David Whitcombe (born 27 June 1954) is an English former 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 won several major tournaments and reached two World Championship Finals between 1980 and 1992.
Biography
Whitcombe was twice a winner of 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 ...
(1982 and 1985) and lost 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 ...
in the World Championship finals of 1984 and 1986. He also won the
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 1989, the British Matchplay, the Swedish Open 3 times, the Finland Open, the Marlboro Masters and Dunlop Masters tournaments. He was also a prolific county and holiday camp open winner.
He played for and captained Kent in the inter counties league, winning the BDO (Darts World Magazine Sponsored) Tons Trophy and individual averages. In one season, he managed to win all 9 man of the match awards, beating 9 England International players in the process – something that has never been done before or since.
He also played for Essex, Suffolk, and London.
Whitcombe also represented England on numerous occasions, including the 4 man teams in the Europe and World cups. He also represented England v Rest of the World, and a Great Britain side which competed against the United States.
His overall World Championship record also included three quarter-final appearances in 1983, 1989, 1991 and the semi-finals in 1985. Bristow must be considered as Whitcombe's nemesis at the World Championship. In his 13 appearances at the championships, Whitcombe met Bristow six times and lost every time, including a quarter final in 1991 where Whitcombe lost 3–4 despite having been three sets and two legs up at one stage. However, in other Major championships like the British Matchplay and the World Masters, Whitcombe defeated Bristow in both the semi and finals. Whitcombe also defeated Phil Taylor in the first round of the 1988 British Professional, which was Taylor's first televised appearance, but lost in 2 finals, both to Jocky Wilson.
Whitcombe helped form the players' association WPDPA (World Professional Dart Players' Association) with
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 ...
,
Cliff Lazarenko
Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "Big Cliff" due to his height (193 cm / 6'4") and weight (over 127 kg at his peak), he is known for being a colourful character on and off the stage ...
, and
Tony Brown. The association was set up with the intention of promoting more televised tournaments after the big slump of televised darts in 1989 and the early 1990s. Eventually this organisation linked up with the newly formed
World Darts Council
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 World ...
in 1992, and darts was soon split into two organisations.
Whitcombe never actually joined the PDC darts circuit at its outset – choosing instead to virtually retire from the sport in 1992. He made a comeback in 2004 – rejoining the PDPA and the PDC circuit. He managed to qualify for the
2006 PDC World Championship, losing to
Roland Scholten
Roland Scholten (born 11 January 1965) is a Dutch former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). Nicknamed The Tripod and The Flying Dutchman, Scholten turne ...
in the first round. After that he failed to qualify for the 2007 World Championship and only competed at one PDC Pro Tour event during 2007 – the UK Open Southern Regional in March.
In May 2008, Whitcombe once again graced the big stage in a televised tournament, taking part in the
BetFred League of Legends
Betfred is a bookmaker based in the United Kingdom, founded by Fred Done.Pronounced to rhyme with "bone". It was first established as a single betting shop in Ordsall, Greater Manchester, Ordsall, County Borough of Salford, Salford, in 1967. Its ...
which was shown live on
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...
, playing along with Bristow, Lowe, Lazarenko,
Bobby George
Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King ...
,
Peter Evison
Peter Kenneth Evison (born 27 May 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed The Fen Tiger, his greatest achievements were th ...
,
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 the eventual winner
Bob Anderson. Whitcombe led the league after the first 4 weeks and was the standout player of the league at that time. Whitcombe's form slumped in the following league weeks, but he still looked on course to cruise into the semi finals as he was in second place after week 5 and in third place after week 6. However, on the final league night on week 7, due to his own loss to Deller and the match between Evison and Lazarenko ending in a draw, Whitcombe slumped to fifth and failed to reach the semi final stage.
Whitcombe failed to qualify for the 2010 Lakeside World Darts Championship and the 2009 Winmau World Masters.
Whitcombe did not take part in the 2022 World Seniors Darts Championship, despite several of his contemporaries doing so.
World Championship results
BDO
* 1980: Second Round (lost to
Bobby George
Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King ...
0–2)
* 1981: Second Round (lost 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 ...
0–2)
* 1982: Second Round (lost to
Steve Brennan 0–2)
* 1983: Quarter Final (lost to Eric Bristow 3–4)
* 1984: Final (lost to Eric Bristow 1–7)
* 1985: Semi Final (lost to Eric Bristow 2–5)
* 1986: Final (lost to Eric Bristow 0–6)
* 1987: First Round (lost to
Bob Sinnaeve 2–3)
* 1988: First round (lost to
Peter Evison
Peter Kenneth Evison (born 27 May 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed The Fen Tiger, his greatest achievements were th ...
1–3)
* 1989: Quarter Final (lost to
Bob Anderson 3–4)
* 1990: First Round (lost to
Chris Whiting
Christopher Guy Whiting (born 13 July 1966) is an Australian politician. He has been the Australian Labor Party member for Bancroft in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2017, and previously represented Murrumba from 2015 to 2017.
Ear ...
2–3)
* 1991: Quarter Finals (lost to Eric Bristow 3–4)
* 1992: First Round (lost to
Per Skau
Per Skau (born 22 May 1968) is a former Danish professional darts player.
Career
At the 1992 Embassy World Championship, Skau defeated Dave Whitcombe in the first round 3–1 only to be knocked out by eventual champion Phil Taylor 3–1 in th ...
1–3)
PDC
* 2006: First Round (lost to
Roland Scholten
Roland Scholten (born 11 January 1965) is a Dutch former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). Nicknamed The Tripod and The Flying Dutchman, Scholten turne ...
1–3)
Career finals
Independent major finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Performance timeline
External links
An article about Dave Whitcombe's career and comeback
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitcombe, Dave
English darts players
1954 births
Living people
Professional Darts Corporation associate players
British Darts Organisation players