Paul Michael Nicholson (born 10 May 1979) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won his only major title at the 2010 Players Championship Finals, where he defeated Mervyn King in the final. He was also the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2011 Championship League Darts, and part of the Australia team which lost a sudden death shoot-out to England in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts final.
Nicholson also acts as a sports commentator and TV and radio pundit. He was nicknamed "The Asset", and was known for coming on to the stage with sunglasses, and was also known for his professional wrestling-style walk ons, using the song "Club Foot" as his walk on music for most of his career. Nicholson had a feud with Phil Taylor during the 2011 UK Open, in which he supposedly "waved goodbye" to Taylor after beating him in a sudden death leg to reach the quarter-finals.
Career 2008/2009 Raised in Cramlington then Blyth in Northumberland where he played darts at a local level, Nicholson relocated to Melbourne in 2005 to live with his Australian girlfriend.Worldwide Geordies Message from Melbourne, BBC Tyne, 16 May 2007'I should have beaten him' – The four words that changed Paul Nicholson’s life, Dartsnews.com via YardBarker. 12 August 2025 Before joining the PDC Pro Tour, Nicholson emerged as one of the top players in the Australian Grand Prix circuit, gaining confidence from competing with nationally-renowned opponents and winning 15 titles in 2008. His performances led him to the top of the DPA rankings and earned him a spot in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. He was drawn in Group H with Kevin Painter, Darryl Fitton and WDF number one Gary Anderson. Nicholson beat Anderson 5–4 in his opening group game despite booing from the crowd. He was then defeated by Fitton and Painter to exit the tournament.
Nicholson earned qualification for the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship through the DPA rankings. He defeated Adrian Gray in the first round, winning all nine legs for a three sets to nil victory. He then beat Adrian Lewis in the second round 4–3 and then came from two sets down to beat Dennis Priestley 4–2 to advance to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, he lost to James Wade but his tournament performance lifted him into the top 50 on the PDC Order of Merit.
After his performance in the World Championship, Nicholson decided to leave the DPA and play in the PDC Pro Tour in an attempt to qualify for the UK Open. His last 16 place in the Southern Regional finals ensured his qualification for the tournament. He beat Gary Anderson 6 legs to 4 in the second round, before losing 9–7 to qualifier Ken Mather, whereafter his relationship with the spectators soured further, claiming Mather's supporters had repeatedly shouted out while he was throwing. After the match, as the crowd chanted "who are you" at Nicholson, he responded using profanity towards them which he was later fined for by the DRA.
Nicholson reached the semi-final of the PDPA Players Championship Barnsley 2, defeating Gary Mawson, Mark Dudbridge, John MaGowan, Justin Pipe and Denis Ovens before losing out to Colin Osborne. Nicholson did not enter the qualifiers for the Las Vegas Desert Classic and failed to qualify for the World Matchplay.
2010 In 2010, Nicholson claimed his first PDC title, The Totesport Player's Championship. He played the quarter-final, the semi-final and the final in the same day. In the quarter-final he defeated Adrian Lewis 9–7. He then overcame reigning champion Phil Taylor 10–9 in the semi-finals, and followed this up with a 13–11 victory over Mervyn King in the final. During the latter stages of the tournament, the crowd started to support Nicholson due to his efforts against higher ranked and more experienced opponents (in particular Taylor), and as a result he relaxed his behaviour leading pundits such as Alan Warriner-Little to suggest that he might give up the 'bad boy' image and just be himself.Nicholson Claims Purfleet Glory Planetdarts In March 2010, he moved into the top 16 of the PDC Order of merit for the first time. In the UK Open 2010, he beat Kirk Shepherd 9–6 in the third round, and 7–9 to Gary Anderson in the fourth round. On his World Matchplay debut, he lost 3–10 to Steve Beaton in the first round.
2011 In the 2011 World Championship, Nicholson continued reached the second round. He won his first title since January 2010 by winning the Crawley Players Championship (1) by defeating Adrian Lewis 6–4. He also came through a semi-final clash with Gary Anderson defeating him 6–5.
At the 2011 UK Open, Nicholson won final-leg deciders against Gary Anderson in round four, and Phil Taylor in round five, to reach the quarter-finals. He lost 7–10 to eventual champion James Wade.
At the 2011 World Matchplay, Nicholson defeated Colin Osborne in the first round to secure a second-round match with Raymond van Barneveld.
At the 2011 Championship League Darts, Nicholson lost 6–1 to Phil Taylor in the final.
2012
Nicholson made it to the last 16 of the 2012 World Championship by recording 3–1 and 4–0 victories over Mensur Suljović and Alan Tabern respectively. He next played Belgian Kim Huybrechts and won the first set, before losing 12 of the next 14 legs to exit the tournament 1–4.
