Ranking the most costly missed match darts in history featuring legends such as Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson - but who takes top spot?

There aren't many sports - if any - with finer margins between success and failure than darts.

Matches are often lost by the width of a wire and if these occasions happen in a final or a major tournament, players could end up costing themselves titles and huge sums of money.

Even the greatest legends of all time such as Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have their own 'what if' doubles they wish they could go back in time and attempt to hit again, while Luke Littler will no doubt blow plenty of match-winning chances in the years to come.

The 18-year-old has only missed a handful of match dart in his short career and none in major events with big money on the line, but he's previously said that had he pinned his double for a 5-2 lead against Luke Humphries in the 2024 World Championship final, he would have lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy 12 months earlier than he did.

However, players who have earned a fortune in their illustrious careers - which includes Littler despite still being a teenager - can brush off the implications of missing such high value darts a lot more than those much lower down the rankings while they are probably more concerned about the loss of a title opportunity than the money.

When it comes to identifying the most 'costly' match darts in history, we could be subjective rather than purely financial and include blasts from the past like Mike Gregory missing six of them in the 1992 BDO World Championship against Phil Taylor.

While it 'only' cost the runner-up £14,000 (albeit a lot at the time!), his career never recovered from that and a world title could have easily propelled him towards a far more affluent future.

However, this list is all about the biggest pay cheques that have slipped through the grasps of players in a single moment and is therefore far more weighted towards the lucrative recent times, where the rewards are massive but the agony can be greater.

SECTION ONE: THE £20,000 MISSES

Simon Whitlock/Paul Nicholson 3-4 Phil Taylor Adrian Lewis - 2012 World Cup of Darts final

• Winners: £40,000, Losers: £20,000

Individually, the dramatic climax of the 2012 World Cup of Darts may only have cost the Australian pairing £10,000 apiece but have you ever seen a player look as crestfallen about a missed opportunity as Paul Nicholson?!

Of course the Asset's dejection had nothing to do with the money - it was purely about blowing the chance win a tournament he passionately cared about - but it's still a perfect place to begin our list of agony.

After all, this wasn't just missed title darts from one player…it was missed match darts from both of them as well as Phil Taylor!

This incredible match went right down to a sudden death leg before Nicholson, Taylor and Whitlock each missed two darts at a double to win! Adrian Lewis, who’d only managed to leave Taylor 56 from 88 in his previous visit, then managed to pin double five at the first attempt to break Aussie hearts.

As Nicholson wrote in a Sporting Life column about it: "I was so mentally scarred it took me a long time to recover from that. I’ve always been known for having a thin skin but that tournament did leave a deep scar even to this day. I’ve always felt as though my missed darts in the World Cup final are remembered more than anyone else’s due to my reaction to it afterwards, and that also hurts.

"If I’d won the World Cup, I’m convinced I would have gone on to win more titles in the PDC but instead I let the failure leave a big indelible mark on my life and career. I never won another title in the PDC."

So baring this in mind, you could say those missed darts cost Nicholson a lot more than the collective £20,000 that day.

Phil Taylor 4-5 Adrian Lewis, 2010 World Grand Prix semi-finals

• Winner: £40,000 minimum, Loser: £20,000

Phil Taylor rarely showed any signs of mental fragility during his legendary career - particularly in his peak years - and he only appears in this list twice despite all the big money matches he played during the latter stages of major tournaments.

The first of these occasions occurred at the World Grand Prix in October 2010 when many considered him at the height of his powers having won 19 of the last 21 majors and it looked like being 20 out of 22 when leading his protege Adrian Lewis 4-2.

However, after Lewis mounted a comeback to force a deciding set, Taylor missed two match darts when leading 2-0 and 2-1 as Jackpot completed a famous win. Obviously considering how much money the Power won in his career, this will feel a lot more insignificant than it would be for most players in his situation.

Michael van Gerwen 15-16 Simon Whitlock, 2020 Grand Slam quarter-finals

• Winner: £40,000 minimum, Loser: £20,000

Michael van Gerwen has benefitted massively from players spurning match darts against him down the years but this was one of the few occasions he buckled under the pressure during the latter stages of the tournament.

In a thrilling quarter-final with Simon Whitlock at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts, MVG held a 15–13 lead only to squander three darts to close out the match, allowing the Wizard to fight back and force a deciding leg.

It looked like the Aussie's luck was about to run out when van Gerwen raced to a finish first but he astonishingly missed a further five match darts as Whitlock, who'd broken the record for most 180s in a Grand Slam match with 20, capitalised to reach the semi-finals.

