BDO career
Thornton returned to playing darts in 2002, having given up the game for two decades to raise his children. [3] He qualified for the BDO World Championship for the first time in 2005. He beat Martin Atkins and Tony West before losing to Darryl Fitton in the quarter-finals. [4] He then failed to qualify for the 2006 and 2007 events.
Thornton's first professional title came in the Central Scotland Open in April 2007, beating Mike Veitch in the final. [5] He also won the Scottish Masters by defeating Ross Montgomery. [6] He failed to make it through the qualifying event for the 2008 World Championship, but did make it to the televised stages of the 2007 Winmau World Masters in the same weekend. [7] Thornton then beat Co Stompé, BDO world champion Martin Adams, and Atkins to reach the final. [8] He managed to avenge his defeat by Fitton at the 2005 Lakeside World Championship to claim his first major title by 7 sets to 5 and win the £25,000 first prize and also a place in the 2008 World Championship. [9] [10]
His appearance at the World Championship was only his second visit to Lakeside and he matched his previous appearance by reaching the quarter-finals. Having beaten John Walton and Tony O'Shea, he lost to defending champion Adams. [11] Thornton's good form continued into 2008 when he won the Dutch Open in February and reached the last eight of the Scottish Open a week later to achieve a career high of third in the WDF world rankings and was top of the BDO rankings. [12] [13]
PDC career
Thornton qualified for the 2008 UK Open via the Pub qualifiers and then went on to switch to the PDC after withdrawing from the Scottish team for the Europe Cup, stating that his first goal was to get into the top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit which would guarantee his place in all the major tournaments. [14] At the UK Open he lost 9–6 to Alan Tabern in the last 32. [15] Thornton qualified for the Las Vegas Desert Classic losing again in the last 32 this time 6–5 against Adrian Lewis, but went one better at the World Grand Prix when he beat Peter Manley 2–1 in sets in the first round before being defeated 3–2 by Andy Hamilton in the last 16. [16] [17] His good start to his career in the PDC continued at the European Championship where he saw off John Part, Mensur Suljović and Ronnie Baxter to advance to the semi-finals for the first time and a meeting with Phil Taylor. Thornton averaged 102.12 in the match but Taylor averaged 113.33 as he won 11–7. [18] Thornton's World Masters title from last year saw him qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts and he advanced from Group E with wins over Gary Mawson and Kirk Shepherd, before being edged out 10–8 by Terry Jenkins in the last 16. [19] Away from the television cameras on the PDC Pro Tour he won the Australian Open Players Championship with a 3–1 success against Paul Nicholson. [20] He was a losing semi-finalist three times and a quarter-finalist four times in the other events to finish as the highest non-qualified player on the Pro Tour Order of Merit for the 2009 PDC World Championship. [21]
At the World Championship, he won 3–1 against Wayne Jones, but went out in the second round with a 4–3 defeat to world number eight Wayne Mardle. [22] However, this performance guaranteed Thornton a spot in the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit – just eight months after his defection from the BDO. He reached his first PDC final at the Players Championship Finals. Seeded 14 in the tournament based on the previous year's floor events, Thornton edged Mark Dudbridge in the first round on a final-leg decider. [23] This gave him a second round tie with world number 10 and third seed Alan Tabern, in which Thornton dominated 6–2 after Tabern had missed a dart for a 3–1 lead. He then played a resurgent Dennis Priestley – who had earlier been on the brink of defeat, losing 5–0 to John Part before rattling off six consecutive legs to win the match – in the quarter-finals. Those heroics seemed to fatigue Priestley as he slumped to a 9–5 defeat to Thornton, which earned him a semi-final place against world number two James Wade. In a very tight semi-final, Thornton won four of the last five legs to earn a 13–10 victory and a spot in the final against Phil Taylor, who had only dropped eight legs in the tournament to that point. [24] With the scores level at 5–5 early on, Taylor came out on top 16–9, however Thornton earned £25,000 for making the final, propelling him up the rankings. [25] Thornton became only the third player to win both events of a PDC Pro Tour weekend in Irvine, North Ayrshire, when he beat Dennis Priestley to win both the Scottish Players Championship and the Scottish Regional qualifier for the UK Open. [5] He made his Premier League debut in Aberdeen in an exhibition match against James Wade. Thornton lost 7–2. By this time, Thornton had reached number 19 in the PDC Order of Merit. [26] He lost 9–2 to Adrian Lewis in the third round of the UK Open and 10–4 to Taylor in the first round of the World Matchplay. [27] [28] Thornton saw off Wes Newton 6–4 in the opening round of the European Championship, but lost to Taylor once more as he was whitewashed 9–0, with Thornton's average of 83.24 being almost 30 points lower than his opponents. [29] Thornton topped Group H at the Grand Slam of Darts and then edged past Darin Young in the last 16 10–9, but was knocked out 16–9 in the quarter-finals by Terry Jenkins. [30]
