Philip Douglas Taylor is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "The Power", he dominated darts across three decades and is widely considered the greatest darts player of all time, having 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.
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.
A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly and hit a double scoring area with their last dart. When the target is 501, the minimum number of darts needed to reach it is nine. For example, one way to achieve a nine-dart finish is to score 60 on each of the first seven throws, then a 57 on the eighth, and lastly a 24 on the ninth. It is regarded as an extremely difficult feat to achieve—even for the sport's top players—and is considered the highest single-game achievement in the sport, similar to a maximum 147 break in snooker or a 300-point game in bowling.
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.
Raymond van Barneveld is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Barney", although originally known as "The Man", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest darts players of all time. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champion, a two-time UK Open Champion and a former winner of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, the Grand Slam of Darts and the Premier League. He is also a twice-winner of the World Masters and the World Darts Trophy, and a three-time winner of the International Darts League, the Dutch Open and the WDF World Cup Singles event.
The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World Darts Council (WDC). Sports promoter Eddie Hearn is the PDC chairman.
John Part is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator, as well as competing in World Seniors events. Nicknamed "Darth Maple", he is a three-time World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, and the PDC World Championship in 2003 and 2008. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, Part is statistically North America's greatest darts player to date. He has the distinction of being the first non-UK player to win the World Championship, and the only non-European to date to win the PDC World Darts Championship.
The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, and dissolved in 2020 under the stewardship of Des Jacklin. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder member of the World Darts Federation in 1974. It also staged a World Professional Darts Championship from 1978 to 2020.
James Martin Wade is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), where he is the World No. 16, having reached a peak of World No. 2 in 2010. He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the age of 24. This record has since been broken by Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler. Wade has won eleven PDC majors, third in the all-time list behind Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen.
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.
David Whitcombe is an English former professional darts player who won several major tournaments, he was twice a winner of the Winmau World Masters and lost to Eric Bristow in two World Championship finals in 1984 and 1986.
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 2001 PDC World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament held from 28 December 2000 and 3 January 2001 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, England. It was the eighth staging of the competition since the 1994 competition. The competition was the first of 34 Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments in the 2001 season. The tournament was broadcast on Sky Sports and was sponsored by Skol.
The 1999 World Matchplay was a darts tournament held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool between 25–31 July 1999. The tournament was won for the second year in a row by Rod Harrington, who defeated Peter Manley in the final. In the 30th leg of the final Manley missed a shot at bullseye which, had he hit it would have been the first televised PDC 9 dart finish.
The 2002 Stan James World Matchplay was a professional darts tournament held from 28 July to 3 August 2002 at the Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens of Blackpool. It was the ninth staging of the competition since the 1994 edition and the 18th of 35 Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments in the 2002 season. The tournament was broadcast on Sky Sports and was sponsored by the betting company Stan James.
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.
Dave Lanning was an English sports commentator and journalist, best known for his coverage of Professional Darts. He was brought up in Poole and educated at Poole Grammar School.
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.
The split in darts refers to the acrimonious 1993 dispute between professional darts players and the game's governing body, the British Darts Organisation (BDO), resulting in the creation of a rival darts circuit under the banner of the World Darts Council, which eventually became the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
Gary Mawson is a Canadian-born American professional darts player. He currently resides in Fort Myers, Florida. Mawson played darts for the US in 2004 and the years immediately following, having previously played darts for Canada up to 2001. Mawson used the nickname The Mauler for his matches.
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