Wayne Mardle’s 2008 World Championship semi-final defeat to Kirk Shepherd is often cited as ‘the one that got away’ for Hawaii 501, but the man himself sees things differently.
The 51-year-old reached four World Championship semi-finals, but never made it to the final to play for the biggest prize in the sport.
Wayne Mardle cites another semi-final as his best opportunity to win the tournament and it happened two years earlier than his loss to Shepherd.
Wayne Mardle rues 2006 Phil Taylor semi-final loss
When discussing his best chance to win the World Championship, Mardle opted for his semi-final defeat to Phil Taylor at the Circus Tavern in 2006.
Talking to Dartshopper, Mardle said: “Everyone always says that Kirk Shepherd match when you lost to him or when you beat Phil Taylor. But it was actually a loss to Phil Taylor at the Circus Tavern.
“I lost in the semi-finals of the World Championships in 2006. I’d been in three previous semi-finals, so this was my fourth.
“This was as good as I’ve felt in a World Championship and I remember going into that game thinking I could win today and I could win tomorrow.
“This isn’t being defeatist in any way, I could see it happening, but we got into the game, I was better than him. I was 5-4 up in a race to six sets.
“Winner plays Peter Manley, I would’ve won that, Peter knows that, everyone in the world knows that – We don’t know that. I go 1-0 up in the 11th set, I then miss two at double 18 to go 2-0 up in that set.
“I would’ve been a leg away, and I thought I was there, but I never got another opportunity.”
Taylor defeated Mardle 6-5 in the semi-final and went on to dominate Manley 7-0 in the final to claim his 13th World Championship.
Wayne Mardle is darts’ greatest nearly man
Wayne Mardle is arguably the greatest ever player to never win a major tournament, but darts was a lot different back in the mid-2000s.
Taylor monopolised the entire PDC Tour, winning every World Championship bar one between 1995 and 2006.
The fact Mardle managed to reach four World Championship semi-finals and a World Matchplay final (losing again to Taylor in 2003) is testament enough to his qualities as a darts player.
If he was playing in this generation, where the quality is overall higher but so is the competitiveness, there’s no doubt Mardle would’ve notched up a major victory.