Ian White (born 17 August 1970), nicknamed Diamond, is an English 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 currently playing 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 World ...

(PDC) events. White is the winner of 13 PDC ranking events, and has reached many quarter-finals in majors. In 2019, he reached his first major semi final.

Career

In 1997, White reached the final of the PDC's revived

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 ...

. He defeated Des Byrne,

Gary Spedding Gary Spedding (born 15 August 1968) is an English retired professional darts player, who played in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Spedding played in one BDO World Darts Championships in 2000, losing 3-0 to Steve Douglas and playe ...

Peter Manley Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twi ...

and

Andy Jenkins Andrew Jenkins (born 11 March 1971) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was nicknamed "Rocky" due to his rough personality. Jenkins has reached high rankings in the PDC, but ha ...

on the way to the final, where he was defeated by Phil Taylor. White won the Antwerp Open,

Denmark Open The Denmark Open, or formerly known as Danish Open, is an annual badminton tournament held in Denmark and organized by Badminton Denmark. The Denmark Open was part of the BWF Super Series Premier from 2011 to 2017. BWF categorised it as one o ...

and the English National Championship in 2009. He qualified for the 2010 BDO World Darts Championship, but lost 0-3 in the first round to

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former Wor ...

. Shortly afterwards, he left the BDO and joined the PDC, when fellow Stoke player

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 ...

offered to sponsor White and suggested he was capable of being in the world's top eight. A solid first year in the PDC saw him reach the semi-finals of a Pro Tour event in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, gain an automatic Tour Card, and narrowly miss out on the 2011 PDC World Championship by £100. In February 2011, he reached his first PDC final since 1997. He lost 3-6 to Steve Brown in the final of the 2011 UK Open Qualifier 1. White finished third in the 2011 Grand Slam of Darts wildcard qualifier, and was awarded a place in the tournament proper after

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 T ...

withdrew due to injury.

2012

He qualified for his first PDC World Championship in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, where he was beaten 1-3 by Robert Thornton in the last 64. He threw a nine-dart finish in the opening Players Championship event of the season in a first round match against Mark Hylton. White reached the semi-finals of the event, where he was beaten 4-6 by the eventual winner

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who has played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was a former top 10 player. Playing career Pipe was a boxer in his youth, and, as a staunc ...

. In April, he earned a place in the European Tour Event 1 in

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by defeating

Adrian Gray Adrian Gray (born 28 February 1981) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Gray made his televised debut at the 2003 UK Open. He only began playing darts at the age of 18, and within thre ...

in the UK qualifier. He played

Colin Lloyd Colin Edward Lloyd (born 7 August 1973), nicknamed Jaws, is an English retired professional darts player. He is a former world number one ranked player and has won two major television titles in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) – the ...

in the first round and lost 3–6, with his opponent averaging 111. In May, he reached the final of the Players Championship Event 5 where he lost 2–6 to

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champions ...

. He also qualified for the third European Tour Event with a win over

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 ...

, but was then beaten by

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

2–6 in the first round in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. By July, White had reached two semi-finals and two finals in PDC events in 2012, meaning he qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time in his career due to being the sixth highest player on the ProTour Order of Merit who was not in the world's top 16. He played

Vincent van der Voort Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is the "Dutch Destroyer", although he used to go by "Grease Lightning". He is bes ...

in the first round and took out 164 and 161 finishes in a 10–5 victory to set up a last 16 fixture with 12-time World Matchplay champion Phil Taylor, which he lost 3–13. White threw his second nine-darter of the season in the fourth European Tour event, the German Darts Masters in a last 16 win against

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...

. He continued his momentum with a quarter-final deciding leg victory over Robert Thornton and a 6–4 semi-final win against

. In the final he faced two-time reigning world champion and occasional practice partner

, and was beaten 3–6. White's exceptional form carried on at his next event, the 11th Players Championship, as he beat the likes of

and

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached number three in the world rankings and was a runner-up in nin ...

to reach the final. He played

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 ...

and lost in a final for the fourth time this year following a 1–6 defeat. At the European Championship he exacted his revenge over Lewis with a sensational 6–0 whitewash in the first round. However, he lost 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 ...

5–10 in his following match. At the World Grand Prix in October, White took out finishes of 144, 132 and 112 to beat van Barneveld 2–0 in sets and then faced

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 ...

in the last 16, where he was beaten 1–3. White came agonisingly close to winning his first PDC title in November, as he held a 4–0 lead over

in the final of the 18th Players Championship event, but went on to lose 5–6. After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, White finished eighth on the Order of Merit to qualify for the

Players Championship Finals The Players Championship Finals is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament originally featured the top 32 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit, a separate ranking system that only takes int ...

for the first time. He was beaten 5–6 by Michael Smith in the first round.

