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2009 World Matchplay Darts
The 2009 Stan James World Matchplay was the 16th annual staging of the World Matchplay tournament by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament took place from 19–26 July 2009. As usual it was staged at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. World number one Phil Taylor successfully defended his title, beating Terry Jenkins in the final to win his tenth World Matchplay. Prize fund The prize fund was increased to £400,000, which was £100,000 more than the last World Matchplay. Qualification The qualification process for the World Matchplay differed this year. The top 16 in thPDC Order of the Meritafter the 2009 UK Open qualified automatically as the 16 seeds. The other 16 places would be made up of the 16 highest ranked players (not already in the top 16) from th2009 Players Championship Order of Merit- decided by the various Player Championship events taking place on the PDC Pro Tour from January 2009 - the cutoff point was the Las Vegas Players Championship just bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter Gardens, Blackpool
The Winter Gardens is a large entertainment complex in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which includes a theatre, ballroom and conference facilities. Opened in 1878, it is a Listed building, Grade II* listed building, operated by Blackpool Entertainment Company Limited on behalf of Blackpool Council, which purchased the property from Leisure Parcs Ltd as part of a £40 million deal in 2010. The Winter Gardens has hosted the annual conferences of British political parties and trade unions and its owners claim that every Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister since World War II has addressed an audience at the venue. It has also hosted the Blackpool Dance Festival since its inception in 1920, and the World Matchplay (darts), World Matchplay darts tournament since 1994. The annual dance competitions Miss Dance of Great Britain and Dance Master UK are hosted there annually. History The Winter Gardens Company bought the site in 1875 for £28,000. The Winter Gardens was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronnie Baxter
Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He used the nickname "The Rocket" for his matches. Baxter was known for his fast robotic throwing action. He currently resides in his hometown Blackpool. Baxter is widely regarded as one of the best players never to have won a major TV title. He is still active on the exhibition circuit. BDO Baxter played on the North American circuit during the 1980s and when he participated in the British Darts Organisation he had a consistent record for reaching the final stages of their Open events. As well as winning the Isle of Man Open three times, the Welsh Open twice, and the Syracuse Open, German Open, Denmark Open, Swiss Open, Finnish Open and the Welsh Classic once. He made his World Championship debut in 1991 and won his debut match against Bruno Raes, but lost in the second round to Jocky Wilson. Despite hitting the second highest averag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Dudbridge
Mark "Flash" Dudbridge (born 11 January 1973) is an English professional darts player. He appeared in the 2005 Premier League Darts after reaching the final of the 2005 PDC World Darts Championship. He also is a former World Master and has reached the final of the World Matchplay. Career Dudbridge started playing in his very early teens, citing Dennis Priestley as one of his heroes. Dudbridge made a name for himself in the British Darts Organisation by winning the Winmau World Masters in 2002, defeating Tony West in the final – in his first televised tournament. He never competed in the BDO version of the World Championship and switched instead to compete in the Professional Darts Corporation. In 2003, he won a regional final of the UK Open and also the Ireland Open Classic and knocked out John Part, who was defending champion at the time, in his first appearance at the World Championship in 2004. His success continued in Blackpool at the World Matchplay in 2004 going on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Jones (darts Player)
Wayne Jones (born 24 April 1965) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He uses the nickname The Wanderer for his matches. Career Jones started his career in the British Darts Organisation in the late 1980s and reached the final of the British Open in 1990 (losing to Alan Warriner and the British Classic in 2000 (losing to Ritchie Davies) - but his best achievement was reaching the final of the prestigious Winmau World Masters in 1999 when Andy Fordham ended his hopes of a first major title. He didn't make it to the Lakeside Country Club for the BDO World Championship until 2001, losing to Andy Fordham in the second round. He made it to the quarter-finals of the 2002 event by beating Tony Eccles and Ted Hankey but lost 1–5 to Martin Adams. He then switched to the PDC and made his debut at their version of the World Championship in 2004. In 2006 he produced his best ever World Championship performance by reac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Smith (darts Player)
Andrew Smith (born 22 June 1967) is an English former professional darts player. He used the nickname The Pie Man for his matches. His best performances came in the "floor" events (non-televised tournaments with many boards being used simultaneously), where he won six PDC Pro Tour titles. Career A former England international, Smith won the England, Welsh and Norway Opens in his early career, as well as qualifying for the British Darts Organisation version of the world championship on four occasions (losing in the first round each time), before switching from the BDO to the PDC. His wins in the Scottish and South-West Regional Finals for the 2005 UK Open saw him enter the televised finals as number one seed, and he later qualified for the Las Vegas Desert Classic. Smith narrowly missed out on an automatic place in the 2006 PDC World Championship after jumping to 33rd in the rankings, but came through the PDPA qualifiers to book his place at the Circus Tavern. He overcame Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Thornton (darts Player)