Thornton defeated two qualifiers in Christian Perez and Jyhan Artut at the 2010 World Championship, before Taylor was once again the victor when the two met in the last 16 this time winning by four sets to one. [31]
Thornton was a fixture in the world's top 16 but then broke his hand and later his 2011 season was curtailed significantly after being rushed to hospital complaining of chest pains, breathing problems and headaches. [32] He was diagnosed with pneumonia and did not play again until the 2012 World Championship, where he lost in the second round to Adrian Lewis. [33]
First PDC major
In June 2012, Thornton won his second major title and first in the PDC, the 2012 UK Open. He came through an extremely tough draw, which included defeats over former world champions, Mark Webster and Dennis Priestley, and world numbers 4 and 5, Gary Anderson and Wes Newton. [34] In the semi-finals he faced rising star Dave Chisnall and with the scores level at 2–2 early on, Thornton produced a devastating run and took the match 10–4 to reach his second major PDC final, where he played fifteen time world champion Phil Taylor. [35] Thornton trailed 0–2 in the final but then won nine of the next ten legs, as his opponent missed 23 darts at a double, and went on to seal an 11–5 victory with a 121 finish. [35] [36] He moved 11 places in the rankings from number 34 to 23 thanks to the win, with the £40,000 prize he won being the highest of his career. [32] In the next major event, the World Matchplay, Thornton was whitewashed 0–10 by Adrian Lewis in the first round. [37] In October, Thornton reached the final of the 13th Players Championship, but lost to Michael van Gerwen 5–6, after leading 4–1. [38] He atoned for this just one day later as he won the 14th event, defeating Gary Anderson 6–5 in an all Scottish final. [39] The next day, Thornton came from behind to beat Mark Walsh 2–1 in sets in the first round of the World Grand Prix. [40] He was then involved in one of the best games in the tournament's history as he again overcame Taylor, this time by 3 sets to 2, hitting eight maximums and taking out 101 and 104 checkouts and surviving six match darts from Taylor. [41] He played Mervyn King in the quarter-finals and lost 0–3 in 31 minutes, winning just four legs during the match. [42] He continued his good form in the Players Championships at the 15th event by reaching another final, this time losing to Peter Wright 1–6. [43] Thornton finished second in Group B of the Grand Slam of Darts to qualify for the last 16, but then lost 8–10 to former champion Scott Waites. [44] After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Thornton finished 10th on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Players Championship Finals where compatriot Gary Anderson beat him 10–6 in the second round. [45] [46]
2013 season
At the 2013 World Championship Thornton missed four darts to win 4–2 in the second round against Paul Nicholson and another one in the deciding set. Nicholson threw for the match and left 58 after 12 darts, only for Thornton to take out 130. Thornton won the bull to throw first in the sudden-death leg and won it to set up a last 16 meeting with Phil Taylor. [47] However, Thornton could only win three legs as he bowed out of the tournament with a 4–0 defeat. [48] Thornton partnered Gary Anderson for the third time at the World Cup of Darts and they were shocked by Spain 5–4 in the last 16. [49]
Thornton qualified for the Premier League for the first time thanks to his UK Open win last year. [50] He produced some very impressive performances in the first half of the campaign such as in week four when he scored his highest ever televised average of 109.33 during a 7–2 win over Anderson. [51] He also averaged 107.65 in beating Simon Whitlock 7–1 in week eight, [52] and after the ninth week he was in the top four who would qualify for the play-offs at the end of the season. [53] Thornton suffered somewhat of a dip in form after this as he could only win two of his next five games and went into the last week needing to beat the Dutch duo of Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen to progress to the play-offs. He lost to van Barneveld 7–4 and, after other results had gone against him, needed an unlikely 7–0 victory over van Gerwen, but instead was beaten 7–1 to end the season in fifth place. [54]
He threw a nine-dart finish in a quarter-final match at the first UK Open Qualifier of the year against Dave Chisnall, but went on to lose 6–4. [55] He won the fourth event in March by beating Jamie Caven 6–4 in the final, having ended Michael van Gerwen's 29 game unbeaten Pro Tour streak start to the year in the semi-finals. [56] Thornton reached the final of the first Players Championship by beating Dean Winstanley in the quarter-finals and Gary Anderson in the semis. He saved his best performance for the final where he beat Ronny Huybrechts 6–0 with an average of 111. [57] In the defence of his UK Open title, Thornton saw off Matthew Edgar and Kirk Shepherd to set up a last 16 meeting with Raymond van Barneveld. [58] Thornton began the match brightly to lead 4–1, but went on to lose 9–7. [59] Thornton produced his first ever victory over van Barneveld in the second round