Glen Durrant has admitted his darts career took off "overnight" after a late surge in form during his mid-40s. The former BDO world champion, affectionately known as Duzza, was a late bloomer in the sport, only securing his first PDC tour card in 2019 at the age of 48.
Reflecting on his rise, Durrant told Daily Star Sport via OLBG: "I would average in my 90s for a good five or six years, and it's almost like I just bypassed all of that, and then one day I was averaging hundreds."
A Late Start and Rapid Rise
Durrant's breakthrough came in 2014 with a World Masters semi-final appearance. In 2015, he claimed the World Masters and the Finder Masters. He became World Champion in 2017 and completed the set with the World Trophy in 2018.
Durrant was in his pomp in 2018, winning the BDO World Championship, World Trophy and Finder Masters, only losing to Adam Smith-Neale in the final of the World Masters.
"So it was an interesting one, that it was in my mid-40s, especially when you're seeing Luke [Littler] doing what he's doing at such a young age," he added.
PDC Success and Premier League Glory
After establishing himself at the top of the BDO, Durrant moved to the PDC, securing his Tour Card through Q-School and surviving match darts from Matthew Dennant to qualify via the Order of Merit.
His career then went into orbit. Durrant reached a Players Championship final in only his second PDC event, before going one better the following week to claim his first PDC title. By May, he had added a second ranking title, beating Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals before dispatching Darius Labanauskas in the final.
Durrant was suddenly mixing it with the biggest names in the sport, beating Adrian Lewis, van Gerwen and James Wade on his way to the semi-finals of the World Matchplay. He then reached the quarter-finals of his maiden World Championship, where he was beaten by Gerwyn Price.
With the world soon plunged into lockdown, Durrant topped the league phase of a hastily reorganised Premier League, becoming only the third player to do so after Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor. He survived match darts against Gary Anderson in the semi-final before beating Nathan Aspinall in the final to win the Premier League at the first time of asking in 2020.
Pathways in Modern Darts
Now working with Sky Sports, Durrant looked back on his own route to the top and admitted there are now "so many pathways" available to players.
"There's a guy called Derek Coulson who's mopping up the amateur side of the game right now, and I think he's in his mid-50s. There's opportunities for really young players with a JDC, with the Development Tours," he said.
"There's also still pathways for people older. It does feel more and more these days like a young player's game. I certainly knew when I reached 50 that playing two or three games over consecutive nights was getting more and more difficult. And I'm watching Mitchell Lawrie now, very, very similar to the story of Luke Littler. It just feels right now it's a young player's game."
