Until last weekend, Gilding played a role in the margins of darts. The final place at the UK Open was already a highlight in his career. The subsequent victory over Van Gerwen turned his life upside down.
Gilding made a big jump in the world ranking, from position 41 to position 25. And perhaps more importantly: he is 110,000 pounds (more than 123,000 euros) richer in one fell swoop. ‘Goldfinger’ wants to buy his own house for the first time in his life.
“That’s the plan, yes,” says Gilding The Guardian. “I’ve lived in a small one-bedroom flat for 30 years now and had been saving for a while. My dream now is to buy my own house.”
‘Now make sure I don’t get lazy’
“I never had much money,” says Gilding. “Never. I don’t know how much money I can eventually raise in darts, but it was always my dream to have a real snooker table in my house. I just think I would have to win the World Cup for that.”
“I worked my way up from the gutter to the top of the world. What a turnaround! It’s unbelievable. I’ve had some jobs in the factory, but I’ve also been unemployed a lot. That’s why I led a withdrawn life. I had mental problems.”
Life looks a lot brighter for Gilding now. “Hopefully I can get used to that,” he says. “Eight years ago I had some nice results and I got a bit lazy. I came too late for league games and so on. I have to prevent that this time.”
Unfortunately, this content cannot be displayedWe do not have permission for the necessary cookies. Accept the cookies to view this content.
