Ricky Evans (darts player)

Ricky Evans
Evans at the 2025 World Championship
Personal information
Nickname	"Rapid"
Born	(1990-07-29) 29 July 1990 (age 34) Kettering, Northamptonshire , England
Home town	Kettering, Northamptonshire, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	2005
Darts	Bulls 19g
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin' Stevens or Like a Prayer by Madonna (PDC World Championship) "YMCA" by Village People (Other events)
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2007–2013
PDC	2013– (Tour Card: 2013–)
Current world ranking	44 (12 January 2025) [1]
WDF major events – best performances
World Masters	Last 48: 2012
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 32: 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025
World Matchplay	Last 32: 2019, 2020
World Grand Prix	Last 32: 2018, 2019
UK Open	Semi Final: 2024
Grand Slam	Group Stage: 2013, 2020
European Ch'ship	Quarter Final: 2019
PC Finals	Last 16: 2018
World Series Finals	Last 24: 2019
Other tournament wins
PDC Challenge Tour England 2013 PDC World Championship Qualifier 2015 PDC Youth Tour England 2011

Richard Ian Evans ^[2] (born 29 July 1990) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. A semi-finalist at the 2024 UK Open, he is nicknamed "Rapid" Ricky Evans due to his very fast throwing speed.

Career

From 2007 to 2012 Evans attempted to qualify for each BDO World Championship but was unsuccessful. ^[3] In 2011, Evans won a PDC Youth Tour event by beating David Coyne 4–1 in the final. ^[4] He has played in the World Masters five times with his best finish coming in 2012 where he lost in the last 48 to James Wilson. ^{[3] [5]}

In 2013, Evans played in the Qualifying School to earn a tour card for the Professional Darts Corporation events and succeeded on the first day. ^[6] Less than two months later he reached the quarter-finals of a PDC Pro Tour event for the first time by beating Gary Anderson 6–5 in the last 16 of the second UK Open Qualifier, before he lost 6–3 to Peter Wright. ^[7] This saw him enter the UK Open in the second round stage where he was defeated 5–2 by Joe Cullen. ^[8] Evans won through to the final of the World Under-21 World Championship which was played on the finals night of the Premier League Darts at the O2 Arena in London, with Evans losing 6–1 to Michael Smith. ^[9] However, the result was enough to see him reach the Grand Slam of Darts for the first time, but he lost each of his Group E games to Raymond van Barneveld, Mervyn King and Tony O'Shea to finish bottom of the table. ^[10]

Evans advanced to his first final in main PDC events at the 13th Players Championship of the year. He beat established players such as Gary Anderson, Ronnie Baxter, Jamie Caven and Ian White, before losing 6–3 against Brendan Dolan. ^[11] Evans' successful debut season continued later in the month as he was a losing semi-finalist at the final Players Championship. ^[12] He amassed £11,550 in ProTour events during the year which saw him qualify through the Order of Merit for his first PDC World Championship where he outplayed the experienced Baxter in the first round to win 3–0 in sets. ^{[13] [14]} Evans next faced 14th seed Mervyn King but ultimately fell to the veteran 4–2 in sets. After the match King praised Evans' performance and described him as "the future of our sport". Evans was ranked world number 56 after his debut season on the PDC tour. ^[15]

He could not get beyond the last 128 in any of the six qualifiers for the 2014 UK Open, which resulted in his failure to qualify for the event. ^[16] Evans' form improved as the year progressed by qualifying for the final two European Tour events. At the European Darts Grand Prix he beat Jelle Klaasen 6–3, but lost 6–5 against Vincent van der Voort in the second round and at the European Darts Trophy he was eliminated in the first round 6–5 by Klaasen. ^{[17] [18]} In November, Evans reached the last 16 for the only time this year at the 20th and final Players Championship where he lost 6–3 to Ian White. ^[19]