Glen Durrant 5-6 Martin Adams, 2015 BDO World Championship semi-final

• Winner: £35,000 minimum, Loser: £15,000

Although this list is obviously going to be dominated by agonising moments in the PDC due to the vast sums of money on the line in major tournaments, there are a couple of entries from the BDO era - and both feature Glen Durrant.

Back in 2015, Duzza was well fancied to reach his maiden Lakeside final on just his second appearance but spurned one match dart for a thrilling 6-4 victory and then a further two in a deciding set that he led 2-0 before the legendary Martin Adams completed a stunning comeback.

Although Durrant's agony cost him a minimum of £20,000, it was actually Wolfie who saw a dart go begging for the biggest cheque of the day having missed double 12 for a nine-dart finish when the scores were level at 3-3.

Not only would it have been the first perfect leg on the Lakeside stage since Paul Lim in 1990 but it also carried a £52,000 bonus! However, because this feature is all about missed match darts only, Adams doesn't have his own entry in this list.

Wolfie went on to lose the final to Scott Mitchell while Durrant would later become a three-time Lakeside champion from 2017 to 2019 before making a successful switch to the PDC.

Kyle Anderson 10-11 Michael van Gerwen, 2017 European Championship semi-finals

• Winner: £40,000 minimum, Loser: £20,000

Kyle Anderson was enjoying a real purple patch in his career back in 2017 having won his only two PDC titles a few months earlier - including one on the televised World Series stage - and now found himself on the cusp of a maiden major final at the European Championship.

The popular Aussie had produced a stunning nine-dart finish at 6-4 down to keep himself in what turned out to be a titanic showdown with Michael van Gerwen and then later forced a deciding leg.

He held his nerve during the scoring faze to leave himself 80 but after nailing treble 20 with his first dart, he spurned his match-winning chances on double 10 and double five as MVG returned to steal victory en route to a fourth successive European title.

Max Hopp 10-11 James Wade, 2018 European Championship semi-finals

• Winner: £40,000 minimum, Loser: £20,000

This is certainly one of those moments in this list where the emotional heartache far outweighed the financial hit.

Big things were expected of rising star Max Hopp back in 2018 when he won his first two senior PDC titles including a stunning triumph on the European Tour in front of his home fans in Germany when hitting the bullseye to defeat Michael Smith 8-7 in the final.

Now the stakes were even bigger with a raucous crowd in Dortmund fully behind his bid to become Germany's first ever major champion.

Hopp looked destined for the final when leading 7-3 and 10-7 but seemingly froze at the finishing line and agonisingly missed THREE match darts as eventual champion James Wade typically punished him and silenced the Westfalenhalle.

Sadly that's by far the closest Hopp ever got to tasting glory and a combination of injury problems and loss of form over the following years means it's highly unlikely we'll see him contending again.

Joe Cullen 10-11 Simon Whitlock, 2018 European Championship semi-finals

• Winner: £40,000 minimum, Loser: £20,000

It's not often you get two players missing match darts in semi-finals of the same tournament on the same night but that's exactly what happened at the 2018 European Championship.

About an hour before Max Hopp's aforementioned agony, Joe Cullen also let a 10-7 lead slip before spurning a match dart in the deciding leg as the Wizard punished him in emphatic with a magical 110 checkout.

It took Cullen another four years to reach a major final - which he went and won at the 2022 Masters - but it's not the only heartbreaking moment he's experienced in this list.

SECTION TWO: THE £25,000-£26,500 MISSES

Dimitri Van den Bergh 15-16 James Wade, 2020 Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals

• Winner: £65,000 minimum, Loser: £40,000

Dimitri Van den Bergh's solitary missed dart at the bullseye for a 16-14 victory is why this match makes the list, but the Belgian may point to a couple of other moments which were ultimately more crucial.

He spurned a chance to move two legs from glory at 14-9 and then missed a further five attempts at double for a 15-13 lead.

These blunders sparked Wade's interest and in typical Machine fashion, he pounced on his opponent's finishing line wobbles to claim a dramatic win that he put down to "lady luck" during the post-match interview.

Josh Rock 15-16 James Wade, 2023 Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals

• Winner: £50,000 minimum, Loser: £25,000

If this list was in chronological order then this would be the SIXTH time that James Wade has capitalised on expensive match darts missed.

There must be something about the Machine and his clinical reputation that makes opponents feel under more pressure to take their chances - but whatever it is, Josh Rock became his latest victim in the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals.

The Northern Irish youngster, who led 15-12 in a race to 16, missed his first match dart at double top to win 16-14 as Wade dug deep to eventually take the contest to the wire.

