Simon Whatley (born 25 February 1973 in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

) is a retired 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 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 World ...

events.

Career

He began with a very good 2002 campaign, reaching the quarter-finals of the

Las Vegas Desert Classic The Las Vegas Desert Classic was a darts tournament, organized by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and was held each year in July from 2002 until 2009. Its original venue was the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada from 2002 to ...

, beating Dennis Smith in the last 16, losing to

Lee Palfreyman Lee Palfreyman (born 5 January 1977 in Liverpool) is an English professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation events. His biggest success on TV was reaching the semi-finals of the 2002 Las Vegas Desert Classic, where ...

. The same year he played in 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 ...

, a BDO major, beating 1997 Masters champion Graham Hunt in the first round, before losing to

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 ...

. He then joined the PDC full-time and played in the 2003 UK Open, reaching the last 32 stage by beating

Barrie Bates Barrie Bates (born 17 October 1969) is a former Welsh darts player who played on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) circuit. His original nickname was Batesy, but since 2007, he was known as Champagne. Career Bates made his PDC televised ...

and losing to

Shayne Burgess Shayne Burgess (born 1 June 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He is known for his unorthodox throwing action, where he draws the point of the dart up close t ...

who was runner-up to Phil Taylor. He also played in the 2003 World Matchplay, losing in the first round to

Jamie Harvey Jamie Harvey (born 15 August 1955) is a Scottish former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments. He used the nickname Bravedart for his matches – a play on ...

. He rounded off a good year by playing in the 2004 PDC World Darts Championship, defeating

Henry O'Neill Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s. Early years He was born in Orange, New Jersey. Career ...

, former World Champion

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 ...

and

Lionel Sams Lionel Jeffrey Sams (born 20 January 1961 in Paddington, London) is a former English darts player who previously played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. His nickname was The Lion for his matches. Since 2011, he played f ...

to reach the quarter-finals, losing to

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil ...

. His follow-up year was disappointing, suffering an early exit at the 2004 UK Open, losing to Andy Keen in the second round, followed by a second first-round exit at the World Matchplay, losing to

Alan Warriner Alan Warriner-Little (born Warriner; 24 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Iceman, he is a former World Grand Prix champion and a former runner-up at the World Professional Darts Championship. Darts care ...

. He played at the 2005 PDC World Darts Championship, but lost in the second round to

Mark Holden Mark Ronald Holden (born 27 April 1954) is an Australian singer, actor, TV personality, record producer, songwriter, and barrister. He was a pop star in the 1970s and had four top 20 hit singles, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (May 1976 ...

. He then had a poor run of form which him fail to progress in the major tournaments and drop outside the top 100 as a result. However he hit back to form in the 2008 UK Open, reaching the last 16 of the tournament and climb up to 79 in the world rankings.

World Championship Results

PDC

* 2004: Quarter Finals (lost to

1–5) * 2005: 2nd Round (lost to

0–3)

External links

Profile and stats on Darts Database
1973 births English darts players Living people People from Yeovil British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation former pro tour players {{UK-darts-bio-stub