Three-time world champion John Part has backed darts' top players in their right to pick and choose which tournaments they play, insisting the packed PDC calendar demands it. Speaking to Online Darts, the Canadian addressed the increasingly crowded schedule, Luke Littler's dominance and the sport's continued internationalisation — and he made clear where he stands on the debate over big names skipping events.
"I think there's too much darts if one has to play every single dart, play every tournament, do everything," Part said. "I know it's a bit of a talking point right now with some top players not wanting to do certain things or whatever, but I think they need to have some leeway." The PDC now organises tournaments virtually throughout the entire year, with dozens of Players Championship and European Tour events alongside the major televised competitions — a schedule Part says places considerable demands on those who want to do it all. "I mean, it is a lot to play all that stuff and to have some sort of a life. For their sanity, their mental health, whatever you want to call it, right? I think that you do need to have reasonable room to pick and choose. I think sometimes that can get over-abused, perhaps."
The absence of stars such as Luke Littler regularly sparks debate, particularly on the European Tour, but Part believes the current standard of darts more than compensates. "Ultimately, I think there's so many good dart players now. We don't miss the people that choose not to go most of the time." He acknowledged fans may buy tickets hoping to see a specific star — "say, a Euro event somewhere in Germany, and maybe they really want to see a Luke Littler or something" — but argued they will still be entertained. "At the end of the day, they're going to get thoroughly entertained by dart players." He also noted a ticket guarantees nothing about a player's stay in a tournament: "And that's the only thing a sale of a ticket guarantees, is all the people that bought tickets for this Grand Prix found out. Because he's here once." Despite the early exit of the number one seed, Part stressed: "there's been a hell of a lot of entertaining darts here this week... and that's always the case. I mean, the world of darts is really healthy right now, in fact."
On the pressure created when a leading favourite is eliminated early, Part was blunt: "Of course, but it's more pressure." He explained: "You think, oh, happy days, it's easy now, but you're pressuring yourself to make the most of it, if you have any sense." He recalled his own era, when Phil Taylor was the dominant force. "Anybody, they all know the beast, what he's capable of doing, and our beast was Phil, and if Phil went out and there was an opening, I mean, there weren't a lot of them, so you did your best to take that one. So, same thing now, yeah." Still, Part cautioned against overreaction when players fail to capitalise: "Well, I think there's got to be some context on how they lose... you can only give it your best shot, and of course, you're playing somebody who has the same opportunity you have, and, you know, that's a contest, right?" He added: "But I think the ones that truly believe that perhaps only the world number one is more dominant than they are, if they believe that enough, they will be dominant." A defeat need not sting forever — "I don't think anyone's going to be punishing themselves for not getting it... but they will see it as a missed opportunity, yes. But they won't be ruining it" — though he admitted: "Unless it's some kind of, like, you know, someone has match starts, and once you have match starts in a major and you don't end up winning, yeah, you're kicking yourself a long time."
Turning to the sport's global growth, Part highlighted the financial barrier facing players from North America, Asia and Oceania trying to step up to the European professional circuit, despite there being plenty of talent capable of competing with existing PDC Tour Card holders. "Yeah, well, I think for us, we need more money. We need more prizes, more prize funds, a little more, you know, like sort of the top 16 are carried and actually making a few dollars on it to save to put towards trips over here." He pointed to opportunities beyond the PDC, with North Americans competing in MODUS and Amateur Darts Circuit events: "Yeah, they're branching to Canada now, probably the U.S. I'm not sure, but, you know, so there's lots of opportunities, but it costs money to come over." While such initiatives build in some support, he said, "it's never really truly enough to do it all the time." Part sees the Championship Darts Corporation as central to progress: "I think basically since the stalwart part of Pro Darts is the CDC, once the prize funds can build to a point where it's just staying, you know, a really healthy group of players who have ready money to go compete over here, then that's where we'll really start making more of an impact."