A nerve-wracking deciding leg saw Wade initially miss double 14 for a 121 checkout, which gave Rock the chance to win it on tops only for him to go high with all three attempts and his legendary opponent didn't need another invitation.

Dave Chisnall 9-10 Gary Anderson in the 2015 Premier League semi-final

• Winner: £100,000 minimum, Loser: £75,000

Back in 2015, Dave Chisnall hadn't yet garnered the reputation of being the 'best player never to win a major' and many expected his time to come pretty soon having already finished runner-up to Phil Taylor in two major finals and also losing the 2010 BDO World Championship final.

That time could have come in the 2015 Premier League play-offs but Chizzy spurned three match darts at double 16 in a dramatic deciding leg of a semi-final with Gary Anderson, who responded with a stunning 116 checkout to break his opponent's heart.

The Flying Scotsman went on to defeat Michael van Gerwen in the final but afterwards said: "It's been four years since I got my hands on this baby, but Chizzy was the best player of this tournament. Michael van Gerwen is hot property. You won't see him lose many tournaments but I'm glad he did tonight."

How right he was.

Dave Chisnall 4-5 Gerwyn Price, 2020 World Grand Prix semi-final

• Winner: £50,000 minimum, Loser: £25,000

By this point in Dave Chisnall's career, even his most loyal supporting were starting to wonder if he'd ever win a major despite his obvious ability.

Chizzy had lost six major finals - with another still to come at the 2022 Masters - while the 2020 World Grand Prix was the scene of his seventh semi-final defeat at the highest level.

How many battle scars can any one player take without success?!

On this occasion, the 2013 and 2019 World Grand Prix runner-up had done brilliantly to battle back from 3-1 down against Gerwyn Price to force a deciding set which he looked destined to win when leaving 68 compared to his opponent's 142.

However, the pressure was too much and he not only spurned his first match dart at double 18 but also missed a further two at double nines on his next visit as Price made him pay in agonising fashion.

Adrian Lewis 4-5 Michael van Gerwen, 2013 World Championship quarter-final

• Winner: £50,000 minimum, Loser: £25,000

This epic encounter ended Adrian Lewis' 15-match winning run in the World Championship having claimed back-to-back titles so he'll certainly remember this as the opportunity of an iconic hat-trick missed rather than a lost £25k.

Jackpot spurned two darts at double top for a 3-0 victory in the deciding set and Michael van Gerwen took full advantage by winning three legs on the bounce to advance into the semi-finals.

MVG would go on and defeat James Wade to book his place in his maiden World Championship final only for Phil Taylor to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy for the last time in his illustrious career.

Although Lewis would never win another world title, he did bounce back from this disappointment to reach the 2014 semi-finals and also the final in the 2016 edition.

23rd=: £25,000: Michael Smith 10-11 James Wade, 2018 World Series of Darts Finals final

• Winner: £50,000, Loser: £25,000

You have to wonder how differently Michael Smith's career would have turned out if he'd not missed five darts to break his major duck in just his second final back in 2018.

Although the climax to the World Series Tour is widely regarded as the runt of the PDC majors - and some may not even class it as a proper one - the early mental wounds inflicted by this agonising defeat to James Wade certainly wouldn't have helped prepare him for future finals that would come thick and fast for him over the next few years.

The pain was exacerbated by another six final losses before he finally fulfilled his rich potential by landing the 2022 Grand Slam and the 2023 World Championship but nobody can deny that his title haul - and bank balance - should be so much greater.

As for this occasion in Vienna, Wade initially looked like he'd blown his chance for victory when missing two darts for an 11-9 victory having also inexplicably bust 121 in a previous visit and the St Helens thrower forced a deciding leg.

Despite reaching a finish much sooner, Smith blew a golden opportunity by missing five darts with 40 required across two visits as Wade stole the £50,000 cheque from a shell-shocked and visibly emotional opponent.

Gary Anderson 15-16 Peter Wright, 2017 Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals

• Winner: £55,000 minimum, Loser: £28,500

If Gary Anderson had to pick out the most painful moments of his career, this would surely have to rank extremely highly.

For a start, the Grand Slam of Darts is the one major he's wanted to win more than any other outside of the World Championship yet it always finds a way to be agonisingly elusive.

Back in 2017, he had more than one foot in the Wolverhampton final when leading Peter Wright 14-8 in a race to 16 and it was now just a case of getting victory sealed as quickly as possible to stay as fresh and sharp as possible to face Michael van Gerwen.

But despite chasing a seemingly lost cause, Wright went on a stunning run of form to close the gap to 15-14 and the mounting pressure must have played a part in Anderson missing a match dart as Snakebite forced a deciding leg.

