John Part insists he has unfinished business in darts. The three-time world champion lost his PDC Tour card in 2019 and, more recently, has graced the World Seniors tour. But the 59-year-old Canadian hasn’t given up hope of returning to the main tour, having tried his luck, albeit unsuccessfully, at recent editions of PDC Q-School.
With the competitive juices still stirring, Part is open to having another crack at Q-School in 2026. He may have been back in business sooner had he not suffered a shoulder injury while out walking his dog during the pandemic. He recalled: “I got a rotator cuff injury from my dog. It was in the middle of 2020 and I couldn’t get it seen to. By the time I got an image [X-ray], it was fine, but then I had a frozen shoulder and had to stop throwing for six months.
“I’ve been working back to it since. I’m not too sure exactly what my capabilities are. I feel like I’m improving all the time but I’m not sure what the ceiling is. I’m still working at it and we’ll find out, I suppose. I’m getting mixed bits of success here and there.”
Part, who lives in Oshawa near Toronto, isn’t committing to another crack at Q-School, which would come shortly after a stint working for Sky Sports at the World Championship, but he is certainly considering it.
“It’s a month away [from home] at the worst time of year,” he said. “Sometimes, on the morale side, it’s hard to feel fresh.
“But I still have that love to play and to compete. I still enjoy it, I just wish the timing was a little different. I imagine, if I can give it a go again, I will. I like testing myself.”
On whether he could commit to full-time tour life again, Part said: “I would manage that and see. Any wise person who’s just earned a card hits it hard the first couple of months, sees what returns they get and then re-evaluates and maybe picks their spots here and there.
“Obviously, if you’re not making money, you’re not whipping the horse. It was hard during my last few years when I had a card. I wasn’t making a lot of money and had a lot of expenses. It wasn’t ideal and maybe I wasn’t doing myself a favour, [not] pushing as hard as I could.
“If I did it [had a tour card] again, I’d look at it much more pragmatically and hit it hard in the initial stages, just to see. Things like getting in the World Cup, potentially, representing your country, are exciting. I’ve done it a bunch of times but it never gets boring.
“A tour card would get me into the UK Open, which I’ve always enjoyed. My last hurrah with the PDC was getting to the quarter-finals in the big snow year [2018, when the tournament had to be played behind closed doors because of Storm Emma]. I wouldn’t mind these opportunities as like a ‘last song tour’. But I don’t think I’ll ever quit for real.”