Best Player Never To Win A World Title?

Spiderpig92

mine would be James Wade, simply based on the number of majors he has won, not to mention 3 World Semi-Finals. Surely has to win it some day though!

mdwexford

Talent wise Id love to see Anderson win one, when hes on song hes in the same league as Lewis, MVG, Taylor and Barney.
No one else is in that bracket imo.

The game is kind of passing Wade by, he wins games mostly by dragging people down these days.
Been a long time since hes been consistently averaging high 90s every match.
Hell of a match player but has to do some work to get his scoring power up to that of the big guns.

Kingp35

Wade would be up there although he's not as good these days. Other notable names are Gary Anderson, Rod Harrington, Ronnie Baxter, Tony O'Shea, Stephen Bunting, Mervyn King, Bobby George, Michael Van Gerwen and Terry Jenkins.

If we are talking about best player never to win a major then it has to be Jenkins. Top class player a few years ago who just kept losing in finals.

Bobby George gotta be the standout.

Though maybe not the best player, more the best known.

Tony O'Shea is another one who has lost a few finals.

Mike Gregory is another contender.

sc86

gary anderson for sure has to be 1
was the best player in 2011 championship, was unlucky to meet lewis on fire
serious talent when on song and if he was on bottom half of this years draw would make final imo

the like of jenkins never hit them heights, yes got to finals but by getting lucky draws, players playing bad again him etc, never a great 100+ player consistantly

wade is defo up there, mayby not in the last year or 2
remember the premier league final again taylor, lost 10-8 and taylor done 2 9 dart finsh
7 time major winner
was 5-1 up again lewis in 2011 before that breeze farce on stage
that was 1 that got away

syngindub

jimmy white

Clonmel1000

How good was Rod Harrington lads?

gramar

Of the current crop it has to be MvG although that is probably a matter of time.

Mervyn probably ain't gonna win one now but at his best he was an excellent player.

No-one has mentioned Manley but he got to 3 finals.

jonnny68

Andy Hamilton I'd say

mackeire

peter wright

The_Kew_Tour

Does Wayne Mardle deserve a mention?

Degag

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Does Wayne Mardle deserve a mention?

IMO, No.

Spiderpig92

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Does Wayne Mardle deserve a mention?

of course, how he didn't make the 08 final is anyones guess. Obviously Shepard played well that year, but Mardle was a top 5 player make then and should have had enough. Would have fancied him to beat Part had he won that match. Suppose he was another victim of beating Phil Taylor early on in the worlds. Same thing happened to Smith this year, Chizzy and Webster in previous years. Thought they had the hard work done beating Phil and then going out in the next round or 2. Fair point about Mardle, could have won one or 2 titles had he won a couple of those 5 semi-finals

mdwexford

Mardle was my fav player before he retired, anyone who got to 5 semis definitely deserves a mention especially with some of the other names being mentioned here.

Was never consistent enough but on his day he was top drawer.

StephenHendry

James Wade
Simon Whitlock
Gary anderson
mike gregory
tony o'shea
bobby george
alan evans

death1234567

Clonmel1000 wrote: »

How good was Rod Harrington lads?

He was a good player. Won the matchplay twice and was one of the better players in the world at his peak. I think he had knee problems and the way he used to land darts in the board meant that he had alot of bouce outs on the new harder dartboards.

gpat14

jonnny68 wrote: »

Andy Hamilton I'd say

Better than James Wade?

Hamilton is a good pro who had a great run in 2012 but I wouldn't have him near the league of Wade from 2007- around 2011 and even today's Wade is better than hamilton at his peak IMO

Someone mentioned Manley. Interesting one, he wasn't the heaviest scorer but was some man for the doubles. He wouldn't be my choice though, he had a lot of horror shows in his time. He only won one major I think- the Vegas Classic?

Mardle really should have won in 2008, completely bottled it sadly as I liked him

sc86

did manley not get beat 7-0 twice in a final?

gpat14

sc86 wrote: »

did manley not get beat 7-0 twice in a final?

To be fair by a Taylor masterclass in 2006 can't remember other one off top of my head.

I wouldn't include him in a list like this, still he had a stellar career. I just think consistency was a huge issue, especially in his latter career, at times he could genuinely lose to absolutely anyone

Alfred Borden

Got to be James Wade, wont be coming close again i think

gpat14

Raf32 wrote: »

Got to be James Wade, wont be coming close again i think

Unlikely but I'd never say never, he's not the consistent high scorer he once was but he seems good at dragging players down nowadays. He could do a part from 08 on it

Alan Warriner and Colin Lloyd were handy.

Maybe not in the Wade real contenders bracket, but both former world no 1s. Not sure I'd have them as the best never to win, but perhaps they could have been at the cutting edge more often.