Wright left himself with 64 after four solid visits and with Anderson waiting on 82, he held his nerve to hit two single 16s and then the double to complete a remarkable comeback.

Sadly for Snakebite, he couldn't mentally recover enough for the final which MVG soundly won 16-12 to pick up the title for a third time in a row.

SECTION THREE: THE £30,000 to £40,000 MISSES

Mervyn King 10-11 James Wade, 2014 Masters final

• Winner: £50,000, Loser: £20,000

Mervyn King is known as one of the best players never to win a major but he came agonisingly close to coming off that list in 2014 when leading James Wade 9-2 in the Masters final.

He led 5-0, 9-2 and 10-6 in the race to 11 but missed eight match darts at the title across the next five legs before James Wade takes out 135 on tops for the win.

It's noted as the ‘really’ game, when Mervyn says ‘really’ to James when he celebrates the win but deep down he'd have been more annoyed at himself for not getting the job done.

Not only did it cost him £30,000 and the elusive major trophy but you could say it also cost him a return to the Premier League.

That season he also reached the semi-finals of the UK Open, European Championship and Grand Slam of Darts so perhaps with a major finally behind him, he could have reached more finals and consequently more titles.

King also lost the final of this event in 2010 against Paul Nicholson as well as the finals of the 2012 World Grand Prix, 2009 Premier League, 2008 Championship League and the 2020 Players Championship Finals. Thankfully those weren't as a result of missed match darts as well!

Michael Smith 10-11 Peter Wright, 2020 Masters final

• Winner: £60,000, Loser: £25,000

Michael Smith's third entry in his list was the second time he let a maiden televised major title go begging and sadly there's yet another of those to come in a career that promised - and deserved - so much more silverware.

Bully Boy was starting to get a reputation of being a 'bottler', which was extremely harsh when you consider two of his four previous finals came against Michael van Gerwen, but the cruel social media keyboard warriors were about to go in even heavier when the newly-crowned world champion Peter Wright stormed into a commanding 8-5 lead in the 2020 Masters final.

However, Smith showed real character to come back from 8-5 down and force a deciding leg at 10-10 as the crowd sensed a landmark moment for one of the sport's most naturally gifted players.

Bully Boy responded to Wright's opening visit of 58 with his eighth 180 of the match to take control and a few visits later he found himself with six darts to complete the job from 98 with his opponent back on 187. Smith then left himself 40 but after Snakebite's brilliant visit of 171 applied monumental pressure from nowhere, he missed all three title darts as Wright completed a remarkable victory.

It was somewhat fitting for Smith's latest final anguish to be inflicted by a player who'd crushingly lost 12 of his 13 finals - including three in deciding legs to MVG - before lifting the biggest prize of them all at the Ally Pally just a few weeks earlier.

Wright, who picked up £60,000, said: "I'm a very lucky player tonight, Michael should've won that. I've been in his position many times before, so I know how he's feeling and it's not nice."

Snakebite went on to win five of his next six finals, including the 2022 World Championship, to take his major tally to eight and prove nobody has to be the nearly man forever.

Michael Smith 4-5 Raymond van Barneveld, 2016 World Championship quarter-final

• Winner: £70,000 minimum, Loser: £35,000

Michael Smith was still very much a rising star at this stage of his career but in January 2016 he found himself with a golden opportunity of reaching his first World Championship semi-final when opening up a 2-0 lead in the deciding ninth set against Raymond van Barneveld.

Bully Boy, who'd earlier led the match 3-0 in sets only for Barney to claw his way back into the contest, subsequently spurned a dart at tops before his legendary opponent rattled off four legs in succession to move into the last four.

Smith had to wait a further three years before going one stage further en route to his first of three finals and you just wonder if his struggles at the business end of majors would have been quite the same had he got the job done on this night in 2016.

Phil Taylor 9-10 Peter Wright in the 2017 Premier League semi-final

• Winner: £120,000 minimum, Loser: £80,000

Phil Taylor made many millions from his record-breaking career but from what we know about the Power's frugal attitude to money, he might still be cursing the £40,000 that didn't end up in his retirement plan back in 2017.

And of course, it could have been a lot more had he gone on to win the Premier League's top prize of £250,000 later that same night.

Instead he left the O2 with 'just' £80,000 as his final Premier League appearance ended in agonising circumstances against Peter Wright.

Taylor had initially fought back from 4-0 down following a slow start but after breaking the Snakebite throw to go 9-8 up, he then missed a match dart at double top to set up a final with Michael van Gerwen.

