Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957 in

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

) 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 ide ...

retired 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. He is nicknamed ''The Heat'' and is now based in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. Ovens is widely regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he has as yet failed to convert his form from the circuit to the big stages on television. His constant second round exits in numerous televised tournaments has led him to be called by commentators as 'The Nearly Man'.

Career

His one good run came in the 2005 PDC World Darts Championship, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to former World Masters champion

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 r ...

. He has since suffered six successive second round exits in the World Championship – against

Steve Alker Steve "Snakeman" Alker (born 14 February 1964) is a Welsh retired professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation and Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Alker won the 1998 Welsh Open, beating Colin Monk in the f ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, against

Alan Tabern "The Saint" Alan Tabern (born 29 September 1966) is an English darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Darts career A left-hander, Tabern made his PDC World Championship debut in 2006 with a surprising ...

in 2007 (in a thriller that went to a sudden death deciding leg, with Ovens narrowly missing a double 12 for a perfect

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 ...

and a £15,000 bonus), in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

against Dutchman

Jan van der Rassel Jan van der Rassel (born 5 January 1964) is a former Dutch professional darts player. He used the nicknames The Project and Rassel Dazzle for his matches. Career He began his darts career competing on the BDO circuit in 2002, and reached the ...

, after defeating

Colin Monk Colin Monk (born 29 September 1967) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Career Monk won the Winmau World Masters in 1996, where he be ...

in the first round, in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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 ...

having defeated

Steve Maish Stephen Maish (born 22 November 1963 in Southend, Essex) is a retired English professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation events. He used the nickname Mr Magic for his matches. Career Maish made his televised deb ...

3–0 in the first round, in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

to Colin Lloyd and in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname ...

. He reached the semi-final of 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 seedin ...

in three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012, where he was defeated by Phil Taylor (twice) 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 ...

and reached the final of the inaugural

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 Berlin ( , ) ...

in 2007.

BDO

Ovens retired in 2015. Almost two years to the day since his last appearance, at the BDO Swedish Open in 2016, the 61-year-old made a comeback at the same event. He lost 2–4 to Veine Hagen in the last 256 of the Swedish Open Men's Singles, lost 0–3 to

Willem Mandigers Willem Mandigers (born 4 June 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in World Darts Federation events. Career Mandigers won the Turkish Open in 2014. At the 2014 World Masters he lost to Robbie Green in the first round 3–1. ...

in the last 32 of the Gents Classic and lost alongside Keith Wetton against Mauri Tuutijärvi and Ari Nevalainen in the last 16 of the Mens Pairs.

World Championship results

BDO

*2000: 1st 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 ...

1–3)

PDC

*2001: 1st round (lost to Les Fitton 1–3) *2002: 2nd round (lost to

Richie Burnett Richard Mark "Richie" Burnett (born 7 February 1967), nicknamed Prince of Wales, is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former World No. 1 who won the 1995 Embassy World Darts Cha ...

4–6) *2003: 3rd round (lost to Dennis Smith 1–5) *2004: 3rd round (lost to

Alex Roy Alexander Roy (born November 23, 1971) is an American writer, podcaster, TV host and rally race driver who has set various endurance driving records, including the US " Cannonball Run" transcontinental driving record, which he and Dave Maher bro ...

3–4) *2005: Quarter-finals (lost to

3–5) *2006: 2nd round (lost to

1–4) *2007: 2nd round (lost to

3–4) *2008: 2nd round (lost to

1–4) *2009: 2nd round (lost to

1–4) *2010: 2nd round (lost to Colin Lloyd 3–4) *2011: 2nd round (lost to

0–4) *2012: 1st round (retired due to injury while trailing Kevin Münch 1–0) *2013: 2nd round (lost to

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

1–4)

Career statistics

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held

Performance timeline

Trivia

*Ovens is known for his trademark unshaven looks. Ovens stated on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

World Series of Darts The World Series of Darts is a series of darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Beginning in 2013, the World Series has comprised between two and seven tournaments across the world, where a mixture of the top-ranked P ...

that he kept shaving before a darts match and always lost, so he thought "OK, don't shave". *Ovens is well known to darts fans as "Captain Hobo", in reference to his unkempt appearence. *Ovens has said he enjoys playing in German tournaments as Germany "do good beer."

References

External links

Interview with Denis OvensProfile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovens, Denis 1957 births English darts players Living people People from Enfield, London Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders British Darts Organisation players PDC ranking title winners