JOHN PART believes that retaining his Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship would rank as the finest moment of his career.
The Canadian claimed his third World Championship at Alexandra Palace 12 months ago, defeating Kirk Shepherd 7-2 to pick up the title.
That added to victories in the 1994 Embassy Championship and the 2003 PDC World Championship, and he has also claimed the Las Vegas Desert Classic title during his stellar career.
He faces Bill Davis on Friday night in the beginning of the defence of the World Championship, and concedes that success at Alexandra Palace this time around would be doubly memorable.
"To retain the title would be probably my greatest achievement," said Part.
"It's always an honour to win the World Championship but retaining the title is perhaps harder and very few players have done that, so it would be special."
Part's win a year ago gave him the honour of having won the World Championship in three different venues, as the first victor at Alexandra Palace.
"It's a great venue," said Part. "I hadn't played in the Premier League for a couple of years and that's where a lot of these bigger venues came from, including Ally Pally.
"So it was a bit new and big, but I adjusted quickly enough, and I enjoyed the giant banners they had on the wall of us former champions.
"It's something to look at when things aren't quite going your way to remind you who you're supposed to be.
"But the whole Alexandra Palace experience was enjoyable, the backstage facilities are ideal for us, the fans seem to enjoy it and I'm unbeaten there, which makes it even better for me!"
Part begins his title defence against American Bill Davis on Friday night, and is expecting a tough challenge from the Philadelphia man.
"I've known Bill for many years," said Part. "He's used to a shorter format in America so this may suit me but he's got plenty of experience on stage in the last couple of years and will be a challenge.
"I've not seen him for a few months so I'll have no idea what his form is like.
"I know he can play well and he'll probably be more comfortable playing me because I'm a player he knows well.
"He'll be comfortable sharing the stage with me rather than an English player or someone he doesn't know as well as me.
"It's a good draw for me in a way, because it's a guy from my territory and there's familiarity there and I can focus on playing my game - there's no 'wildcard' aspect to it like in the Grand Slam of Darts when I played Anastasia Dobromyslova."
Darts fans outside the UK and Holland can watch a live video stream of the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship at www.worldchampionshipdarts.tv.
Tickets for the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship are still available - click here for full details
Ladbrokes.com World Darts Champion John Part is pictured above with a specially-made "3-D Dart Art", created by pavement artist Manfred Stader to commemorate the launch of this year's tournament