Boos could be heard from the pro-Taylor crowd as Wright ran away with the decider and afterwards Taylor admitted: "I went in front and then went nervous - I could feel my heart beating - maybe because it's my last one. I don't know. But I'm shattered now. Peter was the better player, I can't fault him; he held his bottle and hit the right shot at the right time."

Taylor bowed out after 207 matches in the Premier League dating back to 2005 and despite reaching the Play-Offs an incredible 13 times out of 14, the last of his six titles had come back in 2012.

Gary Anderson 9-10 Glen Durrant in the 2020 Premier League semi-final

• Winner: £120,000 minimum, Loser: £80,000

It's not often Gary Anderson fails to turn up on the big stage but this was certainly one of the most forgettable nights of his career as his hopes of a third Premier League title were ended by the eventual champion Glen Durrant.

The Flying Scotsman, who hadn't even reached the final since lifting the trophy in 2015, was well short of his best and only managed 87 in a very poor match in which neither player got going.

He'll probably blame his all-round performance for this defeat rather than the four match darts he blew from 9-7 up, including three in the deciding leg, as Duzza scrapped over the line before going on to defeat fellow debutant Nathan Aspinall for the title.

SECTION FOUR: THE £50,000 MISSES

James Wade 5-6 Adrian Lewis, 2012 World Championship semi-final

• Winner: £100,000 minimum, Loser: £50,000

James Wade is undoubtedly one of the sport's greatest ever players but remarkably has never reached a World Championship final.

The four-time semi-finalist came ridiculously close back in the 2012 edition when he led eventual champion Adrian Lewis 5-1 in a match also remembered for both players leaving the stage for 20 minutes complaining about an Ally Pally breeze.

The Machine, who is known for being one of the most clinical closers of matches, missed a dart at a double to win 5-3 and was made to pay in dramatic fashion as Lewis won 10 legs on the trot to set up a final showdown with Andy Hamilton.

Wade received £50,000 for his semi-final run but that year he would have picked up £100,000 as runner-up or £200,000 if he'd lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy.

Gerwyn Price 4-5 Michael Smith, 2022 World Championship quarter-final

• Winner: £100,000 minimum, Loser: £50,000

Gerwyn Price pocketed a cheque of £500,000 12 months earlier when lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy at an empty Ally Pally but he was desperate to repeat the feat in front of the Ally Pally fans.

The Iceman was indeed on track for back-to-back world titles when leading Michael Smith 4-3 in the 2022 quarter-finals having earlier set the venue alight with a tremendous nine-dart finish.

At 2-2 in the eighth set, Price found himself with two match darts at tops but amidst an unfair chorus of boos he couldn't convert either of them as Smith held his nerve on double eight to send the match into a decider.

Bully Boy subsequently won it 3-1 after Price missed another crucial dart to keep the match alive and Smith ended up reaching his second World Championship final, where he'd finish runner-up to Peter Wright.

Peter Wright 10-11 Michael van Gerwen, 2019 Champions League of Darts final

• Winner: £100,000, Loser: £50,000

The BBC-televised Champions League of Darts sadly never returned to the calendar after Covid wiped out the 2020 edition but the fourth and final staging had a dramatic conclusion as Michael van Gerwen produced a stirring comeback to inflict yet more misery on Peter Wright.

This was Snakebite's 11th major final defeat out of 12 and nine of those came at the hands of MVG, including the gut-wrenching 2017 Premier League which we're going to come to a little bit later.

The frustration Wright felt after this defeat in Leicester was another kick in the teeth - both financially and emotionally - but at least it would prove to be one of his last before his career soared to World Championship-wining heights.

The Scotsman had three match darts when leading 10-7 but after missing them all he mentally unravelled and allowed MVG to storm back from the brink and pocket the top prize of £100,000.

As for MVG, this triumph saw him complete the 'Green Sweep' of winning every single PDC televised major possible although this 'trophy' was much different from the rest as it resembled a WWE style belt!

Chris Dobey 4-5 Rob Cross, 2024 World Championship quarter-final

• Winner: £100,000 minimum , Loser: £50,000

When we talk about World Championship capitulations, then Chris Dobey's collapse against Rob Cross in the 2024 quarter-finals will rank extremely highly.

Hollywood had been producing some of the darts of his life to reach this stage of the tournament having averaged over 100 in all three of his previous games, including a 4-0 demolition job against defending champion Michael Smith.

And that ridiculous form continued against Rob Cross when storming into a 4-0 lead in the race to five. At this point, if you include the last two sets in the 4-2 victory over Ross Smith in round three, Dobey had now managed to win 10 sets of darts in a row!

