It’s a route that has gone into darts folklore; the journey that turned Rob Cross from pub player to world champion in less than two years. Cross’s awesome destruction of Phil Taylor in the PDC world championship final can be traced back to that trip in the early hours of Saturday 20 February 2016. He failed to qualify for the 2016 BDO world championship but decided to try the UK Open, described as the FA Cup of darts because of its accessibility to all. Cross won in Norwich and reached the last 32 of the UK Open before making a fine impression in a 9-5 defeat by the world No1, Michael van Gerwen. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty ImagesHe survived match darts against Smith and Van Gerwen but on both occasions he was close enough to take advantage.

Source: The Guardian January 02, 2018 15:22 UTC