Aden Kirk

Last updated

Aden Kirk
Personal information
Nickname"Captain" [1]
Born (1992-03-03) 3 March 1992 (age 32)
Nottingham, England
Home townIlkeston, Derbyshire, England
Darts information
Playing darts since2006
Darts22 Gram Unicorn Signature
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music"You Make My Dreams" by Daryl Hall & John Oates
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC 2010–
Current world ranking ( PDC ) NR (12 January 2025) [2]
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship Last 96: 2019
UK Open Last 16: 2014
Other tournament wins
PDC Development Tour England 2015, 2016
PDC Challenge Tour 2024

Aden Kirk (born 3 March 1992) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is also a published children's book author with Austin Macauley Publishers. [3] Kirk is most known for his third round victory over Phil Taylor at the 2014 UK Open, regarded as one of the biggest shocks in darts history. [4] [5]

Contents

Career

In 2014, Kirk reached the last 64 in two of the six UK Open qualifiers to enter the event in the first round stage. [6] He beat Conan Whitehead 5–4 and Gerwyn Price 5–2 to face 16-time world champion Phil Taylor in the third round. [7] In Kirk's first televised match, he caused a big upset by beating Taylor 9–7. [8] [9] He then played Peter Wright, who had been the World Championship runner-up at the beginning of the year, and continued his amazing run by taking out two ton-plus finishes and coming back from 5–3 down to triumph 9–5. [10] In the fifth round Kirk and Brendan Dolan shared the first 14 legs, before the Northern Irishman won the match with two 13 dart legs. Kirk earned £5,000 for his run in the tournament, by far the biggest of his career to date. [11] In July, Kirk reached the final of the 12th Challenge Tour event of the year where he was edged out 5–4 by Brett Claydon. [12]

In April 2015, Kirk won the third Development Tour event of the year. He saw off Jamie Lewis 4–3 in the semi-finals and Benito van de Pas 4–1 in the final. [13] Kirk reached the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time since his UK Open exploits at the 15th Players Championship with victories over William O'Connor, Justin Pipe and Ronny Huybrechts, before he lost 6–1 to Peter Wright. [14]

Kirk won 2016's 11th Development Tour event by beating Keegan Brown 4−3 in the final. [15] He also reached the final of the 16th event and lost 4−1 to Dean Reynolds. [16] He finished third on the Order of Merit, but won a two-year Tour Card after first placed Reynolds decided to remain in the BDO. [17]

World Championship results

PDC

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References

  1. ↑ "Dart Profis - Aden Kirk - "Captain"". Dartn.de (in German). Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  2. ↑ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 12 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  3. ↑ "Rusty the Old Bicycle | Austin Macauley Publishers". www.austinmacauley.com.
  4. ↑ Wood, Kieran (21 January 2024). "Aden Kirk takes Challenge Tour 5 title". Dartsnews.com. Retrieved 28 December 2024. Kirk is best known for his participation in the 2014 UK Open.
  5. ↑ Gorton, Josh (23 July 2018). "Five of the biggest shocks in darts history". Sky Sports News . Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  6. ↑ "Coral UK Open Field Confirmed". PDC. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "2014 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Coral UK Open: Phil Taylor shocked by television debutant Aden Kirk in Minehead". Sky Sports. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  9. ↑ Smyth, Rob (13 March 2014). "Is Phil Taylor in terminal decline?". The Guardian . Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  10. ↑ "Coral UK Open - Saturday Afternoon". PDC . Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Coral UK Open - Saturday Evening". PDC. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Challenge Tour Wins For Frost & Claydon". PDC. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Development Delight For Kirk & Van Peer". PDC . Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "2015 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  15. ↑ "2016 PDC Development Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "2016 PDC Development Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  17. ↑ "2017 PDC Qualifying School Entries". PDC . Retrieved 16 January 2017.
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