James Wilson (born 25 February 1972) is an English darts player who plays in the

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 Wor ...

Career

BDO

Wilson first rose to prominence in 2012 by winning several tournaments, rising to number four in the world and reaching the quarter-finals 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 ...

. Despite this, he was unseeded on his debut appearance at the World Championship and was drawn against top seed

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 ...

in round one, taking a 2–1 lead before eventually losing 2–3. Wilson followed up on his form in 2013, rising to second in the world and reaching the final of the World Masters beating Jan Dekker and Robbie Green en route to a 7–0 loss to Bunting. Later that year Wilson demolished Bunting 5–1 in the final of the

Zuiderduin Masters The Finder Darts Masters was a darts tournament held in Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands, sanctioned by the British Darts Organisation and the World Darts Federation, running intermittently under several different names from 1995 to 2018. The tourn ...

. Wilson therefore entered the World Championship as the second seed, and beat former 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 first round then Scott Mitchell in the second round, to set up a quarter-final against Alan Norris, which Norris won 5–2 despite Wilson averaging 99.06, hitting three 11 dart legs (one of which included a bounce-out) and 14 180s. In February 2014, Wilson found himself as de facto number one after Stephen Bunting's change-over to the rival

. He subsequently won his first major at the inaugural

BDO World Trophy The BDO World Trophy was a major darts tournament run by the British Darts Organisation, hosted originally in February 2014 at Blackpool Tower, before it was held in May from 2016–18 in various locations. In 2019, it was held in King George's ...

. Wins over

Richie George Richard George (born 18 December 1989) is a former English professional darts player. He was born in Essex and is the son of former world championship finalist Bobby George. They became the first father-and-son duo to play in the BDO version ...

, Rick Hofstra, Jeffrey de Graaf and Paul Jennings saw Wilson progress to the final where he defeated

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 ...

13–11 for a winner's cheque of £30,000. Wilson entered the 2014 World Masters as the number one seed but suffered a shock first round exit, losing 3-0 in sets to Mark McGeeney. He also entered the

2015 BDO World Darts Championship The 2015 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 38th World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the 30th staging at the Lakeside Country Club at Frimley Green. 2014 BDO champion Stephen Bunting did not d ...

as the number one seed but also lost in the first round to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

's Peter Sajwani.

PDC

The day after being knocked out of the 2015 BDO World Championship, Wilson announced on his Twitter page that he had signed up to the

's Qualifying School with the intention of earning a tour card. On the third of four qualifying days Wilson won a two-year membership with the PDC by beating Nathan Aspinall 5–2 in the final round. Wilson's first PDC major was the UK Open and he beat

Mark Frost Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...

5–0 and Ricky Evans 9–4 to reach the fourth round, where he lost 9–7 against Kyle Anderson. In May he knocked out Steve Brown, Michael Smith, Jamie Lewis and

Darren Johnson Darren Paul Johnson (born 1966) is a former English politician and prominent member of the Green Party of England and Wales. He represented the Green Party on the London Assembly from 2000 to 2016 and was a Green councillor in the London ...

at the ninth Players Championship event of the year to reach his first PDC quarter-final and was defeated 6–3 by Gary Anderson. Wilson qualified for three European Tour events during the year, but was eliminated in the second round of each. In 2016, Wilson lost to Kyle Anderson in the fourth round of the UK Open for the second year in a row, this time 9–2. Later in the year he reached the semi-finals of three successive Pro Tour events, before his first PDC final arrived at the 15th Players Championship event with wins over Steve Hine, James Richardson, Steve West,

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 ...

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 Cham ...

and

Jermaine Wattimena Jermaine Wattimena (born 9 March 1988) is a Dutch darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. Career Wattimena won the first event he entered as he claimed the 2008 Malta Open by beating Vincent Busuttil in th ...

. From 3–3, world number one

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 ...

moved away to defeat Wilson 6–3. The pair met in the second round of the World Grand Prix with Van Gerwen winning 3–0 in sets. At the European Championship, Wilson beat

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 1 ...

6–3 and Mervyn King 10–9 to play in his first major PDC quarter-final, which he lost 10–7 to

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 th ...

. He won a place at 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 Dart ...

through the qualifier and saw off

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 Champion ...

