Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh 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 plays 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. Nicknamed The Ferret, he was half of the

Welsh team Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

that won the

2020 PDC World Cup of Darts The 2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts was the tenth edition of the PDC World Cup of Darts. It took place behind closed doors from 6–8 November 2020 at the Salzburgarena in Salzburg, Austria. The event was originally due to be held between 18–2 ...

before winning his first televised singles title, the 2021 Masters, which would lead him to qualifying for the

2021 Premier League Darts The 2021 Unibet Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and the seventeenth edition of the tournament. The event was scheduled to begin on Thursday 4 February at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff ...

, which he would go on to win as well. He subsequently won his first ranked televised title at the 2021 World Grand Prix.

Career

2015

Clayton joined the

PDC Pro Tour The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

in 2015 after winning a Tour Card on the final day of Qualifying School against Jake Strong in a 6-0 whitewash, a result that "Strongy" seems to replicate on many occasions. His first quarter-final came at the sixth Players Championship event and he lost 6–1 to

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. ...

. Clayton qualified for the

Grand Slam of Darts The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invited the best performing players from its rival, the British Dar ...

later that year, but despite winning his opening match against

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 ...

, he went on to finish bottom of his group.

2016

Clayton's first appearance at the UK Open came in the 2016 edition, but he was defeated 6–3 by

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

in the second round. Clayton recorded a quarter-final showing at the eighth Players Championship and reached his first semi-final at the 12th event, but was whitewashed 6–0 by Gary Anderson. A 2–0 victory over Tony Darlow saw Clayton claim the non-ranking Worthingtons Darts Champion of Champions title. He lost 6–3 to

Darren Webster Darren Michael Webster (born 10 June 1968) is an English darts player nicknamed Demolition Man. Career Webster won the 2005 Open Oust Nederland, beating Co Stompé in the final. Originally nicknamed The Sniper, Webster reached the quarter-fina ...

in round one of 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 ...

2017

Clayton made his PDC World Championship debut in the 2017 event, and came from a set down to beat fellow Welshman

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 ...

3–1 in the first round. He lost 4–1 to Ian White in the second round. Clayton won his first PDC ranking title with Players Championship 22 after beating

6-1 in the final. Clayton got to his first PDC major final at the 2017 Players Championship Finals. He beat

Jeffrey de Graaf Jeffrey de Graaf (born 21 November 1990) is a Dutch darts player. He has played in six World Championships (four BDO and two PDC) but has lost in the first round each time. He moved from the BDO to the PDC in 2016. Career BDO In 2012, De Graaf ...

, Price,

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 Worl ...

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 ...

and number 1 seed Rob Cross, before losing out 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 ...

2018

His run to the final saw him break into the top 32 of the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded fo ...

, meaning that he was a seed at the

2018 PDC World Darts Championship The 2018 William Hill World Darts Championship was a darts event, held between 14 December 2017 and 1 January 2018 at the Alexandra Palace in London, United Kingdom. It was the 25th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporat ...

, where he was eliminated by fellow countryman

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 ...

. He went on to win the

2018 Austrian Darts Open The 2018 Austrian Darts Open was the fourth out of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at Steiermarkthalle, Premstätten, Austria between 20–22 April 2018. It featured a field of 48 players and ...

by defeating

8-5 in the final. This meant that he was the first welsh winner on the PDC European tour.

2019

Clayton won Players Championship 10 by defeating

Gabriel Clemens Gabriel Clemens (born August 16, 1983) is a German professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In 2017, Clemens made the semi-finals of the World Masters, and missed match darts against the BDO numb ...

8-4 in the final. This was Jonny's 3rd ranking title.

2020: World Cup Champion

At this point a three-time PDC ranking title winner, Clayton was selected as a 'challenger' for the 2020 Premier League night in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, but lost 7–1 to an inspired Michael Smith. Clayton kicked off his 2020 season by defeating world number one

10-6 in the opening round of the 2020 Masters. He went on to win the

for Wales with

as his teammate, defeating the English side of Rob Cross and Michael Smith 3-0.

2021: First individual title, Premier League and Grand Prix champion

At the Masters Clayton beat

José de Sousa José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (born 12 February 1974) is a Portuguese professional darts player. He is based in Tarragona and represented Spain at the 2011 WDF World Cup, but played for the Portuguese team afterwards at the PDC. He won his ...

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

and Peter Wright en route to the final where he faced Mervyn King. Clayton won the match 11–8 to win his first major individual televised title. In his match against Wade, he was successful in checking out 10 times out of 11 for a success rate of 91%, which the PDC claimed to be a possible world record. He won two Players Championship events early in 2021. Upon winning the Masters tournament, Clayton was invited to participate in the

, where on the third night of his debut season he hit a

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 ...

on the way to beating

. After the fifth evening of league action Clayton was placed at the top of the league. He slipped to as low as 8th, before going into 4th position for night 16. He had to achieve at least a draw to secure his place in the playoffs. He managed to do so and won his game 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 ...

winning 8-6. In the playoffs he beat

10-8 in their semi-final. He went on to defeat

11-5 in the final. In doing so he became the first Welsh winner of the Premier League and the first player to finish 4th in the league phase and win the title. Clayton participated in the World Grand Prix in which he reached the final after beating

Callan Rydz Callan Rydz ( born 3 July 1998, from Newcastle upon Tyne) is a professional England, English darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation events. Darts career At 2018 PDC Q-School he tried to win a tour card, however he missed o ...

Krzysztof Ratajski Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 1 January 1977) is a Polish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2017 World Masters. Ratajski also pla ...

and

Danny Noppert Danny Noppert (born 31 December 1990) is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former BDO World Darts Championship finalist, as well as being a Finder Darts Masters champion in 2017, b ...

along the way. In the final Clayton prevailed over World No. 1

with a 5-1 victory winning him his third major tournament of the year. Three weeks later, Clayton picked up his fourth TV title of the year with an 11–6 victory over Dimitri Van den Bergh in the final of the

World Series of Darts Finals The World Series of Darts Finals is a non-ranking darts tournament held by the Professional Darts Corporation. It is classed as a PDC premier event. The tournament was held annually in November, but in 2020, it moved to September, and moved to O ...

. 2022 At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, Clayton defeated Keane Barry and Gabriel Clemens before losing too eventual finalist Micheal Smith 4-3

World Championship performances

PDC

* 2017: Second round (lost to Ian White 1–4) * 2018: First round (lost to

0–3) * 2019: Second round (lost to

1–3) * 2020: Third round (lost to

0–4) * 2021: Third round (lost to Joe Cullen 3–4) * 2022: Fourth round (lost to Michael Smith 3–4) * 2023: ''Ongoing''

Career finals

PDC major finals: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

PDC team finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

PDC World Series finals: 1 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

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; (WD) Withdrew

Performance timeline

''PDC European Tour''

Nine-dart finishes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, Jonny 1974 births Living people Welsh darts players Sportspeople from Llanelli Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders PDC World Cup of Darts Welsh championship team Masters (darts) champions Premier League Darts champions World Grand Prix (darts) champions World Series of Darts winners Darts players who have thrown televised nine-dart games