The doyenne of darts, a world champion, and will go down as one of the great of game, in our opinion had the best debut season in PDC history.

In his debut season van Barneveld won not one but two major PDC events, the UK Open and the coveted PDC World Championship, adding to his four world titles from his BDO days. In what would arguably be the greatest final of all time Barney was pushed into a deciding set and then sudden death leg by Phil Taylor with both players averaging over the 100 mark.

Van Barneveld would of course capture the gold and go on to have a wonderful career in the PDC. The groundwork was laid by a UK Open triumph and a final in Las Vegas, but all spotlight belongs to that World Championship final. Outlining the greatest debut year in PDC history.

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