Daryl Gurney: I still feel like I’m the pub player punching above his weight

‘Playing too much of his B-game and not enough of his A-game’ is how Daryl Gurney describes his form coming into the Champions League of Darts this weekend. Despite an early exit from the World Grand Prix, Superchin sits no.6 in the world – not bad for someone who describes themselves as a grafter and pub player.

“Gary Anderson is a naturally gifted darts player. Why he’s been around so long and why he is so good is because his throw is so good. There’s only probably Devon Petersen and Bob Anderson and myself who have ever been on tv who have this sort of throw. I’ve to work really hard to get my game in good shape whereas Gary’s more naturally gifted. I’m a grafter.

“If I had a throw like Gary Anderson or Michael Smith, life’s easy. You don’t know whether Micheal’s throwing darts or bringing an ice cream to his mouth.”

“Whenever you see me, you see me pushing it because I’ve a short drawback of about six to eight inches. I really have to force it up which means sometimes they just go wonky. I don’t have a beautiful throw like Micheal Smith. I still feel like I’m the pub player punching above his weight.”

Despite the dip in form of late, the Nothern Irishman is looking forward to battling it out for qualification from his Champions League group and would love nothing more than to give the crowd that £100k prize for the nine-darter.

“I’ve always had a mini grand slam as a goal in my head, which would be to win a Pro Tour, a European Tour, a Major and a World Series. And if I managed to accomplish all four of them the next dream would be to throw a nine-darter.

“It’s probably the hardest out of all of them because I seem to panic on the last dart, so if it happens this weekend I might just close my eyes and hope for the best. But it would be unreal and the crowd would go wild.”

Not one to get carried away, Gurney has already decided what he’d do if was to emerge victorious with the winning cheque on Sunday night.

“I’d wake up the next day, go buy a classic car – probably a Vauxhall – and drive home from here. I’ve got 18 classic cars at home so I’m a bit obsessed.”