Mark Webster discusses his battle with dartitis, beating Phil Taylor on the World Championship stage, and his thriving punditry career in a Darts Show Podcast Special.
Former Lakeside champion Webster joined the PDC ranks in February 2009 and enjoyed a decade at the top level – reaching two World Championship semi-finals and finishing runner-up at the Players Championship Finals in 2011.
The Welshman also featured in the Premier League in 2011 and appeared in two World Cup finals in 2010 and 2017 respectively, before relinquishing his Tour Card in 2019.
Webster has since become one of the sport’s most popular pundits, and he sat down on the latest episode of the Darts Show Podcast to reflect on the most memorable moments of his career.
“Beating Phil [Taylor] has to be my best moment,” said Webster, who defeated the Stoke-on-Trent legend in the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Championship, to reach his second straight Alexandra Palace semi-final.
“The reaction was unreal. Phil had won the title in the last two years, and I beat him 5-2 – which you rarely see. I was pleased I held myself together.
“The year before I played Phil and I lost 6-0, winning only four legs. I was edgy from the word go that night, but the year after, I felt I was in the right place to beat him, and it was fantastic.
“The World Cup – particularly the first one with Barrie Bates – that was one of my favourite moments too.
“Those two tournaments came in a period of about five weeks. They were a fantastic part of my career and definitely the stand-out moments in the PDC.”
This success earned Webster a Premier League Darts debut in 2011, and he made a fine start to the sport’s biggest roadshow, following up an opening night win over James Wade by posting a stunning 110 average to dispatch Adrian Lewis in Week Four.
However, Webster only claimed a solitary point from his final ten matches – including a run of four consecutive 8-1 defeats – and he admits it was a chastening experience.
“My form deserted me and when your form deserts you, you want to go to a ProTour and get yourself a few wins,” added Webster - who won his solitary PDC ranking title in a Players Championship event in 2010.
“In the Premier League I was facing [Gary] Anderson, [James] Wade, Taylor, [Raymond] Van Barneveld and [Simon] Whitlock. I was in a rut and you’re thinking: ‘I can’t get out of this.’
“It was a tough learning experience, but people said that the Premier League finished me. It didn’t finish me, it just finished me at the elite level.”
Webster responded strongly following his Premier League disappointment, making the UK Open semi-finals before reaching the last eight at the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts.
The 39-year-old also secured a spot in his first individual PDC televised final at the Players Championship Finals in November 2011, but his defeat to Kevin Painter proved to be a watershed moment.
“It became an obsession trying to get back in the Premier League,” Webster conceded.
“I got to the quarter-finals and semi-finals of almost every TV event that year and I thought I was in the picture.
“Ultimately losing to Kevin [Painter] in that Players Championship final and then a few days later losing to Richie Burnett in the first round of the Worlds ended my chances.
That was a defining moment in my career. Those four days I took a dent in my confidence that I never recovered from. It was heart-breaking.”
The Darts Show Podcast Special ?
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 13, 2022
Mark Webster sits down with Matthew Edgar and Lewis Wood-Thompson to discuss his battle with dartitis, his beef with Paul Lim and the time his emotions got the better of him after a loss...
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The latter stages of Webster’s career were blighted by dartitis, although he showed signs of a resurgence by reaching the World Grand Prix semi-finals and Grand Slam quarter-finals in successive months in 2015.
The two-time World Cup runner-up also featured in World Championship and UK Open quarter-finals in 2014 and 2016 respectively, but he spoke candidly about the impact dartitis had on his game.
“The knock-on effect was horrendous. That period was the most down that I have been in the sport,” Webster revealed.
“I remember losing to Adrian Lewis at the World Matchplay [in 2016]. I was fine until it [dartitis] kicked in at the end of the match and I knew then that I couldn’t get rid of it.
“I was in tears after the game because I knew I had gone. I couldn’t play the way I wanted to play. It was the beginning of the end.
“I tried everything. I went to see a sports psychologist, I went to see a coach; my sponsors Winmau made a board with bigger segments, I threw with four darts, six darts, nine darts.
“It came down to when you’re in a pressure situation, it ramped up.”
Webster’s last televised appearance came at the 2019 UK Open, although he is now flourishing as one of the sport’s most prominent pundits, courtesy of his work on Sky Sports, ITV and PDCTV.
“I never thought I would love it as much as I do,” admitted the Denbigh star, who claimed he is unsure about whether he will attempt to return to the professional circuit in the future.
“This doesn’t feel like a job. I am so lucky I got the opportunity and it’s occupying the majority of my career now, which is great.
“At the moment it’s not at the forefront of my priorities to be playing. I enjoy the media side. You’ve got to do what is right for you, and for me, playing is certainly not that at the moment.”