At the second UK Open Qualifier of 2015, Evans progressed through to his first quarter-final in over a year where he lost 6–3 to Vincent van der Voort. ^[20] He reached the third round of the UK Open for the first time by beating Mark Layton 5–3, but then lost 9–4 to James Wilson. ^[21] A second quarter-final appearance this year came at the fifth Players Championship where, after defeating Colin Osborne, Andy Smith, Jamie Robinson and Devon Petersen, he lost 6–2 to Keegan Brown. ^[22]

Evans won the qualifier for the 2016 World Championship with a 5–4 victory over Andy Boulton. ^[23] He played 2010 runner-up Simon Whitlock in the first round and, having trailed 2–0 in sets and 2–0 in legs (surviving two match darts), Evans mounted a comeback to eventually win the match 3–2 with a 130 checkout. ^[24] However, Evans lost 10 legs in a row in his second round match against Jamie Caven to be knocked out 4–0. ^[25] A 9–5 victory over Andy Boulton saw Evans play in the fourth round of the UK Open for the first time, but he missed match darts against Darren Webster to lose 9–8 after leading 4–1 early on. ^[26] A quarter-final appearance came at the seventh Players Championship event (lost 6–2 to Gerwyn Price) and he went one better at the 16th event to reach his first semi-final in nearly three years. ^[27] He also missed double 12 for a nine darter during the day, before losing 6–4 to Steve West in the last four. ^[28] These results have seen Evans qualify for the Players Championship Finals and he faced James Wade in the first round. ^[29]

Evans' first round match with Michael Smith at the 2017 World Championship went to a deciding set in which he failed to win a leg to be beaten 3–2. ^[30] He reached the semi-finals of the first UK Open Qualifier, but lost 6–4 to Adrian Lewis. ^[31]

At the 2018 Dutch Darts Championship, Evans made his first PDC European Tour final, where he lost 8–5 to Ian White. ^[32]

In 2019, he followed that up with another runner-up spot at Players Championship 6 before reaching his second European Tour final at the 2019 German Darts Championship, where he lost 8–6 to Daryl Gurney.

Playing style

Evans is known for his incredible dart throwing speed, and has been described by Sky pundit Wayne Mardle as the quickest player he's ever seen. Evans will usually throw three darts within three to five seconds of approaching the oche unless changing position or going for a double, a trait which has led to his nickname of 'Rapid'.

During the 2017 World Championship, Evans hit a 180 in just 2.16 seconds during his first round match against Michael Smith. ^[33]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2014: Second round (lost to Mervyn King 2–4)
• 2016: Second round (lost to Jamie Caven 0–4)
• 2017: First round (lost to Michael Smith 2–3)
• 2019: First round (lost to Rowby-John Rodriguez 1–3)
• 2020: Third round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–4)
• 2021: Third round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–4)
• 2022: Second round (lost to Daryl Gurney 1–3)
• 2023: Second round (lost to Joe Cullen 1–3)
• 2024: Third round (lost to Daryl Gurney 2–4)
• 2025: Third round (lost to Robert Owen 2–4)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	BDO						2R	DNQ	2R	1R	DNQ	1R	3R	3R	2R	2R	3R	3R
UK Open	BDO		2R	BDO		3R	DNQ	3R	4R	3R	4R	4R	5R	5R	6R	4R	SF
World Matchplay	BDO					DNQ						1R	1R	DNQ
World Grand Prix	BDO					DNQ					1R	1R	DNQ
European Championship	BDO					DNQ					2R	QF	DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts	DNQ					RR	DNQ						RR	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	BDO					DNQ			1R	DNQ	3R	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R
Non-ranked televised events
World Series of Darts Finals	Not held							DNQ				1R	DNQ			2R	DNQ
PDC World Youth Championship	NH			DNP	2R	F	DNP
BDO Ranked televised events
BDO World Championship	DNQ						Not a BDO player							NH
Winmau World Masters	1R	3R	3R	2R	4R	Not a BDO player							NH		PDC
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	549 (BDO)	-	-	562 (BDO)	1065 (BDO)	56	54	55	48	60	49	28	30	41	48	46	45

