Michael Smith has £500k ‘headache’ forward of his World Darts Championship marketing campaign
PDC World Darts Championship winner Michael Smith has revealed that he had the ‘best year of his life’ after his 2023 triumph – but he wasn’t focused on darts
Michael Smith has opened up on his “year of fun” that landed him with a £500k headache.
Bully Boy basked in darting glory when he triumphed over Michael van Gerwen in an epic clash featuring the iconic ‘perfect leg’, crowning him the 2023 champ and soothing years of agony.
Smith had endured the heartache of two world final defeats before, with some naysayers hinting he might never bag the ultimate darts accolade. But when destiny called at Alexandra Palace, Smith seized the moment to party hard – although that very celebration bite is what’s thrown his game off kilter since.
“The first 12 months after winning it were the best 12 months of my life,” Smith confessed. “I stepped away from darts, no Pro Tours, no Europeans, I just had fun. I must have had eight or nine holidays throughout the year, but in the last year I have been paying the price for that,” reports the Mirror.
“I have been struggling to find different rhythms and different forms and also who I am as a person. It was a bit of a catch 22 really, trying to find it all again.”
“But you know what, I’d do it all again. I just know the next time I win the Worlds, I am going to do a Humphries and keep on playing and playing and playing, because that guy is absolutely killing it.”
Smith now admits he was “immature” and did the “wrong thing” as he now faces a potential plummet in the world rankings if he doesn’t pull out all the stops at Ally Pally this Christmas.
The hefty £500,000 prize money he pocketed will vanish from the Order of Merit as two years have ticked by since that triumph. But Smith isn’t sweating it, insisting there’s no extra pressure on him at this year’s event, even though a poor performance could see him tumble to 15th in the world rankings.
“The only pressure that is added to me is when I get asked the question about pressure,” he declares. “Everyone else is thinking about me defending half a million, other than me.
“I am defending half a million but I don’t have to give it back if I get beaten in the first round. The money is still sat there safe, it is invested.
“I don’t give two flying… you know what I’m going to say! I think this is my 13th year at the Worlds and every single year I show up. I have had a couple of shockers in there but I’ve had three finals, more quarter-finals, some last 16s.”
Bully Boy opens his Ally Pally campaign on Thursday evening – as he faces Dutchman Kevin Doets.
