Barrie Bates

Barrie Bates
Personal information
Nickname	"Champagne" [1] "Batesy"
Born	(1969-10-17) 17 October 1969 (age 56) Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
Home town	Bedlinog, Taff Bargoed Valley, Wales
Darts information
Playing darts since	1997
Darts	23g Red Dragon Signature
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"House of Fun" by Madness
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2002–2022, 2024
PDC premier events – best performances
World Championship	Quarter-final: 2009
World Matchplay	Last 16: 2007
World Grand Prix	Quarter-final: 2010
UK Open	Runner-up: 2006
Grand Slam	Group Stage: 2007, 2011, 2012
Ch'ship League	Initial groups, Semi-final: 2008
Desert Classic	Last 16: 2006
US Open/WSoD	Last 16: 2007
PC Finals	Last 32: 2011
Other tournament wins
Le Skratch Montreal Open 2006 PDC Eastbourne Open 2006 Players Championships 2006, 2010

Barrie Bates (born 17 October 1969) is a Welsh former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His original nickname was Batesy, but since 2007 he was known as Champagne.

Career

Bates made his PDC televised debut at the 2003 UK Open reaching the third round. In 2005 he narrowly lost a last-32 match to Lionel Sams at the UK Open and made a superb run to the final in 2006 before losing to Raymond van Barneveld.

He made a great impression on the circuit in 2006, winning the John Smiths Singles in February and May's Le Skratch Sarantos Retsinas Memorial event in Montreal. He also reached two Regional Finals of the UK Open in March (losing to Chris Mason and to van Barneveld in November. He reached two PDPA Players Championship finals in 2006 losing to Colin Lloyd in the Isle of Wight in June, but beat Phil Taylor to take his biggest title to date in the Netherlands event in November.

His success at events away from the television cameras during 2006 helped him to win the award of "Best Floor Player" at the first PDC Awards Dinner. It refers to the non-televised events which feature many boards alongside each other on a smaller arena floor.

He made his World Championship debut in 2007 as the number 17 seed but suffered a surprise first-round defeat to Canadian Brian Cyr. In the 2008 World Championship, Bates got to the third round only to lose to Kirk Shepherd. In the 2009 tournament, Bates defeated Northern Ireland's Felix McBrearty and American Bill Davis to reach the third round again, this time meeting Mark Dudbridge, winning 4–0 with checkout percentage of 60% to reach the quarter-finals for the very first time. He lost in the quarters, however, falling to twelfth seed Mervyn King by five sets to two.

In 2010, he represented Wales in the inaugural PDC World Cup of Darts alongside Mark Webster, where despite losing all seven singles in which he competed in, he and Webster reached the final, after defeating New Zealand, Spain, Scotland and Australia (thanks to Bates's 116 checkout in the sudden death leg), before losing to the Netherlands pairing of Raymond van Barneveld and Co Stompé.

In January 2019, after several years struggling with injury and playing his darts on the PDC Challenge Tour, Bates won back his PDC Tour Card for the first time since 2012. He squeezed into the top eleven of the UK Q-School Order of Merit to seal a two-year Tour Card. ^{[2] [3]}

He participated in 2024 Q–School but failed to re-gain his Tour Card.

World Championship results

PDC

• 2007: 1st round (lost to Brian Cyr 2–3) (sets)
• 2008: 3rd round (lost to Kirk Shepherd 2–4)
• 2009: Quarter-finals (lost to Mervyn King 2–5)
• 2010: 2nd round (lost to Kevin McDine 0–4)
• 2011: 1st round (lost to Kevin McDine 1–3)

Career statistics

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

Performance timeline

Tournament	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011		2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
PDC World Championship	DNQ				1R	3R	QF	2R	1R		DNQ
UK Open	3R	3R	5R	F	4R	4R	3R	3R	1R		DNQ					3R	DNQ	1R	2R
World Matchplay	DNQ			1R	2R	DNQ		1R	DNQ
World Grand Prix	DNQ			1R	1R	DNQ		QF	DNQ
European Championship	Not held					DNQ		2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	Not held						DNQ		1R	DNQ
Non-ranked televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts	Not held							F	NH		DNP
Grand Slam of Darts	Not held				RR	DNQ			RR		RR	DNQ
Past major events
Las Vegas Desert Classic	DNQ			2R	DNQ	1R	DNQ	Not held
International Darts League	DNP				RR	Not held
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	83	83	64	17	12	22	36	31	65	109		143	168	144	178	142	169	170

PDC major finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score [N 1]
Runner-up	1.	2006	UK Open	Raymond van Barneveld	7–13 (l)

PDC team finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team	Teammate	Opponents in the final	Score [N 1]
Runner-up	1.	2010	World Cup of Darts	Wales	Mark Webster	Netherlands – Raymond van Barneveld and Co Stompé	2–4 (p)

1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets, (p) = score in points.

References

1. "Barrie Bates". Mastercaller. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
2. "Barrie Bates Player Profile". www.dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
3. "Our Players | Barrie Bates | Red Dragon Darts". www.reddragondarts.com. Retrieved 1 May 2021.

External links

• Barrie Bates player profile at Darts Orakel