Memorable "purple patches"

[Malanax]

think it's fair to say ritchie edhouse is in a classic "purple patch". over the last 60 days only Littler has a better win/loss percentage than him in the PDC. which made me think of other ones

guess the definition is wildly open to personal opinion in terms of duration and peak achieved within that patch

other one's that spring to mind

Devon Petersen all of a sudden becoming the worlds best scorer/t20 hitter in early-mid 2020 leading quite quickly to his euro tour title and making the SF of the euro champs, and then never really capturing that form again leading to a tour card loss a couple years later.

Jose de sousa - again similar time, 2020-2021, wins a euro tour title, wins the grand slam, makes the top 10, 5 ranking titles between 10/20 and 07/21, june 21 he hits the record for 180s in a PC day (34), prem league runner up 2021. hasnt won a title since 2021 and realistically looks like never winning one again, 35 on post worlds order of merit.

[TheMalteseDart]

Jamie Hughes looked unbelievable around the time he won his euro tour title, it was around the time I was getting into darts in terms of watching every event and he was a massive danger on the floor and in the euro tour events. So the title win wasn't just a complete one off weekend, but since then he's been a million miles off it, sounds like injury screwed him.

I don't know if Clayton or Gilding will come up in this thread but i'd argue they wasn't purple patches. Clayton had always been a dangerous opponent and it just seemed like natural improvement combined with confidence that saw him pick up his titles.

Gilding also just seemed to have naturally improved, he had been playing well for months before the UK Open win, and had previous evidence of a high ceiling

[shenmue]

Wadey's had a few, hopefully some more in the future like in 2018 when he won back to back prestigious tv titles. The good old days.

[daveboygreen]

Jamie Hughes looked unbelievable around the time he won his euro tour title, it was around the time I was getting into darts in terms of watching every event and he was a massive danger on the floor and in the euro tour events. So the title win wasn't just a complete one off weekend, but since then he's been a million miles off it, sounds like injury screwed him.

I don't know if Clayton or Gilding will come up in this thread but i'd argue they wasn't purple patches. Clayton had always been a dangerous opponent and it just seemed like natural improvement combined with confidence that saw him pick up his titles.

Gilding also just seemed to have naturally improved, he had been playing well for months before the UK Open win, and had previous evidence of a high ceiling

You could argue that players purple patches come from confidence.

[sennafan24]

Rob Cross in late 2017 and early 2018.

His TV form was superb, especially at the 2018 Worlds and 2017 European Championship.

For 8 straight TV events between the 2017 European Championship and 2018 PL he at least made the QF stage. A streak he hasn't achieved since from what I can tell.

[daveboygreen]

Rob Cross in late 2017 and early 2018.

His TV form was superb, especially at the 2018 Worlds and 2017 European Championship.

For 8 straight TV events between the 2017 European Championship and 2018 PL he at least made the QF stage. A streak he hasn't achieved since from what I can tell.

Be interesting to see if anyone has his 2016 Challenge Tour stats as I recall he won the CT that year and had won a lot of CT's

[Randall]

Taylor 1995-2001 and 2009-2013

[Ross, Bob]

Taylor 1995-2001 and 2009-2013

Can you really call it a patch when it lasts years?

[Dfc180]

Humphries at the end of last year

[Randall]

Taylor 1995-2001 and 2009-2013

Can you really call it a patch when it lasts years?

For me to remember it yes

[Captain Hobo]

Mark McGeeney's right arm

[The Thorn]

Mark McGeeney's right arm

[Malanax]

Jamie Hughes looked unbelievable around the time he won his euro tour title, it was around the time I was getting into darts in terms of watching every event and he was a massive danger on the floor and in the euro tour events. So the title win wasn't just a complete one off weekend, but since then he's been a million miles off it, sounds like injury screwed him.

I don't know if Clayton or Gilding will come up in this thread but i'd argue they wasn't purple patches. Clayton had always been a dangerous opponent and it just seemed like natural improvement combined with confidence that saw him pick up his titles.

Gilding also just seemed to have naturally improved, he had been playing well for months before the UK Open win, and had previous evidence of a high ceiling

hughes is a good shout, was also unreal at q-school day 1 that year, smashed in loads of big averages

L32 = 109.79
L16 = 109.35
L8 = 108.51

[Safc]

Martin Lukeman had patch in 2022 similar to Edhouse

[oche balboa]

Scott Mitchell 2014 into 2015.

