The 2024 European Championship will go down in history as one of the most shocking tournaments in PDC history.
Darts fans were shocked as big name after big name was eliminated from the field early on, leaving us with a final four of players who’d never won a PDC major before.
Ritchie Edhouse and Jermaine Wattimena would ultimately meet in the final where Edhouse reigned supreme.
The 41-year-old had never been a PDC major quarter-finalist before, let alone a champion, but now he has etched his name in the history books as a PDC major winner, something the likes of Terry Jenkins and Mervyn King were never able to achieve.
To say this was a shock would be an understatement, and, with that in mind, we’re going to rank the five most shocking major champions in darts history to celebrate Edhouse’s achievement.
- READ MORE: Ritchie Edhouse reveals the one thing he’s added to his game during dream European Championship run
Glen Durrant – 2020 Premier League
Seeing Glen Durrant become a PDC major winner wasn’t all that shocking. After all, he was a three-time BDO World Champion.
However, the way in which Durrant won the 2020 Premier League was a shock.
Durrant topped the league by a fair distance, losing just one of his first 14 games in the competition, and he won the tournament on debut.
Durrant was the only player in the Premier League in 2020 who hadn’t previously won a PDC major, but, ultimately he came out on top.
Keith Deller – 1983 BDO World Darts Championship
The darts equivalent of Mike Tyson vs Buster Douglas, Keith Deller shocked the world back in 1983 when he became the World Champion by beating Eric Bristow.
Bristow was a two-time champion by this point, and Deller arrived at the tournament as an unseeded qualifier.
Even after beating John Lowe and Jocky Wilson, nobody expected Deller to topple Bristow in the final, but after a famous 138 checkout in the final leg, Deller become the world champion.
Scott Waites – 2010 Grand Slam of Darts
The Grand Slam of Darts used to be billed as a BDO vs PDC event before the BDO closed down.
Unsurprisingly, the tournament was rather one-sided in terms of champions as 13 of the 14 tournaments played in this format were won by PDC players.
However, Scott Waites upset the formbook in 2010 as the only BDO representative to ever win this tournament.
Waites only actually qualified for the 2010 Grand Slam by virtue of reaching the final in 2009.
Waites was a rank outsider all the way through this tournament, and he even went 8-0 to James Wade in the final before winning 16-12.
Ritchie Edhouse – 2024 European Championship
The man whose victory inspired this list, Ritchie Edhouse was not seen as a contender heading into the 2024 European Championship.
However, after a dream run that saw Edhouse topple both Michael Smith and Gary Anderson, a title win started to become a possibility.
As more and more big players fell away, Edhouse took advantage and become the European Champion in some fashion, beating Jermaine Wattimena 11-3 in the final.
Andrew Gilding – 2023 UK Open
If the UK Open is the FA Cup of Darts, this is the equivalent of Wigan Athletic’s famous win in 2013.
Andrew Gilding, at one point, looked like he may never play professional darts again. Goldfinger lost his Tour Card in 2018, and after failing at Q-School in both 2019 and 2020, you would’ve forgiven the 53-year-old for calling it a day.
However, through sheer perseverance, Gilding made it back into the PDC, and became the UK Open champion last year.
Michael van Gerwen says that Gilding is an underestimated player, and he was certainly proven right in Minehead last year.