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2013	UKM DNQ	EDT DNQ	EDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	GDT DNQ	GDC 1R	GDM 1R	DDM DNQ
2014	GDC DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDO DNQ	EDG 2R	EDT 1R
2015	GDC DNQ	GDT DNQ	GDM DNQ	DDM 2R	IDO DNQ	EDO DNQ	EDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	EDG 1R
2016	DDM 1R	GDM DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDO DNQ	IDO 1R	EDT 2R	EDG DNQ	GDC DNQ
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM 1R	GDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDO DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT 1R
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG 1R	DDM 1R	GDT DNQ	DDO 3R	EDM DNQ	GDC 2R	DDC F	IDO DNQ	EDT 2R
2019	EDO DNQ	GDC F	GDG 3R	GDO DNQ	ADO 2R	EDG 2R	DDM 3R	DDO 2R	CDO 2R	ADC QF	EDM 3R	IDO 3R	GDT DNQ
2020	BDC DNQ	GDC DNQ	EDG DNQ	IDO DNQ
2021	HDT DNQ	GDT DNQ
2022	IDO DNQ	GDC 2R	GDG DNQ	ADO QF	EDO DNQ	CDO 3R	EDG DNQ	DDC DNQ	EDM DNQ	HDT DNQ	GDO DNQ	BDO DNQ	GDT DNQ
2023	BSD 1R	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	ADO 1R	DDC DNQ	BDO 2R	CDO DNQ	EDG 2R	EDM DNQ	GDO 2R	HDT DNQ	GDC DNQ
2024	BDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	ADO 1R	BSD DNQ	DDC DNQ	EDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	FDT DNQ	HDT DNQ	SDT DNQ	CDO DNQ

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 4R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 4R	MIL 4R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL F	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R

Key

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

References

1. "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 12 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
2. "BILD BREMEN: Darten Sie ein Leg gegen „The Rapid" Ricky Evans!". bild.de (in German). 10 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
3. "Ricky Evans BDO Events". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
4. "2011 PDC Youth Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
5. "2012 World Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
6. "PDC Qualifying School Day One". PDC.tv. Professional Darts Corporation . Retrieved 15 December 2013.
7. "Mighty Mike Completes Crawley Double". PDC . Retrieved 15 December 2013.
8. "2013 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
9. "Van Gerwen's McCoy's Premier League Glory". PDC . Retrieved 15 December 2013.
10. "2013 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
11. "Maiden Triumph For Dolan". PDC . Retrieved 15 December 2013.
12. "2013 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
13. "2013 ProTour Order of Merit". PDC . Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
14. "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Four". PDC. 16 December 2013.
15. "Order of Merit on 2 January 2014". PDC . Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
16. "Ricky Evans 2014". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
17. "European Darts Grand Prix Day Two". PDC . Retrieved 3 December 2014.
18. "European Darts Trophy Day One". PDC . Retrieved 3 December 2014.
19. "2014 PDPA Players Championship Coventry Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
20. "Mighty Mike Claims Wigan Win". PDC . Retrieved 7 March 2015.
21. "Coral UK Open Third Round". PDC . Retrieved 7 March 2015.
22. "2015 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
23. "PDPA Qualifier Joy For Evans & Boulton". PDC . Retrieved 2 December 2015.
24. "William Hill World Championship Draw". PDC . Retrieved 2 December 2015.
25. "William Hill World Championship Day Eight". PDC . Retrieved 27 December 2015.
26. "2016 Coral UK Open Fourth Round". PDC . Retrieved 5 March 2016.
27. "Price Is Wright For Gerwyn in Barnsley". PDC . Retrieved 20 November 2016.
28. "Nine-Dart van Gerwen Completes Barnsley Treble!". PDC . Retrieved 20 November 2016.
29. "2016 Players Championship Finals Fixtures". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
30. "William Hill World Championship Day One". PDC . Retrieved 16 December 2016.
31. "UK Open Qualifier 1". PDC. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
32. "Emotional White Lifts First Euro Title".
33. "Ricky Evans struck a maximum 180 in just 2.16 seconds at the World Darts Championship". Sky Sports. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2017.

External links

• Ricky Evans player profile at Darts Orakel