Bob Anderson (darts player)

Last updated

Bob Anderson
Personal information
Full nameRobert Charles Anderson [1]
Nickname"The Limestone Cowboy"
Born (1947-11-07) 7 November 1947 (age 76)
Winchester, England
Home town Clevedon, England
Darts information
Playing darts since1973
Darts24 gram Unicorn Signature (previously 18 gram)
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music"Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO 1979–1993
PDC 1993–2008 (Founding Member)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship Winner (1) 1988
World Masters Winner (3) 1986, 1987, 1988
World Trophy Last 56: 2007
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship Semi Final: 2004, 2005
World Matchplay 3rd Place: 1996
World Grand Prix Quarter Final: 2006
UK Open Last 16: 2006
Desert Classic Last 24 Group: 2003
WSDT major events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 24: 2022
World MatchplayLast 16: 2022
World MastersLast 16: 2022
Other tournament wins
Antwerp Open1996
British Gold Cup1983, 1986
British Matchplay1988,1989
British Open1987
Canadian Open1990, 1992
Denmark Open1986
Dry Blackthorn Cider Masters1989
Jersey Festival of Darts1986
League of Legends2008
League of Legends Event2009
MFI World Pairs1986
North American Open1993
Pacific Masters1987, 1988, 1989
PDC Samson Darts Classic1993
PDC World Pairs1996
Swedish Open1986
WDF Europe Cup Pairs1990
World Champions Challenge1990

Robert Charles Anderson (born 7 November 1947) is an English former professional darts player who won the 1988 BDO World Darts Championship. Nicknamed The Limestone Cowboy, he was the World No. 1 player for over three years in the late 1980s.

Contents

Before darts

Anderson threw his first darts maximum (180) at the age of just seven. [2] However, he was renowned as a champion athlete during his teenage years. He was picked as a javelin thrower in the British Olympic team of 1968, but broke his arm before the team left for Mexico, an injury which brought an end to his javelin-throwing career. He then turned his attention to football – playing to a moderately high standard for Lincoln United, Guildford City, Woking and Farnborough Town. During this time, he had continued to play darts socially and decided to take up the game more seriously when his injury jinx struck again – this time a broken leg in 1970 ended his football career.

Darts success

Anderson had a long and successful darts career, winning the World Professional Championship in 1988 and the Winmau World Masters in 1986, 1987 and 1988 – the first man to win the Masters in three successive years. Only Martin Adams has since emulated this feat by winning the 2008, 2009 and 2010 tournaments.

Two years after his world title success he underwent surgery to fix a back problem that threatened his darts career. He returned to the game professionally but never reached the same heights he had achieved in the 1980s. Anderson was amongst the players who formed the Professional Darts Corporation – an organisation (originally known as the World Darts Council) which separated from the existing governing body, the British Darts Organisation in 1992–93. Anderson reached the final of the first WDC event, the Lada UK Masters, in November 1993 – losing to Mike Gregory.

His world ranking stayed sufficiently high to earn automatic qualification for most major PDC tournaments, and he went on to reach the semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship in 2004 and 2005.

In 1996, Anderson won the WDC World Pairs event alongside Phil Taylor. Anderson and Taylor defeated Chris Mason and Steve Raw in the final.

Anderson was also the driving force behind the Bob Anderson Classic, a major darts tournament held every October. The tournament started in 2002 and ran until 2005.[ citation needed ]

In 2008, Anderson decided to take part in the BetFred League of Legends which was shown live on Setanta Sports and play along with the likes of Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, John Lowe and Dave Whitcombe. However, in doing so, he was forced to resign from the PDC to take part in the league. [3] He does, however, remain a lifetime member of the PDPA, granted to him because he was a founder member of the WDC (now PDC). Anderson went on the capture the League of Legends title, beating Keith Deller in the final.

World Championship results

BDO

PDC

WSDT

Performance timeline

Tournament197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008
BDO World Championship Did not participate 1R 2R SF QF W SF 1R SF 2R QF No longer a BDO Member
Winmau World Masters 3R DNQ 2R DNQ QF 4R SF W W W 4R 2R SF 2R No longer a BDO Member
British Professional Not heldDNQ 2R QF 1R QF 1R SF Not held
MFI World Matchplay Not held SF F 1R W 1R Not held
World Darts Trophy Not heldDid not participate RR NH
PDC World Championship Not yet founded QF QF RR RR RR QF 1R 1R 1R 2R SF SF 1R 1R 1R
World Matchplay Not yet founded QF 1R SF QF QF 2R 2R 1R QF 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R DNQ
World Grand Prix Not yet founded 1R RR DNQ 1R 1R 1R QF DNQ
Las Vegas Desert Classic Not yet foundedDNQ RR 1R DNQ 1R DNQ
UK Open Not heldDNQ 4R 5R 5R 3R DNQ
Performance Table Legend
DNPDid not play at the eventDNQDid not qualify for the eventNYFNot yet founded#Rlost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QFlost in the quarter-finalsSFlost in the semi-finalsFlost in the finalWwon the tournament

