Glen Durrant has secured plenty of headlines following an impressive debut season in the PDC and as 'Duzza' embarks on a North-East Derby against Chris Dobey at the World Darts Championship, he's bidding to crown a memorable 12 months in style.
Durrant crossed the darting divide after scooping his third successive BDO World Championship title and after narrowly coming through Qualifying School, he's taken the PDC by storm - winning two Pro Tour titles and reaching three major televised semi-finals.
He's parachuted himself up to 27th on the PDC Order of Merit and his exploits at Alexandra Palace could potentially see him climb into the world's top 16 - an astonishing achievement considering he's only held his two-year Tour Card for 11 months.
He's currently enjoying a 17-game winning run at the World Championships although he's almost gone under the radar in the capital, due to the plethora of upsets and ground-breaking stories we've witnessed throughout the event.
Raymond van Barneveld's retirement - early exits for Michael Smith, Rob Cross, James Wade and Dave Chisnall, coupled with Fallon Sherrock's historic success has captured the majority of the media focus, but Durrant is going about his business in typically professional fashion.
The 49-year-old kicked off his campaign with a straight sets win over Brisbane Darts Masters winner Damon Heta, which set up a third-round showdown against sixth seed Daryl Gurney.
It was a topsy-turvy affair but Durrant's exemplary timing proved decisive - the Teessider landed big punches at crucial junctures to record a 4-2 success and continue his dream Ally Pally debut.
The three-time world champion was unable to hide his delight after dumping out the Northern Irishman although in typical Durrant fashion, he was almost apologetic for showing such euphoria.
"Apologies for the reaction, it's not normally my style to do that," Durrant told Sky Sports' Mikki Austin.
"I'm at the World Championship, I'm at Ally Pally and if you can't release a bit of emotion here then you don't deserve to be playing darts. I'm absolutely ecstatic."
Durrant has forged a reputation for being one of the most proficient combination finishers in world darts and that was on display against Gurney.
There was little to separate the pair in terms of averages and doubling percentages but while Gurney was unable to register a solitary ton-plus checkout, Durrant landed finishes of 128, 102, 108 and 109 en route to victory.
"I did a James Wade - I did a Wadey. He plays the game like I do. I wish I was as good as him but just around that 102 to 124- I'm really good at those finishes there and that's what James Wade has done all his life. To beat Daryl Gurney is pretty unbelievable."
Durrant has been the epitome of consistency in major televised ranking events this term, reaching the last four at the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts.
He's defeated the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Michael Smith, James Wade, Nathan Aspinall and Adrian Lewis in those respective events, adding Gurney to his growing list of scalps at the people's palace.
Now he takes on his close friend and fellow North East star Chris Dobey in the last 16 on Saturday evening, after 'Hollywood' overcame history-maker Fallon Sherrock in the third round.
Sherrock's performances have been the biggest story of the tournament to date - her wins over Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic have generated unprecedented coverage for the sport and in particular women in the game.
She averaged over 90, landed eight maximums and produced three ton-plus checkouts against Dobey, but the 29-year-old defied a partisan atmosphere to progress to the last 16 for the second straight year.
Dobey's progress in 2019 cannot be underestimated. Having appeared as a contender in this year's Premier League, he's broken new ground by securing semi-final spots at the World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals.
He's also appearing in the fourth round of the World Championship for the second straight year and Durrant is full of praise for the 22nd seed.
"Chris is just the nicest man in the world and it would be great to have Middlesbrough vs Newcastle," added Durrant.
"To play Chris - he's up there with Steve Beaton and Dave Chisnall. He's just the nicest guy - nobody has a bad word to say about him."
Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. Coverage of the World Darts Championship continues on Sky Sports Darts throughout the tournament with another double session on Saturday getting underway at 12.30pm and 7pm.