He may have been 'due' to lose the next one. But then one became two as nerves started to kick in.

In the seventh set Dobey finally had a chance to close out the match but his attempt at the bullseye went begging and he never got another opportunity as Voltage somehow produced one of the greatest comebacks ever seen on the Ally Pally stage.

SECTION FIVE: THE £60,000 MISSES

Luke Humphries 10-11 Dimitri Van den Bergh, 2024 UK Open final

• Winner: £110,000, Loser: £50,000

Luke Humphries has incredibly managed to win all different the PDC major titles since October 2023 except two; the European Championship and the UK Open.

But the latter really should have been his in March 2024 when competing in the final for the second time in his incredible career.

The fittingly nicknamed Cool Hand has consistently been able to produce clutch moments of magic under pressure but on this occasion in a deciding leg against Dimitri Van den Bergh, who had previously missed six match darts of his own for the title from 10-8 up, he stunned the crowd by missing two chances for glory and subsequently ended up with the runners-up cheque.

The money won't have bothered the multi-millionaire star but if this major proves to be one he never wins, then this defeat will certainly rankle with him in the future.

Michael van Gerwen 10-11 Andrew Gilding, 2023 UK Open final

• Winner: £110,000 , Loser: £50,000

I don't think anyone will shed too much of a tear to see Michael van Gerwen appear in this list again considering the amount of titles and money he's amassed in a quite incredible career, and this isn't even his most costliest match dart from a financial perspective.

However his pride would have taken a huge dent when not even the quietest, politest and understated player on the circuit was intimidated by his presence and pumped up celebrations during a major final.

Andrew Gilding was a massive 200/1 outsider at the start of the tournament but Goldfinger used his Midas touch in Minehead to make a mockery of those odds and earn his biggest ever payday of £110,000 that really changed his life and career.

Giding was unsurprisingly still a huge underdog ahead of his maiden final so when he found himself 8-5 and 9-7 down in a race to 11 against a player who has won 62 televised titles and 148 overall, few would have given him any chance of bouncing back.

But he displayed such a cold finger to bring it back to 9-9 and when MVG produced a magnificent 170 checkout to go 10-9 up, he responded immediately with a 180 at the start of the 20th leg.

Gilding continued held his nerve to force a deciding leg which he pinched with a 13-darter on double top after van Gerwen had missed one for the title to send the 5,000-strong crowd wild.

Michael Smith 10-11 Danny Noppert, 2022 UK Open final

• Winner: £100,000, Loser: £40,000

Michael Smith's fourth and final entry in this list saw him enter the record books as the player who has lost most major finals after missing match darts.

Having squandered five in the 2018 World Series of Darts Finals and three in the 2020 Masters, Bully Boy's mental turmoil was compounded at the UK Open as he saw his attempt to take out 124 on the bullseye fall just short.

Noppie held his nerve to force a deciding leg before breaking Smith's throw - and heart - to earn a maiden TV title that few predicted.

His total of nine missed title darts in his career equals the tally of Peter Wright, who compiled his over two finals, but the total amount of money that has slipped through his fingers in these finals (£120,000) isn't quite as jaw-dropping as what Snakebite missed out on. But more on that later.

This was also the St Helens thrower's seventh major televised final defeat in a row over a painful four-year period and he'd even go on to miss out on a ninth later that year at the European Championship before finally and thankfully breaking his duck in the Grand Slam of Darts, which surely gave him the confidence to become world champion in epic fashion a few weeks later.

Luke Humphries 10-11 Gian van Veen, 2025 European Championship

• Winner: £120,000, Loser: £60,000

This agonising miss happened so recently that it didn't make the video we've made about this list!

It was the second time Luke Humphries spurned a title dart in his career - having also missed two in the 2024 UK Open final - and they've both happened in deciding legs of majors that he's still yet to win.

Had he managed to keep his cool like he does most of the time, then he'd now have completed the set of ranked PDC majors in the space of just two years, while he'd only need the World Series Finals title to have celebrated every premier televised tournament.

This is probably weighing most on his mind rather than the £60,000 extra money he missed out on but his loss was Gian van Veen's gain as the brilliant young Dutchman claimed his maiden major title in his first final.

Van Veen actually squandered two match darts of his own in the penultimate leg of the match as Humphries forced a dramatic deciding leg but in the end he held his nerve when it mattered most.

THE TOP FOUR MOST COSTLY MISSES EVER

4th: £65,000 Mark McGeeney 6-7 Glen Durrant, 2018 BDO World Championship final

• Winner: £100,000, Loser: £35,000

Nobody will have been surprised to see this list overwhelmingly dominated by misses on the lucrative PDC circuit but our last entry from the BDO era during the 2018 World Championship is one of the most agonising of the lot.

