Dave Ladley (born 29 September 1975) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

darts player that competes in

Professional Darts Corporation 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 Wor ...

events.

Career

Ladley joined the PDC in 2002, and qualified for the

2004 UK Open The 2004 Budweiser UK Open was the second time the Professional Darts Corporation held the tournament which had quickly earned the nickname the "FA Cup of Darts". It was held at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium between 4–6 June 2004. Budweiser ...

, where he lost to

Barrie Bates Barrie Bates (born 17 October 1969) is a former Welsh darts player who played on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) circuit. His original nickname was Batesy, but since 2007, he was known as Champagne. Career Bates made his PDC televised ...

in the second round. Ladley qualified for the

2007 PDC World Darts Championship The 2007 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 14th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The tournament took place between 18 December 2006 – 1 Janua ...

at the

Circus Tavern The Circus Tavern is an entertainment venue in Purfleet, Essex, England which hosts functions, cabaret acts and is also a nightclub venue. First opened in 1974, it is most famous as having been a long-time venue of the PDC World Darts Champio ...

Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lond ...

. He defeated Lionel Sams 3-1 in the first round, before losing 3-4 to

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

in the second round. Ladley had two darts to win at one point, before Wade came back and won in a sudden death leg. After the tournament, Ladley earned a sponsorship deal with a local entrepreneur and decided to join the

PDC Pro Tour The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

. Although Ladley has been a regular on the Pro Tour since 2007, he has not qualified for the televised stages of a major tournament (excluding the

UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of see ...

) since. As of 2010, Ladley lives in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an Industrial city, industrial town and unparished area in the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an es ...

. He plays and supports the local darts scene, by running the annual Scunthorpe Open competition. He has been part sponsored by national newspaper the ''

Daily Sport The ''Daily Sport'' was a tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom by Daily Sport Ltd., which specialised in celebrity news and softcore pornographic stories and images. The daily paper was launched in 1991 by David Sullivan, following ...

'' and is on the books of Dave Holland Management. In May 2012, he earned a place in the

German Darts Championship The German Darts Championship is a Professional Darts Corporation event that takes place in Germany as part of the PDC European Tour. Since 2013, it has been held at Halle 39 in Hildesheim, after previously being held in Berlin and Halle Halle m ...

by defeating Andy Relf and

Steve Hine Stephen "Steve" Hine (born 20 April 1969 from Coventry) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation events. He works as a baker and consequently he is nicknamed The Muffin Man. He is well known for bringing muff ...

in the UK qualifier. Ladley beat

Denis Ovens Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957 in Enfield) is an English retired professional darts player. He is nicknamed ''The Heat'' and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is widely regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he ...

in the first round of the event in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

6–3, and then lost to

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 g ...

6–4 in round two. He also qualified for the Dutch Darts Masters, where he was beaten 6–2 by Wayne Jones in the first round. Ladley finished 2012 ranked world number 114, well outside of the top 64 who retained their places on the PDC tour. He entered Q School in an attempt to win back his place but could not advance past the last 256 on any of the four days and did not have automatic entry into any PDC event in 2013. Ladley failed to qualify for the

2013 UK Open The 2013 Speedy Services UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the eleventh year of the UK Open tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a ...

as he finished 115th on the Order of Merit, outside of the top 96 who claimed their places. In October, he qualified for the Dutch Darts Masters, but lost 6–1 to

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 a ...

in the opening round. In January 2014, Ladley lost in the final round of the third day of Q School to Tony Newell but the result helped him finish inside the top 24 on the Order of Merit to earn a PDC tour card for 2014 and 2015. At the first UK Open Qualifier of the year he hit a

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 an ...

in the second round against Nick Fullwell but went on to lose 6–3. He didn't win enough matches to qualify for the main event and in the rest of the season his best finishes were two last 32 defeats in Players Championships. At the

2015 European Darts Grand Prix The 2015 European Darts Grand Prix was the ninth of nine PDC European Tour events on the 2015 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Glaspalast in Sindelfingen, Germany between 16–18 October 2015. It featured a field of 48 players and £115 ...

, Ladley edged past

Magnus Caris Magnus Caris (born 15 November 1968) is a Swedish former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. BDO career Caris made seven BDO World Darts Championship appea ...

6–5 and then lost 6–4 to

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He made the final of a major TV event, the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 13 ...

in the second round. Ladley had three last 64 finishes in Players Championship events during 2016 and went one better at the 18th event by beating Michael Smith and

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Op ...

both 6–4, before losing 6–0 to

David Pallett David John Pallett (born 8 February 1990) is an English professional darts player playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In January 2013, Pallett entered PDC Q School and stood just one match from joining the tour in th ...

In September 2018 Ladley entered the BDO British Open and reached the semi final losing out to the eventual winner Richard Veenstra. His run to the semi final included a win over the BDO World Champion Glen Durrant in round 3. In March 2022 Ladley was selected to play for England in the Home Internationals in Merthyr Tydfil in May 2022.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2007: Second round (lost to

3–4)

References

External links

*
Dave Ladley's Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladley, Dave English darts players 1975 births Sportspeople from Scunthorpe Living people Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders