Colin Lloyd says that winning the World Darts Championship remains his ultimate goal.
Jaws wants to prove he can still mix it with the best
He's topped the rankings and won countless titles, but Colin Lloyd says that winning the World Darts Championship remains his ultimate goal.
The former world number one has endured a difficult year on the PDC circuit, slipping to number 13 on the Order of Merit, but is hoping to put that behind him with a strong showing when he arrives at Alexandra Palace.
And Lloyd, who won the World Matchplay in 2005 and the World Grand Prix in 2004, says success this Christmas would undoubtedly be the pinnacle of his career.
"Anybody in any walk of life has an ultimate goal and for us in darts it's the World Championship," he told
skysports.com.
"I've been a World Matchplay champion, I've been a World Grand Prix champion and I've been world number one, but I've never been the world professional champion.
"I'm not going to say it's my be-all-and-end-all and it means everything to me, but if I win it, well it would be the icing on the cake of a great career.
"By that I'm not saying I'm going to go down in history as one of the greats, but I've been all over the world, I've won a lot of tournaments and I've met a lot of nice people.
"I started in 1999, so this is my 13th year on the circuit. I always say the ultimate is to stay in the top 16 in the world. By the end of 1999 I was ranked inside the top 16 and I've never dropped out of it since.
"But the World Championship is the pinnacle; it's what we play for all year. It's great winning all these other events, but you think to yourself 'please let me be in form when Christmas comes'."
Run
Lloyd's best run at the World Championship came in 2002 when he was narrowly beaten by Peter Manley in the last four, but he has not made it past the third round in his last six visits.
Phil Taylor has dominated the event in the last decade, and is hot favourite once again this year, but Target Darts ambassador Lloyd insists he wants to prove himself by competing with the sport's top-ranked stars this year.
He said: "I got to the semi-finals, the best run I ever had there, and got beat 6-4 by Peter Manley. I was gutted because I really thought I could get to the final. I've had some good runs there since and I've had some silly times there.
"Phil Taylor has dominated the World Championship and it is hard going, but you can't go there with a negative attitude. If you go negative then don't play, you've got to stay positive.
"I think it boils down to the usual suspects; Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson and Phil Taylor, but it would be nice if I could get up there and get in the mix myself to prove to myself I can still do it."
