David Lee is a retired

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 ide ...

professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

player who competed in

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

events in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Career

Lee made his

World Professional Darts Championship The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split ...

debut in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, defeating

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's Tony Holyoake in the first round before losing in the second round to

Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...

. After a first round exit in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, Lee made it to the second round in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. Lee made a total of four appearances in the World Championship but never made it to the quarter-finals. Lee also played in the

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...

five times with his best run coming in 1983, reaching the semi-finals with notable wins over then World Champion

Keith Deller Keith Kelvin Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship and Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987. He was the first qualifier ever to ...

and Bob Anderson, eventually losing to

Mike Gregory Michael Keith Gregory (20 May 1964 – 19 November 2007) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for Warrington from 1982 to 1994, and won 20 caps fo ...

. He also reached the quarter-finals in the 1984 World Masters, losing to Deller who managed to avenge his defeat to Lee 12 months before. Lee won two unranked tournaments in his career, the 1984 Double Diamond Masters, beating Bob Anderson in the final and the prestigious

News of the World Darts Championship The News of the World Championship was one of the first major organised darts competitions, which began in 1927. It became England's first national darts competition from 1947, as the years went by it gradually became international essentially ...

in 1985. He was a quarter finalist in numerous events such as the MFI World Matchplay in 1984 and 1985, the Butlins Grand Masters in 1985, the British Matchplay in 1986 and the Dry Blackthorn Cider Masters in 1987. He also reached the semi-finals of the 1988 British Open. Following a first round exit in the 1989 Winmau World Masters to

Steve Gittins Stephen Gittins (29 August 1959 – 20 February 2013) was an English professional darts player. Career Gittins played twice at the BDO World Darts Championship. In 1989, he beat Finland's Kexi Heinäharju in the first round but lost in the ...

, Lee failed to qualify for any of the major tournaments and faded from the darts scene completely following the

split in darts The split in darts refers to the acrimonious dispute between top professional darts players and the game's governing body, the British Darts Organisation (BDO), in 1993, leading to the formation of the World Darts Council (WDC). Between 1994 and ...

. Lee quit the BDO in 1996.

Personal life

His wife, Sandra Lee, also played darts professionally, for Wales.

World Championship results

BDO

* 1983: 2nd round (lost to

2–3) * 1985: 1st round (lost to

Luc Marreel Luc Marreel (born 2 February 1949 – 11 May 2015) was a Belgian professional darts player who competed in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Darts career Marreel played in the BDO World Darts Championship five times. In 1981, he beat Denmark's Jan ...

1–2) * 1986: 2nd round (lost to

Terry O'Dea Terence "Terry" O'Dea (3 May 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Australian professional darts player who competed in the 1970s and 1980s. Darts career O'Dea rejoined of the BDO in March 1978. O'Dea played in ten successive BDO World Darts Champions ...

0–3) * 1987: 2nd round (lost to

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

1–3)

External links

Dave Lee's stats and profile on Darts Database
English darts players Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British Darts Organisation players {{UK-darts-bio-stub