Outside darts

Bob married Sally Attwater on 8 April 2004 – he chose former World Champion dart player Eric Bristow as his best man. Anderson has two children, Jennie and David. He lists his hobbies as golf – with a handicap of six, and trout fishing. Anderson's sporting hero is golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Anderson lives in the Somerset sea-side resort town of Clevedon.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Taylor (darts player)</span> English darts player (born 1960)

Philip Douglas Taylor is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "The Power", he dominated darts for over three decades and won 214 professional tournaments, including a record 85 major titles and a record 16 World Championships. In 2015, the BBC rated Taylor among the ten greatest British sportsmen of the last 35 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Bristow</span> English darts player (1957–2018)

Eric John Bristow, nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lowe (darts player)</span> English darts player

John Lowe is an English former professional darts player. Along with Eric Bristow and Jocky Wilson, he was known for dominating darts during the 1980s. Lowe was world champion on three occasions, in 1979, 1987 and 1993. He was also a two-time winner of the Winmau World Masters and a two-time World Cup singles champion. In total, Lowe won 15 BDO and WDF majors. He held the World No. 1 ranking on four occasions. In October 1984, he became the first player to hit a televised nine-dart finish.

John Thomas "Jocky" Wilson was a Scottish professional darts player. After turning pro in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning the World Professional Darts Championship in 1982, then again in 1989. Wilson competed in all major darts tournaments of the era and won the British Professional Championship a record four times between 1981 and 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Priestley</span> English darts player

Dennis Priestley is an English former professional darts player. He won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He was nicknamed "The Menace", after the Beano character Dennis the Menace, and reflected this by wearing red and black and using red and black flights.

Rodney Harrington is an English former professional darts player and commentator. He used the nickname "The Prince of Style" for his matches, often wearing a suit and waistcoat for his games. Harrington enjoyed some major success during his professional career including the prestigious Winmau World Masters in 1991 and two successive World Matchplays in 1998 and 1999. At the PDC Awards Dinner held in January 2019, Harrington was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Deller</span> English darts player

Keith Deller is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship. He also won the Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987.

Paul Lim Leong Hwa is a Singaporean professional darts player. He was the first player to hit a perfect nine-dart finish during the Embassy World Darts Championship, which he achieved in 1990 during his second round match against Jack McKenna. Lim won £52,000 for his nine-darter, which was £28,000 more than Phil Taylor won for winning the tournament. Lim's was the only nine-dart finish in a world championship match until 2009, when Raymond van Barneveld completed one against Jelle Klaasen. It was also the only nine-dart finish ever achieved at the BDO World Darts Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Whitcombe</span> English darts player

David Whitcombe is an English former professional darts player who won several major tournaments and reached two World Championship Finals between 1980 and 1992.

The 1993 Embassy World Darts Championship was the 16th staging of the competition, and it turned out to be the last time that the sport had a unified World Championship. In 1994 following a breakaway the PDC staged its own World Championship for the first time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff Lazarenko</span> English darts player

Cliff Lazarenko is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "Big Cliff" due to his height and weight, he is known for being a colourful character on and off the stage.

The 1994 Skol World Darts Championship was held following 18 months of controversy within the sport of darts. After the 1993 Embassy World Championships, several players decided it was time to part company with the British Darts Organisation and form their own organisation. The new organisation was known as the World Darts Council (WDC). The WDC would later become the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

Michael Seward Gregory was an English professional darts player, best remembered as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 1992 Embassy World Darts Championship final, which went to a tiebreak final leg and is regarded as one of the greatest matches in darts history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Mason (darts player)</span> English darts player

Chris Mason is an English former professional darts player. He used the nickname Mace the Ace.

Peter Kenneth Evison is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed The Fen Tiger, his greatest achievements were winning the 1989 Winmau World Masters and the 1996 World Matchplay.

Shayne Burgess is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He is known for his unorthodox throwing action, where he draws the point of the dart up close to his eyeball before releasing.

Larry Thomas Butler, nicknamed The Bald Eagle, is an American professional darts player who was the winner of the 1994 PDC World Matchplay Darts Championship. This success made him the first and so far only player from the United States of America to have won a PDC Major darts tournament in Europe.

Jamie Harvey is a Scottish former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments. Originally nicknamed “The Tartan Terror” he later used the nickname Bravedart for his matches – a play on the lead character from the film Braveheart. As darts began to introduce entrance tunes for its players during the 1990s, Harvey used to come to stage whilst the tune "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" was played.

Dennis Smith is a former English professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was a stalwart on the PDC circuit, having played there since 1994, but has yet to capture a major title to add to his collection of Open wins. Smith has a very unusual throwing action, turning the dart into a 'flight first' position before returning it to a 'point first' position, rolling his eyes and then throwing. He has a unique, measured action learning his trade under the tutelage of Bob Anderson.

Sean Downs is an American former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.

References