Robert "Bob" Thornton (born 17 July 1967) is a Scottish professional darts player, who is the current World Seniors champion. Thornton is a three-time major winner between the BDO and PDC, having won the World Masters in 2007, UK Open in 2012, and World Grand Prix in 2015. He is also a former finalist at the Players Championship Finals in 2009 and Grand Slam of Darts in 2013. In addition, Thornton has reached three World Championship quarter-finals across both organisations and was a participant in the Premier League in 2013, 2014 and 2016. BDO career Thornton returned to playing darts in 2002, having given up the game for two decades to raise his children. 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. 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 Veitc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Anderson (darts Player)
Gary Anderson (born 22 December 1970) is a Scottish professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He is a former BDO and WDF world number one, and a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2015 and 2016. His nickname is "The Flying Scotsman", after a famous Scottish steam train. Anderson is renowned for his heavy scoring in the game and having one of the smoothest throws.Darts Psychology: Gary Anderson - The First Round! The Martin Effect; Retrieved 27 December 2010Arthur McKay hits the bullseye with the Flying Scotsman Arthur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Painter
Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the greatest televised matches in the history of the sport. He was also the winner of the Players Championship Finals in 2011. Darts career BDO Painter started playing darts around the age of 17. His first County Appearance was against Staffordshire for Essex at the Runnymede Hall, Benfleet on Saturday 15 November as a Men's B Team player, where he won 2–0 in 16 and 21 darts, recording an average of 27.08 (81.24) Once an Essex county player, his first appearance on television was in the 1994 BDO World Championship, which was notable as the first BDO World Championship to follow the split in darts, where 16 players formed the World Darts Council (later Professional Darts Corporation) and their own world championship. Painter was defeated in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Hamilton (darts Player)
Andrew Hamilton (born 16 March 1967), nicknamed The Hammer, is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Early career Hamilton started playing darts at the age of 14 with his father Jim and brother Darren. By the age of 18, Hamilton was playing county level darts for Cheshire. However, he did not feel confident enough to pursue a career at the higher level and stopped playing competitive darts for 20 years. 2004–2007 Hamilton made his television debut at the 2004 UK Open but was eliminated in the first round 5–2 by Eddie Lovely. His first semi-final on the PDC Pro Tour came in just his fourth event when he was beaten 3–2 by Mark Dudbridge in a Scottish Players Championship. Hamilton qualified for the PDC World Championship for the first time in 2005 and made an immediate impact by reaching the quarter-final stage. Hamilton defeated Mark Thomson and Mick Manning 3–0 in the early rounds and beat former BDO Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Walsh (darts Player)
Mark Walsh (born 2 February 1965) is a former English professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He reached No. 6 in the PDC Order of Merit. Walsh reached his first major televised final in 2005, when he was beaten by Phil Taylor (darts player), Phil Taylor in the 2005 UK Open, UK Open. Early career Walsh made his televised debut at the 2002 World Matchplay Darts, 2002 World Matchplay but suffered a 10-0 whitewash at the hands of John Part. His World Championship debut came in 2004, but he lost 0-3 to Erik Clarys in his first match. He went out to Wayne Mardle 2-4 in 2005. He won his first match at the World Championship at his third attempt in 2006. He was seeded 12th for the event, and beat Warren Parry before losing 0-4 to Dennis Smith (darts player), Dennis Smith in the next round. Later career 2007-2010 He had slipped to 16th in the Darts world rankings, world rankings for the 2007 World Championship, when he was surprisin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Mardle
Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil Taylor on each occasion. He was also a five-time world semi-finalist. He currently works as a pundit and commentator. He has been known as "Hawaii 501" since 2000, a play on the title of the popular television series ''Hawaii Five-O'', due to the Hawaiian shirts he started wearing in 1998 for a bet, and 501 being the start score of a leg of darts. This dress sense coupled with his crowd-pleasing onstage activity (such as dancing to the interval music) saw him become one of the most popular players on the circuit. Early life and career Mardle was born in Dagenham, East London, England. He started playing darts at the age of 11, when he practised with his dad. His first 180 came two weeks after he started playing. He soon became better t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Osborne
Colin Osborne (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open. Darts career Osborne has won two PDC Pro Tour events and he also managed to hit two perfect nine-dart finishes in 2005. The first one of these came in the Players Championship in the Isle of Wight and a second one followed at the non-televised qualifying rounds for the 2005 World Matchplay. On his World Championship debut in 2007, Osborne reached the quarter-finals where he was beaten 5–4 by Andy Jenkins. This great performance was followed by an even better one at the 2007 UK Open, where he beat Michael van Gerwen and Mervyn King as he reached the semi-final only to be beaten 11–10 in a thriller against Vincent van der Voort. He followed this success with victory against James Wade in Las Vegas, only to lose to Peter Manley in the second round. Osborne suffered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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