to 10), Mark McGeeney, Jamie Hughes and Peter Machin's Grand Slam showings

>The "Rune David" Award for Worst Dart(s) Thrown: Dart 9 of Paul Lim's "9 darter" against Gary Anderson
No description, just a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxJ8Sdk1uuU
Other candidate: Paul Hogan busting 16 with his 4th match dart against Glen Durrant at 2017 Lakeside by pulling it into D16 and eventually losing the match

>The "Ronnie Baxter" Award for Biggest Failure of the Year: The British Darts Organisation
It just had to be them again, didn't it? 2017's Lakeside managed to be slightly better than 2016 but from then on it went to shit again, with the World Darts Trophy ending up being played in front of barely anyone at Barry Arts Centre in that darting hotbed known as Wales, broadcasted on nothing channel Frontrunner and won by complete Aussie nobody Peter Machin. The Winmau World Masters' status as the oldest darts major there is was relegated to a midweek piss-up in Bridlington that ended up with PDC #84 Krzysztof Ratajski blitzing the field and then telling the BDO to fuck off with any Lakeside invites as he was going to play at Alexandra Palace. As Barry Hearn said in a recent interview about the BDO rejecting his £1m offer in 2009: "I will fuck you within every inch of your life." Based on what's happened this year, both the PDC and the BDO themselves are doing it.

Other candidates: the big screens and stage lights at Ally Pally, Paul Nicholson failing to do anything on his comeback apart from being raped on live TV by Michael van Gerwen, the complete pointlessness of women's darts, Unicorn boards for still being total shit

and finally...
>The Moment of the Year: the final leg of Berry van Peer v Cameron Menzies at the Grand Slam of Darts
2016 World Youth Championship runner-up van Peer unfortunately contracted dartitis during the summer, and it flared up big time in the Grand Slam of Darts. After rejecting the PDC's offer of a withdrawal, his last match was against BDO representative Cameron Menzies in a straight shoot-out to decide who went through. This incredible final leg was played: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6978t3