And that's not just because I tipped Mark McGeeney at 25/1 at the start of the tournament!

The Gladiator, who was in his late 40s at the time, headed to the Lakeside as second seed after picking four titles throughout the season but wasn't widely expected to challenge for the trophy due never winning a major and the fact he was in a ridiculously tough section of the draw packed with much bigger names.

However, after stunning the likes of Martin Adams, Danny Noppet and future BDO world champion Wayne Warren, McGeeney found himself up against 1/5 favourite and defending champion Glen Durrant for the chance of glory.

The final ended up being a nail-biting and tense affair and when Duzza somehow spurned 10 darts to move to within a leg of victory when leading 6-5 in sets, the underdog pounced to force a thrilling decider in which he would edge 2-1 ahead.

It was then McGeeney's turn to buckle with nerves as he failed to convert darts at double 18 and double nine to land a career defining world title before watching Durrant level the scores and then regain all his composure in the tie-breaker.

Not only did he join Eric Bristow, Martin Adams and Raymond van Barneveld in an exclusive group of players to retain the title but he pocketed a huge cheque for £100,000 that McGeeney is probably agonising over to this day.

It was the first time anyone had missed match darts and lost a World Championship final since Mike Gregory in 1994 but McGeeney's misses were a lot more costly from a financial perspective - £65,000.

For a player of his standard, opportunities to compete for that kind of money are like gold dust and even when he joined the PDC in 2019, he wasn't able to venture far in the few majors he ever qualified for.

3rd: £85,000+ Michael van Gerwen 5-6 Rob Cross, 2018 World Championship semi-final

• Winner: £170,000 minimum, Loser: £85,000

The worst possible time to miss a match dart would obviously be the PDC World Championship final, which is now worth a whopping £1,000,000 to the winner, but that has never happened in the tournament's 32-year history.

Only on four occasions has there been a deciding set in the climax to the season (Taylor v Part 2003, Taylor v Painter 2004, van Barneveld v Taylor 2007 & Anderson v Taylor 2015) and the runners-up never had a dart for the title - even in the two that required a sudden-death leg.

However, considering the overall prize fund at World Championship has always dwarfed other events, soul-destroying defeats in the latter stages can hit players in the pocket as much as other major finals.

An excruciating example of this comes back in the 2018 edition when Michael van Gerwen somehow spurned SIX match darts against Rob Cross in the semi-finals - including five in the penultimate leg and a further one in the sudden-death decider moments later.

Cross, who had only turned professional 11 months prior to his Ally Pally debut, went on to complete one of the most dramatic World Championship victories ever before thrashing the retiring Phil Taylor 7-2 with an average of 107 in the final.

MVG took home £85,000 but had he converted any of those match darts, he'd have won a minimum of £170,000 for being runner-up or the top prize that year of £400,000.

2nd: £130,000 Peter Wright vs Michael van Gerwen in the 2017 Premier League final

• Winner: £250,000, Loser: £120,000

Darts traditionalists may not class the Premier League as a true major due to the invitational nature of it but financially, there's no getting away from the fact that it's always been second most lucrative tournament on the PDC calendar.

Much of Michael van Gerwen's fortunes have come from his record haul of seven Premier League titles down the years but in 2017 he was chasing his third in four years against a player who'd lost all five of their previous five major finals.

However on this occasion, Peter Wright headed to the O2 feeling more confident than usual having broken his major duck at the UK Open a few months earlier, while he's also finished second behind MVG in the regular season by just one point.

Having then survived a match dart in the semi-finals from Phil Taylor, who agonisingly missed out on a fairytale seventh title in his farewell season, Wright stormed into 5-1 and 7-2 leads during a stunning first half of the match only for a resurgent MVG to fight back tremendously and keep himself in the hunt at 10-9 down.

The pressure was, however, too much for Wright to handle in the 20th leg when Wright missed a dart at double 16 and two more at double eight before missing three more at the same target on his next visit.

MVG took advantage on double 10 before putting a clearly crestfallen Snakebite to the sword with a 12-darter in what was a rather anti-climatic deciding leg.

1st: £150,000 Joe Cullen vs Michael van Gerwen in the 2022 Premier League final

• Winner: £275,000, Loser: £125,000

The Premier League began a new era in 2022 with a brand new format of eight players competing in 16 weekly knockout tournaments prior to the usual Play-Off night at the O2.