[The Thorn]

Scott Mitchell 2014 into 2015.

Including the last unified world final

[DeepFriedRat]

- Andy Hamilton- 2012/13- Perennial Quarter Finalist- was a solid danger player loitering from 9th to 32nd from 2006-11, but never looking winning anything to suddenly fingerlicking everywhere, all the time, including the Premier League. Everyone else eventually caught up with him and he sank instead of swam.

- Darren Webster- 2017/18- solid Top 16 player, let success get to his head and got injured simultaneously. Was a dangerous jobber and the arch typical "cracking little player" before this and has since reverted to type.

- Benito van de Pas- 2016/17- solid top 16 player, a few floor wins, a double away from a ET win and some amazing averages, was touted as 'next to be in the PL' alongside Price and Gurney at the 2017 WMP. Throw totally fell apart and sank like a stone down the rankings.

- Jeffrey de Zwaan- 2018- WMP SF and title win followed up by injury and laziness

- Max Hopp- 2018- Euro Tour and floor wins followed by complete collapse of throw

- Cristo Reyes- 2017/18- came from nowhere to be top 16 on the Pro Tour and solid top 32 player, to absolutely nowhere since Covid.

- Alan Soutar- 2021 and 2022- has thrown big averages and had good runs at Ally Pally, thrown in with some average stuff

- Ronny Huybrechts- 2013/14- European Championship semi final, World Cup runner up and made every TV event.

[DeepFriedRat]

Jamie Hughes looked unbelievable around the time he won his euro tour title, it was around the time I was getting into darts in terms of watching every event and he was a massive danger on the floor and in the euro tour events. So the title win wasn't just a complete one off weekend, but since then he's been a million miles off it, sounds like injury screwed him.

I don't know if Clayton or Gilding will come up in this thread but i'd argue they wasn't purple patches. Clayton had always been a dangerous opponent and it just seemed like natural improvement combined with confidence that saw him pick up his titles.

Gilding also just seemed to have naturally improved, he had been playing well for months before the UK Open win, and had previous evidence of a high ceiling

Agree with Clayton and Gilding.

Would argue that Suljovic, Noppert, Gurney, Dobey and Van den Bergh aren't either because they have been around as potentially title winning players for many years (3 years+).

However, Jose De Sousa 2020/21 could be classed as a purple patch imo.

[sennafan24]

Bob Anderson's campaign at Lakeside 1988 - viewtopic.php?t=9495&hilit=anderson+1988

To date, quite possibly the greatest tournament any player has had at Lakeside for the following reasons;

- Bob's tournament average in 1988 was not inflated by a single freak average. He averaged in the 97-98 range in all 4 games on route to the final. It was only in the final that his standard dropped a bit, where he averaged 92.

- Bob's 1988 tournament average exceeded the tournament averages that Taylor and Priestley posted during their championship years at Lakeside immediately after in the early 1990s. So presumably they all competed with similar equipment during these years.

- Likewise, Bob's 1988 tournament average exceeded the tournament averages that Bristow and Lowe posted during their championship years at Lakeside immediately before in 1986 and 1987 respectively. So presumably they all competed with similar equipment during these years.

- It was only around 10-15 years later in the early 2000s, on equipment that we can assume was more player friendly, that Walton and Barney posted higher tournament averages at Lakeside. Even then, both only exceeded Bob's 1988 tournament average by fewer than a single point.

- Some 15 years or so later, Duzza would also produce a tournament average at Lakeside marginally higher than Bob's tournament average in 1988. However, Duzza did this with equipment that was more player friendly than that which Walton and Barney had set their Lakeside records on in the early 2000s, and in turn presumably far more player friendly than the equipment Bob had competed on in 1988.

[1205]

Rob Cross in late 2017 and early 2018.

His TV form was superb, especially at the 2018 Worlds and 2017 European Championship.

For 8 straight TV events between the 2017 European Championship and 2018 PL he at least made the QF stage. A streak he hasn't achieved since from what I can tell.

Be interesting to see if anyone has his 2016 Challenge Tour stats as I recall he won the CT that year and had won a lot of CT's

Don't know his stats. They started using DartConnect in 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_PDC_ ... lenge_Tour
https://www.darts1.de/ranglisten/Challe ... t-2016.php

4 weekends, 16 tournaments.
1 Cross 9700
2 Searle 7400
3 Burnett 5000

Cross won 3 (CT10, CT13, CT15) and lost 2 finals (CT1, CT5)
So, he showed something every weekend.