John Lowe
Gary Anderson
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
John Lowe leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places John Lowe at #5 and Gary Anderson at #6.
The case for John Lowe
The only player to win world titles in three different decades — 1979, 1987 and 1993 — from seven world finals, across a career that bridged the pub era and the professional one. Old Stoneface was the technical antithesis of Bristow: unhurried, expressionless, orthodox in stance and grip, and admired by coaches as the model throw. He added two Winmau World Masters and a News of the World title among more than ten televised majors, and on 13 October 1984 he threw the first nine-dart finish ever seen on television, at the MFI World Matchplay against Keith Deller, closing 180, 180 and treble 17, treble 18, double 18 for a prize of £102,000 — an enormous sum for any British sportsman of the period. He was among the sixteen players who broke away in 1992 to found what became the PDC, and he remained competitive on television into his fifties.
The case for Gary Anderson
The purest thrower of his generation and the man who ended Phil Taylor's last realistic title bid. Anderson won back-to-back PDC world championships in 2015, beating Taylor 7-6 in a final decided in the last leg, and 2016, beating Adrian Lewis 7-5. He reached six world finals in all, including two BDO finals in 2010 and 2011 before switching codes, and lost the 2017 and 2021 finals to Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price respectively. He also won the 2011 Premier League among more than ten televised majors. His throw is famously effortless — a short, fast release that other professionals openly envy — and at his best he is capable of scoring bursts nobody can live with, including a run of 180s in the 2015 and 2016 championships that remade the tournament's records. Chronic back trouble and an unconcealed distaste for the travelling circuit have limited his output rather than his ability.