After losing in the final of the Spanish Players Championship, Nicholson partnered Simon Whitlock again for the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts. Together they had victories over Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands to reach their first World Cup final, where they played the English pair of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis. Australia found themselves 0–3 down in the final, meaning that Nicholson had to beat Lewis in the last singles match and then win the doubles to force the tie to a sudden-death leg for the World Cup crown. Australia won both of the matches 7–4 and in the sudden-death leg Whitlock and Nicholson both missed two darts each to secure the title, with Lewis hitting the winning double for England. After the match Nicholson vowed that Australia would win the title in the future.
In June, Nicholson missed ten darts to reach the quarter-finals of the UK Open as he lost 8–9 to Denis Ovens in the last 16. In the World Matchplay he was beaten 6–10 by Andy Smith. After his 0–6 first round defeat to Andy Hamilton in the European Championship he did some commentating for ESPN who were broadcasting the tournament in the UK. At the World Grand Prix he beat Michael Mansell and Colin Osborne to reach his first quarter-final in the event. He faced Wes Newton and led 2–0 in sets, but was unable to take out 106 for a straight sets win and instead went on to lose 2–3. In October, he reached his first final since the World Cup in February at the fifth European Tour Event of the year, the Dutch Darts Masters. His run included a win over Michael van Gerwen, who had won four tournaments in the previous two months and a semi-final victory over Wayne Jones who beat Phil Taylor in the previous round. He faced compatriot Whitlock in a first all Australian final on the PDC ProTour and lost 1–6, admitting afterwards that he had run out of steam by the conclusion of the tournament. At the Grand Slam of Darts, Nicholson lost two out of his three Group F games to finish third in the table and fail to qualify for the last 16. After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Nicholson was 18th on the Order of Merit, inside the top 32 who qualified for the Players Championship Finals. He missed one dart in the deciding leg against Ronnie Baxter in the first round, losing 5–6.
2013 Nicholson lost in the second round of the 2013 World Championship to Robert Thornton. He survived a total of five match darts from Thornton to take the match into a sudden death leg, which he lost. Nicholson never had a dart to win himself but did throw for the match during the final set. In his third World Cup of Darts with Simon Whitlock the pair were beaten in the last 16 when the Belgian brothers of Ronny and Kim Huybrechts defeated them 1–5. On 16 & 17 March 2013, Nicholson had wins over Dave Chisnall, Ross Smith, Darren Whittingham, Louis Blundell, Kim Huybrechts, Brendan Dolan, Co Stompé, Richie Burnett and Ronnie Baxter to secure back-to-back quarter final spots in the Speedy Services UK Open Qualifier 3 & Qualifier 4 events in Wigan. He was then whitewashed by Michael van Gerwen 6–0 in the quarter-final of Qualifier 3 and lost to 6–5 Gary Anderson the following day in the quarter-final of Qualifier 4. Nicholson competed a few weeks later at the European Darts Trophy in Sindelfingen, Germany. He saw off Ronny Huybrechts 6–5 in the first round before coming back from 5–1 down to defeat Colin Lloyd in the last 32. He then claimed wins over Dean Winstanley and Mark Webster to secure a semi-final clash with world number three Michael van Gerwen. He saw off van Gerwen 6–2 to face Wes Newton in the final. Nicholson missed nine darts to lead 5–3 and in the deciding leg had three darts to win the tournament on 24, but hit a single 12 with his first and burst his score by hitting a single 13 with his second and lost the match 5–6. He reached another final in May at the third Players Championship but was defeated 4–6 by Jamie Caven.
Nicholson lost 9–5 to John Bowles in the third round of the UK Open. In the opening round of the World Matchplay he saw 4–1 and 8–7 leads over Dave Chisnall turn into a 10–8 defeat and was in tears on the stage during the final leg. Nicholson said later that the feeling of not having enough during the match was too much to handle, but hoped the experience would be a starting point for a new phase in his career. He reached the last 16 of the Grand Slam of Darts losing heavily to James Wade 10–1.
2014 Nicholson beat Stuart Kellett 3–0 in the opening round of the 2014 World Championship, but Kevin Painter beat Nicholson 4–0 in the subsequent round. He co-commentated on the final, for BBC Radio 5 Live. Nicholson lost 9–5 to Terry Jenkins in the UK Open fourth round. Nicholson and Whitlock won through to the semi-finals of the World Cup of Darts where they faced England's Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis in a repeat of 2012's final. Whitlock was beaten 4–1 by Taylor, before Nicholson overcame Lewis 4–2 to mean a doubles match was required to settle the tie which Australia lost 4–0. Nicholson overcame Robert Thornton 10–8 in the first round of the World Matchplay, explaining later that his form had suffered over the previous months due to pains in his neck and shoulders which he has worked with an acupuncturist to help relieve. In the second round, Wes Newton fought back from 5–0 and 8–3 deficits and went on to survive five match darts from Nicholson to knock him out 15–13. This was the last major Nicholson played in during the year as he failed to qualify for the World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals.
2015