Cutting edge - Shepherd stands on threshold of new life as final jackpot looms

The climax of the Ladbrokes.com PDC World Darts Championship will provide 2008 with its first sporting success.

Experience says it will be John Part, the quietly-spoken Canadian who has taken a steady journey to the final; romance says it will be Shepherd, a 21-year-old qualifier from Kent who lives at home, pays his mum £18 a week for his upkeep, does not own a car and has been wearing the same underwear almost all week.

No wonder he says: "In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would be here." Fifteen days ago, when the championship began at Alexandra Palace, Shepherd was an unknown.

He was ranked 104th in the world, he had earned less than £2,000 in prize money in his career and he was at work at FK Moore in Ramsgate because he could not get the time off. Forty hours later he was on the oche beating No 4 seed Terry Jenkins and starting a run to the final where victory this evening will bring him £100,000.

Just making it into the final assures him of £50,000 — the prize for the runner-up and more than six years' salary in less than two weeks. It is a stunning financial windfall which, somehow, he is trying to ignore as he prepares to meet Part, the double world champion who beat Phil 'The Power' Taylor in the 2003 final.

Shepherd has been in the same job since he left school at 16 — three years after he started playing darts — and he has to walk two miles to work each day because he wrote his car off and buses do not go on the journey into the industrial estate. He is due to return to work tomorrow.

Shepherd said: 'I cut the brass metal down to make the hook and screws. They sell it to B&Q and places like that. I hate it, I really do. I would love to not have to step foot in that place again.

'I ran up the backside of someone and I could not afford to buy another car or pay for the insurance, so I walk there whatever the weather — wind, rain or shine.

'I am there at eight and I leave at five. It is a horrible job and I want to get out. But I will worry about that after the final. If I want to win this competition I have to block out all the money and the lifechanging experiences and concentrate on beating John.'

Shepherd plays without any fear. He rarely waits to compose himself on the oche, quickly launching his darts, a formula which saw him hit back from 4-3 down to knock out Wayne Mardle in the semi-final.

The accuracy of his arrows has been stunning, and it shows how far he has come in the eight years since he landed in hot water with his mum, Debbie, after smashing a window when a throw went astray.

He said: 'My dad was a keen player and that is how I started. I loved the game straightaway. I had a board on the outside of the bathroom door and I would stand in the hallway throwing at it.

'But on one occasion I missed the board and smashed a window. My mum had a go at me. It was not a great set-up, yet at the age of 13, all I wanted to do was play darts and I dreamed of being at the world championship.'

Keith Deller was a qualifier when he won the 1983 Embassy title and if Shepherd triumphs, he will become the youngest ever darts champion and the biggest outsider, from his starting odds of 500-1.

Not that he had much faith in himself. When he returned to London after the Christmas break, he packed minimal clothing. He said: 'I did not bring enough things because I never dreamed I would make the final. I brought just two pairs of boxer shorts, my girlfriend Emma has been washing them in the bath at the hotel every night and they have dried in time for the next day.'

Part, 41, from Oshawa in Ontario, has been impressed by Shepherd's gusto. 'He's hit the shots,' he said. And how. Over 13 sets tonight, the guy who helps out the superstore could become the superstar.