2013

White was just outside the top 32 ranked players who qualified automatically for the 2013 World Championship. However, his impressive play in events in 2012 earned him the first spot of sixteen that were available for non-qualified players via the ProTour Order of Merit. White was over £18,000 ahead of the second placed Michael Smith. He was beaten by Mark Webster 1–3 in the first round. However, after the tournament he was ranked world number 30, the first time White has been inside the top 32. He was beaten by Steve West 3–9 in the third round 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 ...

. At the eighth Players Championship in September, White won his first PDC tournament by defeating

6–3 in a final with an average of almost 101. He had earlier beaten two-time World Champion

6–1 and the title saw him move up to 23rd on the Order of Merit. White faced

in the first round of the World Grand Prix and missed eight darts for legs in the deciding set to lose 2–1. He made his debut in the

Championship League Championship League is a professional snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. A ranking event version of the tournament began from September 2020, played similarly to its invitational, non-ranking counterpart but with some minor changes ...

and won his

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

at the first time of asking by beating Peter Wright 6–4 in the final. In the Winners Group he won three of his seven matches to finish sixth in the eight man table. Whilst the top 16 players on the Order of Merit were competing in the Masters in November, White took full advantage by winning his second PDC ranking title at the 14th Players Championship with a 6–3 success over

in the final. He beat

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 ...

6–3 and

9–2 at the

to reach the quarter-finals of a PDC major event for the first time. White fell 4–0 down to

and could never recover the deficit as he lost 9–6.

2014

White was the 21st seed for the 2014 World Championship and won his first ever match in the event by beating Australia's Kyle Anderson 3–1. He then survived a huge scare in the second round as

came back from 3–0 down to level, but White held his nerve to take the deciding set. He then produced a successful fightback in the third round against

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 ...

by winning nine of eleven legs from 3–1 behind to triumph 4–3. In the quarter-finals White came up against fourth seed

and trailed 3–0 and 4–1, but then won a trio of sets each by three legs to one to square the game at 4–4. White missed two darts to hold his throw in the fifth leg of the decider and lost the next leg to fall agonosingly short of reaching the semi-finals. He moved into the top 16 on the Order of Merit for the first time after the tournament. A third successive quarter-final in a major event came at the

by beating Gary Anderson 9–7 in the fifth round. White faced

and trailed 6–2 and 8–5 but pulled the gap back to 9–8 before losing the next leg to fall just short of reaching his first televised semi-final. His first final in the floor events of 2014 came at the fourth Players Championship, but he was whitewashed 6–0 by Phil Taylor. Another final followed at the sixth event and he led Robert Thornton 4–2 and 5–4, before missing six darts to win the match in the next leg, instead going on to lose 6–5. White ensured that he reached the second round of the World Matchplay for the third year running by seeing off

10–4, but then was heavily beaten 13–4 by Van Gerwen. White won his third PDC title at the penultimate Players Championship courtesy of a 6–2 success over

2015

White won six consecutive legs against

in the second round of the 2015 World Championship to take a 3–2 lead, but from there could only win one more leg as he lost 4–3. White threw a nine-dart finish in a 6–3 victory over Mervyn King in the quarter-finals of the final UK Open Qualifier and then averaged 109.37 in edging past

6–5, before losing 6–2 against Phil Taylor in the final. He also hit a nine darter during a 6–3 success over

Jamie Lewis Jamie Lewis (born 8 November 1991) is a Welsh professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. His biggest achievement to date was reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 ...

in the semi-finals of the 11th Players Championship, but lost 6–1 to

in the final. A third defeat in a final this year came at the 14th event where he was eliminated 6–2 by

Jelle Klaasen Jelle Klaasen (born 17 October 1984), nicknamed The Cobra, is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In 2006, he became the youngest darts player to win the ...