of the European Championship, beating him 10–9, but was defeated in the quarter-finals again in a last leg decider by Ronny Huybrechts. [60] He then suffered his fourth successive first round defeat at the World Matchplay as Ian White beat him 10–3 and also lost in the opening round of the World Grand Prix 2–1 in sets to Paul Nicholson. [61] [62] Thornton bounced back to claim the 11th Players Championship just over a week later with a 6–5 triumph over Jamie Caven. [63] Thornton won two of his three games at the Grand Slam of Darts to finish top of his group on leg difference. [64] He edged past Mervyn King 10–8 in the next round with a 161 checkout in the final leg and then punished 31 missed darts at doubles from Tony O'Shea in a 16–6 win to reach the semi-finals of the event for the first time where he met reigning BDO world champion Scott Waites. [65] [66] Thornton took an early command of the match with a 5–1 lead and withstood a fightback from Waites, who closed the gap to 8–7, to win 16–9. [67] He could never recover from a poor start in the final as he lost each of the first five legs against Phil Taylor and went on to lose 16–6. [68] His form continued into the next week as he reached the final of the 15th Players Championship, losing 6–3 to Dave Chisnall. [69]
2014 season
Thornton advanced to the third round of the 2014 World Championship with comfortable victories over Max Hopp and Beau Anderson, but didn't produce his best darts against Wes Newton as he was beaten 4–1. [70] His first final of the year came in February at the fifth UK Open Qualifier where he was defeated 6–2 by Gary Anderson. [71] Thornton was a surprise 9–7 loser to Mensur Suljović in the UK Open fourth round. [72] Thornton beat Phil Taylor 6–4 to play Ian White in the final of the sixth Players Championship. He fell 4–2 and 5–4 down and survived six match darts from White in the next leg to win his eighth PDC title 6–5. [73] He won the next event too by defeating emerging player Keegan Brown 6–5, with his opponent this time missing four match darts. [74] 24 hours later Thornton claimed the eighth event by averaging 106.56 in defeating Terry Jenkins 6–4. [75] He only won two of his 16 Premier League matches to finish eighth in the table. [76] Thornton played in his third World Cup of Darts this year and first with Peter Wright and they progressed to the quarter-finals where they played Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan and Michael Mansell. Wright lost his singles match to Dolan, but Thornton saw off Mansell 4–3 to send the tie into a deciding doubles game which Scotland lost 4–1. [77] He reached the final of the 11th Players Championship but lost 6–2 to Anderson. [78]
Thornton attended the funeral of his mother in October and on the same day flew to Dublin to compete in the second round of the World Grand Prix against James Wade. The match is considered the best in the tournament's history. At 1–0 ahead in sets, Wade opened the next with the second ever double-start nine-dart finish and threw a 156 finish in the leg after. However, Thornton fought back to win the set and the following one, before incredibly throwing the game's second nine-darter to become the first players to have thrown a perfect leg in the same match in darts history. Thornton would miss four darts to win 3–1, with the tie instead going into a deciding set which Wade took to eliminate Thornton. [79] [80] He was knocked out in the second round of the European Championship by Terry Jenkins and lost all three of his matches at the Grand Slam to finish bottom of his group. [81] Darren Webster missed two match darts in the first round of the Players Championship Finals to allow Thornton to triumph 6–5 and he then fought back from 9–4 down against Jamie Caven to send the game into a deciding leg in which Thornton hit a single one when requiring double top to complete a 120 finish and was beaten 10–9. [82]
2015 season
Thornton was the only player to reach the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Championship without dropping a set. In his first appearance in the last eight of the event trailed Michael van Gerwen 3–0 in sets, before winning two unanswered sets. Thornton missed one dart to level the game at 3–3 and was ultimately defeated 5–3. [83] His average of 101.49 was the first time he has been over the 100 mark in a World Championship match. [84] At the second Players Championship, Thorton wired double twelve for a nine darter in a quarter-final defeat to compatriot Peter Wright. [85] He reached the final of the third event, but lost 6–3 to Adrian Lewis. [86] At the European Darts Open, Thornton averaged 111.77 whilst beating James Wade 6–1 in the semi-finals and claimed the first European Tour title of his career by seeing off Kim Huybrechts 6–2 with an average of 106.18 in the final. [87]
At the World Grand Prix, Thornton did not drop a set in the first two rounds in wins over Daryl Gurney and Justin Pipe. [88] Thornton then beat Ian White and Mensur Suljović en route to the final. [89] [90] He faced Michael van Gerwen, who hit eighteen 180's, but Thornton beat him 5–4 in sets to win his second PDC major title and third overall. Thornton also rose to number five in the PDC Order of Merit and secured his entry into the Grand Slam of Darts, where he lost 16–7 in the quarter-finals to Phil Taylor. [91] [92] [93]
