Gary Stone (born 19 June 1981) is a Scottish 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 currently plays in the

World Darts Federation The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body and (along with the PDC) a tournament organiser for the game of darts. It was formed in 1974 by representatives of the original fourteen founding members. Membership is open to the natio ...

tournaments.

Career

BDO

Stone began his darts career at The Village Tavern in his hometown of Larkhall, reaching the semifinal of the weekly tournament before being eliminated by eventual winner and local darts protégé Darren Cross. The next week, Stone reached the final only to be beaten again by "The Crucifying Cross". It was Stone's first prize in darts; the prize was four credits for the jukebox. Stone was spotted by local promoter Dave "Clubber" Lang, who recommended him to the BDO tour's management, who beat out competition from rival darts promotions in St Tam's and Netties to sign him to play professionally on the tour. Stone qualified for the 2012 BDO World Championship and reached the last 16, defeating

Ron Meulenkamp Ronnie “Ron” Meulenkamp (born 5 November 1988) is a Dutch darts player playing in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career Meulenkamp was runner-up in both the 2011 Isle of Man Open and England Open. He was also a semi-f ...

3–0 but losing 4–0 to

Martin Adams Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...

. He won the

WDF Europe Cup The WDF Europe Cup is a darts tournament held biennially since 1978. The tournament consists of a team championship, a pairs championship and a singles championship. All events have a men's competition, and a women's competition (since 1982). Tou ...

, beating reigning world champion

Christian Kist Christian Kist (born 21 April 1986) is a Dutch professional darts player. In 2012, he won the BDO World Darts Championship, defeating Tony O'Shea in the final. Since 2014, he has competed in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career BDO K ...

in the final. He qualified for the 2013 BDO World Championship and lost 3–1 to Steve Douglas in the first round. Stone was part of the Scotland team that won gold in the men's team event at the

WDF World Cup The WDF World Cup is a major darts tournament organized by the World Darts Federation and has been held biennially since 1977. The tournament has featured men's events since the beginning, while women's events were added in 1983 and youth events in ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, with teammates

Ross Montgomery Ross Montgomery (born 16 October 1962), nicknamed The Boss, is a Scottish professional darts player who played in World Darts Federation (WDF) tournaments and as of January 14th 2022 now plays on the Professional Darts Corporat ...

, Craig Baxter and Alan Soutar. Scotland defeated America 9–7 in the team final. Stone also helped Scotland win silver in the overall competition. In 2019, Gary Stone won the

Swedish Open Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, defeating

John Scott John Scott may refer to: Academics * John Scott (1639–1695), English clergyman and devotional writer * John Witherspoon Scott (1800–1892), American minister, college president, and father of First Lady Caroline Harrison * John Work Scott (180 ...

5–2 in the final.

PDC

Stone entered the PDC Q School in January 2014, and secured a tour card on the third day with a 5–2 win over

Steve Grubb Steve Grubb (born 19 September 1968 from London) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation events, he was nicknamed Grubby. Career Grubb fell two games short of qualifying for the 2006 World Matchplay, losin ...

in the final round. He made his debut in the European Tour at the European Darts Open in July, losing 6–4 to

Ryan de Vreede Ryan de Vreede (born 1 September 1992) is a professional Dutch darts player. He plays in the Professional Darts Corporation events. Career PDC De Vreede's first Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) event was the 2009 German Darts Championship ...

in the first round. He also reached the last 32 of two Players Championship events during the season. He qualified for the

2015 German Darts Masters The 2015 German Darts Masters was the third of nine PDC European Tour events on the 2015 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in the Ballhausforum, Munich, Germany, between 4–6 April 2015. It featured a field of 48 players and £115,000 in pri ...

and overcame

Rowby-John Rodriguez Rowby-John Rodriguez (born 27 March 1994) is an Austrian professional darts player currently playing in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career In 2010, as a 16-year-old, Rodriguez won the Austrian National Championship by bea ...

6–4, before losing 6–2 to

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

. Stone also reached the second round of the Dutch Darts Masters by beating

Dean Winstanley Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player. He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...

6–4 with an average of almost 100, but then narrowly lost 6–5 to

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the BDO World Darts Championship in 1996 and is a former World No. 1. Background Beaton was born in Co ...

. His tour card expired at the end of 2015 and with Stone ranked 100th on the Order of Merit he needed to enter Q School. A single last 16 showing over the four days was not enough for Stone to win his place back. A trio of last 64 defeats saw him qualify for the

2016 UK Open The 2016 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the fourteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competing in a single eliminat ...

, where he beat

Johnny Haines Johnny Haines (born 19 July 1964) is an English professional darts player who currently played in the World Darts Federation (WDF) events. His nickname is "The Punk" and he qualified for the PDC Pro Tour via Q School in 2012 and 2015. Career ...

6–5, before losing 6–2 to

Jamie Caven Jamie Robert Caven (born 10 March 1976) is an English former professional darts player who plays in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He has won seven events on the PDC Pro Tour, including two in the same weekend in May 2013. Caven was a ...

in the second round. Stone played in the majority of

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

events, with two last 16 defeats being his best runs.

World Championship results

BDO/WDF

* 2012: Second round (lost to

0–4) * 2013: First round (lost to Steve Douglas 1–3) * 2020: First round (lost to Jim Williams 2–3) * 2023:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Gary Living people British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders Sportspeople from Bellshill Scottish darts players 1981 births