Michael Smith hit with £485,000 problem after former darts champ’s shock second round World Championship exit
MICHAEL SMITH has been hit with a £485,000 problem after his shock second-round exit from the World Darts Championship last night.
Bully Boy is set to have just under half a million wiped off his world ranking winnings - which could also see the Englishman drop out of the top 16.
Almost all of the £500,000 he won at Ally Pally two years ago will be stripped from his PDC calculation after the tournament.
The Order of Merit calculates the leaderboard by prize money won over the last two years.
Smith shot to the top by winning the World Championship in 2023, succeeding in an epic final against Michael Van Gerwen.
But the 34-year-old is set to have £485,000 wiped off his winnings from the rankings after his triumph in January 2023.
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He is currently ranked No.2 in the world, although his £890,000 is nearly £1million off Luke Humphries’ incredible lead at the top.
A shock 3-2 defeat against Kevin Doets is set to send Smith a long way down the rankings and potentially out of the top 16.
Based on the current predicted live rankings, that changed overnight, Smith has plummeted to 15th with the rest of the tournament set to play out over the next fortnight.
The St Helens ace recorded a three-dart average of 96.93, while Doets averaged 96.90.
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Smith pocketed just £15,000 after crashing out in his grudge match defeat to Doets in the closest game of the tournament on Thursday.
It's been 12 months since world No.51 Doets, 26, lost 3-2 to Smith at Ally Pally.
"Everyone else is thinking about me defending half a million, other than me.
"I am defending half a million but I don't have to give it back if I get beaten in the first round. The money is still sat there safe, it is invested."
Smith's new low comes after a patchy year where he claimed just one individual ranking title in May.
Smith partnered with Humphries to win the 2024 PDC World Cup of Darts for England, defeating Austria 10–6 in the final in June.
And was runner–up at the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals, losing to Luke Littler 11–4 in the final.
Doets - who beat Noa-Lynn van Leuven 3-1 in round one - will now face Krzysztof Ratajski, Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo in the last 32 after Christmas.
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Meanwhile, Smith has revealed that he would retire from darts if he ever fell out of the world's top 64.
He also explained that he saw making the semis of the World Championships as the "bare minimum".
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