Kirk Shepherd admits his darts career went “off the rails” after he became world championship runner-up 12 years ago - because he was too lazy.
Rank outsider Shepherd's run to the final in 2008, where the former sheet metal worker who made pins and screws in a Kent factory lost 7-2 against John Part, was one of sport's greatest near-misses with fairytales.
But after coming so close to the top of the pile at 21, Shepherd slipped down the order of merit. And he joins the PDC Home Tour on Monday tucked away at No.78 in the world rankings.
Shepherd admitted: “Maybe I couldn’t handle the expectations. I have still been playing and have always retained my Tour card. “I’m good enough to be on the Tour but I could not produce the goods when it
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