. White had a high quality game with

in the first round of the World Matchplay as both players averaged over 100 (White the highest with 103.51), 17 maximums were thrown and White took out three ton-plus finishes to win 10–6. He played in the quarter-finals after ousting

13–9 and led

6–1, before being pegged back to 7–7. White fell 12–10 behind, but produced a 12-dart leg to move 13–12 in front, before a host of missed doubles from White including seven in the final leg saw him lose 16–13. His first title of 2015 came at the 17th Players Championship when he held on from 5–1 ahead of Chisnall to win 6–5. In the second round of the World Grand Prix, White averaged 97.96 in the double-to-start event in defeating reigning world champion Gary Anderson 3–1 in sets. Although he averaged 20 points lower in the quarter-finals against Robert Thornton, the match went to a deciding leg at 2–2 in sets which White lost. He was eliminated out of the European Championship at the first round stage and couldn't get out of his group at the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

. However, deciding leg victories over

and

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Stephen Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. Nicknamed "The Iceman", he competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), where he is cu ...

saw White reach his third major quarter-final of the year at the

. White's search for a first PDC semi-final will go on though, as he was ousted 10–6 by

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player. He plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously played in the British Darts Organisation (BD ...

2016

White took the first set against

Dimitri van den Bergh Dimitri Van den Bergh (born 8 July 1994) is a Belgian professional darts player who currently competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a two-time World Youth Champion and the 2020 World Matchplay champion, after beating Gar ...

in the opening round of the 2016 World Championship, but went on to lose 3–1. As his popularity rose, many fans began to sing The Third Rock From the Sun theme tune at his matches due to his similarity to John Lithgow. The song appeared to irritate him on stage as he was defeated 9–6 by

in the third round of the

, but in the final of the fifth Players Championship event whitewashed world number one

6–0 in the final, with an average of 106.20. White also secured the 11th event with a 6–3 win over Joe Cullen. After comfortably seeing off

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Gurney is a winner of two majors, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017 in his native Ireland, and the P ...

10–2 in the first round of the World Matchplay, White lost 11–6 to Peter Wright. He returned to win his third Players Championship crown of the year and seventh PDC tournament in his career by beating

Benito van de Pas Benito van de Pas (born 18 January 1993) is a Dutch professional darts player. Career BDO Van de Pas reached the semi-finals of the 2011 PDC Under-21 World Championship, losing 1-4 to Michael van Gerwen. Van de Pas won the 2011 German Open. ...

6–4. White eliminated

6–2 at the European Championship and came back from 8–3 to force a deciding leg against

, but lost it to be defeated 10–9. His titles during the year qualified him for the

and a win over

Darryl Fitton Darryl Fitton (born 5 May 1962) is an English professional darts player. He is nicknamed The Dazzler and comes to the stage dancing to the Madness song "One Step Beyond" wearing sunglasses; one of the most popular walk-ons with the audience ...

would have seen him progress from his group, but he lost 5–4 from being 3–1 up and missed three match darts in the process.

2017

upright=1.20, White at the 2017 German Darts Grand Prix White faced Peter Wright in the third round of the 2017 World Championship after overcoming

Kevin Simm Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English pop singer. He won ''The Voice UK'' on 9 April 2016. Simm was in the group Liberty X from 2001 until their split in 2007, and is currently the lead singer of the group Wet Wet Wet. Early lif ...

3–0 and

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed The Ferret, he was half of the Welsh team that won the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts before winning his ...

4–1. He lost nine of the first ten legs and could never recover in a 4–1 defeat. His quarter-final with

at the

went to a deciding leg and White was on 20 to win but burst his score by hitting double 15 to allow Price to edge through 10–9. White thrashed

6–1 to reach the semi-finals of the German Darts Open, where he lost 6–3 to

. His first final of the year was at the 11th Players Championship, but he missed five darts for the title in a 6–5 defeat to Rob Cross.

World Championship results

BDO

*2010: First round (lost to

0–3)

PDC

*2012: First round (lost to Robert Thornton 1–3) *2013: First round (lost to Mark Webster 1–3) *2014: Quarter-finals (lost to

4–5) *2015: Second round (lost to

3–4) *2016: First round (lost to

1–3) *2017: Third round (lost to Peter Wright 1–4) *2018: Second round (lost to

1–4) *2019: Second round (lost to

Devon Petersen Devon Petersen (born 4 June 1986) is a South African professional darts player and a pundit for Sky Sports. He has qualified for the PDC World Championship on seven occasions with his best result coming in 2014, 2019 and 2021 when he reached th ...

2–3) *2020: Second round (lost to

Darius Labanauskas Darius Labanauskas (born 26 July 1976) is a Lithuanian professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2015, he was the WDF world number 1. Career BDO Labanauskas is a three-time Lithuania National Ch ...

1–3) *2021: Second round (lost to Kim Huybrechts 1–3) *2022: Third round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4)

Career finals

Independent major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

''PDC European Tour''

References

External links

Official website
(archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Ian 1970 births Living people English darts players Sportspeople from Stoke-on-Trent Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders PDC ranking title winners