Michael Smith was thrilled to hit his first ever televised nine-dart finish in Dublin - but thinks his son Junior will still be critical of his performance.
Bully Boy sent the sell-out 9,000 crowd at the 3Arena into pandemonium when ending the near three-year wait for the Premier League's ninth perfect leg in history.
Michael Smith's first televised nine-darter and the first from anyone on the Premier League stage since 2017! Dublin erupts but he stays pretty cool! pic.twitter.com/7A7ReJtWxx
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) February 27, 2020
He said: "It was an amazing feeling. That was special. I've never felt my heart beat so fast in my life. It's something on my list that I've ticked off now.
"I was speaking with my dad a couple of weeks ago - I've missed the double a few times on TV and I wanted the gold pin badge to go alongside my silver ones."
Despite backing it up by winning his match 7-5 against Daryl Gurney, Smith's average of 88 was well below his usual standard and took as many as 20 darts to win three of his other legs.
The St Helens star, is half-way towards achieving the £50,000 bonus offered by sponsors Unibet should a player land two perfect legs during the 2020 season, was later shown footage his wife Dagmara took of his two young sons celebrating his heroics at home and couldn't hold back the emotion.
He said: "It's emotional to see that. To see my kids enjoying it like that is special - it means a lot.
"They're everything to me, but Junior will probably still be critical of my game when I get home - that's what he's like!"
Absolutely amazing 😍😍😍😍 well done @BullyBoy180 @OfficialPDC pic.twitter.com/OsVnq6MqK1
— Dagmara Smith (@DagaDarts) February 27, 2020