And the PDC couldn't have wished for a more dramatic climax as Michael van Gerwen faced one of the pre-tournament outsiders Joe Cullen, who had only sneaked into the line-up at the 11th hour by virtue of winning his maiden major trophy at the Masters in January.

The Rockstar subsequently finished fourth in the regular season before overcoming table-topper and defending champion Jonny Clayton in the semi-finals, and now found himself battling it out with MVG for the highly prestigious trophy and a mouthwatering cheque for £275,000, which is second only to the prize on offer at the World Championship.

In a nerve-jangling deciding leg at 10-10, Cullen had a chance to take it all when eyeing up double 16 with his last dart in hand.

Agonisingly, however, he missed it and had to watch MVG defy the whistles and pin double 14 for a record-equalling sixth Premier League and his first since 2019.

It was comfortably the most compelling crescendos to a season since MVG survived six match darts to beat Peter Wright by the same scoreline in 2017 while it's just the second ever to go the distance in the tournament's 18-year history.

The miss would have broken the career of many players - especially those who haven't enjoyed a rich history of lifting major trophies - and since then Cullen has never reached another major final.

FULL LIST BY VALUE OF MONEY

* Finals in bold, while '+' at end of value denotes player could have gone on to win even more

• 30th= £20,000: Paul Nicholson/Simon Whitlock 4-5 Phil Taylor/Adrian Lewis, 2012 World Cup FINAL
• 30th= £20,000+: Glen Durrant 5-6 Martin Adams, 2015 BDO World Championship semi-final
• 30th= £20,000+: MVG 15-16 Simon Whitlock, 2020 Grand Slam quarter-finals
• 30th= £20,000+: Max Hopp 10-11 James Wade, 2018 European Championship semi-finals
• 30th= £20,000+: Kyle Anderson 10-11 Michael van Gerwen, 2017 European Championship semi-finals
• 30th= £20,000+: Phil Taylor 4-5 Adrian Lewis, 2010 World Grand Prix semi-finals
• 30th= £20,000+: Joe Cullen 10-11 Simon Whitlock, 2018 European Championship semi-finals
• 23th= £25,000: Michael Smith 10-11 James Wade, 2018 World Series of Darts Finals FINAL
• 23th= £25,000: Josh Rock 15-16 James Wade, 2023 Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals
• 23th= £25,000: Dimitri Van den Bergh 15-16 James Wade, 2020 Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals
• 23th= £25,000+: Dave Chisnall 4-5 Gerwyn Price, 2020 World Grand Prix semi-final
• 23th= £25,000+: Adrian Lewis 4-5 Michael van Gerwen, 2013 World Championship quarter-final
• 23th= £25,000+: Dave Chisnall 9-10 Gary Anderson in the 2015 Premier League semi-final
• 17th £26,500+: Gary Anderson 15-16 Peter Wright, 2017 Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals
• 16th £30,000: Mervyn King 10-11 James Wade, 2014 Masters FINAL
• 14th= £35,000+: Michael Smith 4-5 Raymond van Barneveld, 2016 World Championship quarter-final
• 14th= £35,000: Michael Smith 10-11 Peter Wright, 2020 Masters FINAL
• 12th= £40,000+: Phil Taylor 9-10 Peter Wright in the 2017 Premier League semi-final
• 12th= £40,000+: Gary Anderson 9-10 Glen Durrant in the 2020 Premier League semi-final
• 8th= £50,000+ Chris Dobey 4-5 Rob Cross, 2024 World Championship quarter-final
• 8th= £50,000: Peter Wright 10-11 Michael van Gerwen, 2019 Champions League of Darts FINAL
• 8th= £50,000+: James Wade 5-6 Adrian Lewis, 2012 World Championship semi-final
• 8th= £50,000+: Gerwyn Price 4-5 Michael Smith, 2022 World Championship quarter-final
• 5th= £60,000: Luke Humphries 10-11 Dimitri Van den Bergh, 2024 UK Open FINAL
• 5th= £60,000: Michael van Gerwen 10-11 Andrew Gilding, 2023 UK Open FINAL
• 5th= £60,000: Michael Smith 10-11 Danny Noppert, 2022 UK Open FINAL
• 4th £65,000: Mark McGeeney 6-7 Glen Durrant, 2018 BDO World Championship FINAL
• 3rd £85,000+: Michael van Gerwen 5-6 Rob Cross, 2018 World Championship semi-final
• 2nd £130,000: Peter Wright vs Michael van Gerwen in the 2017 Premier League FINAL
• 1st £150,000: Joe Cullen vs Michael van Gerwen in the 2022 Premier League FINAL

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