5–2 in his opening game, before losing 5–3 to Wade. He needed a win over Jamie Hughes to progress to the knockout stage and led 4–2, but went on to lose 5–4. Wilson also played in 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 after finishing 11th on the Order of Merit, but was knocked out 6–2 by Vincent Kamphuis in the first round. Wilson topped the Pro Tour Order of Merit for non-qualified players to qualify for the 2017 World Championship. In his first appearance at the event he lost 3–0 to

in the opening round. He played 4 other major tournaments in 2017, namely 2nd round of UK Open 2017, and was eliminated in 1st rounds of World Matchplay 2017 and Players Championship Finals 2017. For the second time in a row, he qualified for

, but was unable to make it through the round robin. Towards the end of the year Wilson broke into top 32 of PDC Order of Merit and qualified as 32nd seed for the PDC World Darts Championship 2018. Wilson faced

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 pl ...

in the first round of PDC World Darts Championship 2018 and won 3-1 on sets. In the second round he lost 0-4 to the world number one,

. In 2018 Wilson continued in his progress in PDC and settled himself comfortably in top 32 of PDC Order of Merit. He lost again in the 2nd round of UK Open 2018, as well as the first round of World Matchplay 2018. His best tournament of the year came at the World Grand Prix 2018, where he reached the second quarterfinal on major in his PDC career. He defeated former major title winners,

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 ...

(2-1 on sets) in the first round and the former World Champion,

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 ...

(3-2) in the second round. He lost in the quarterfinal to Peter Wright 2-3 in a very tight match. After a year break he later qualified for European Championship 2018 and defeated

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 ...

in the first round, losing to Max Hopp in the second round. Wilson did not qualify for Grand Slam of Darts but for the first time in his career, he made it to the second round of

, after win over

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 ...

. During the year Wilson changed back his nickname from "Lethal Biscuit" to "Jammy Dodger". He entered the PDC World Darts Championship 2019 as 26th seed and in the new format, he started in the second round. He faced William O'Connor and lost 2-3 on sets. At the UK Open 2019 Wilson received bye to the 4th round, where he scored only one leg in a match against

and lost 1-10. Wilson's form dropped down during the year and the only other major he played in was Players Championship Finals 2019, where he caused major surprise after winning 6-5 over the 4th seed, Peter Wright. In the second round Wilson was whitewashed by Chris Dobey. Despite falling out of top 32 in the PDC Order of Merit, Wilson qualified for PDC World Darts Championship 2020 through PDC Prot Tour Order of Merit, from 27th place. In the first round he lost to

Nico Kurz Nico Kurz (born 31 January 1997) is a German darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2018, he qualified as a German Superleague qualifier for the 2018 German Darts Masters in the 2018 World Series of Da ...

1-3 on sets. Wilson received bye into the 3rd round of UK Open 2020 and won over Ted Evetts 6-4, before losing to 4-10 to Michael Smith. James struggled during the year, having problems with both shoulder and eye injury. He was unable to qualify for any other major tournament that year and also failed to qualify for PDC World Darts Championship 2021. That caused him major fall down in the rankings and he ended the year on 64th position of PDC Order of Merit, maintaining his Tour card. Wilson received bye to the 3rd round of UK Open 2021, where he lost 1-6 to

Keegan Brown Keegan Brown (born 5 November 1992) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2014 PDC World Youth Championship. Career Early career Brown began playing darts at the age of ni ...

, averaging 80.88. Yet again, he was unable to qualify for any other major tournaments and was constantly dropping down the rankings. In November he won PDPA Qualifier for PDC World Darts Championship 2022 and kept a theoretical chance to hold his Tour card. After losing 1-3 against Luke Woodhouse in the 1st round, Wilson ended the year on 91st place of PDC Order of Merit and lost the Tour card. In January 2022 Wilson entered PDC UK Q-School and automatically qualified for Final Stage. On the first day of the tournament, he regained his Tour card for 2 years after a win over

Cameron Menzies Cameron Menzies (born 27 June 1989) is a Scottish darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career BDO Menzies first played darts on the BDO circuit in 2006, playing in the Gibraltar Open. However, he di ...

6-1.

World Championship results

BDO

* 2013: First round (lost to

2–3) * 2014: Quarter-finals (lost to Alan Norris 2–5) * 2015: First round (lost to Peter Sajwani 1–3)

PDC

* 2017: First round (lost to

0–3) * 2018: Second round (lost to

0–4) * 2019: Second round (lost to William O'Connor 2–3) * 2020: First round (lost to

1–3) * 2022: First round (lost to Luke Woodhouse 1–3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

PDC European tour finals: (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

BDO PDC

External links

James Wilson's official website
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, James 1972 births English darts players Living people British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders