Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

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 best known for his quick throwing style, which is how he got his temporary nickname "The Fastest Player in the World". He reached the final of the 2007 UK Open, which helped him become a well known face in the world of darts.

Playing style

Van der Voort is well known for his spasmodic style and machine-gun speed of play which has gained him a reputation in both the BDO and the PDC for being one of the more erratic throwers in the darting world. This ties in with his old entrance music, "Fast Fuse" by English band

Kasabian Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and occasional vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karlof ...

. This has resulted in him tending to be either right on or way off his intended target.

BDO career

His best results in

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

events were winning the Danish Open in 2002 and 2006 and reaching the quarter finals of the BDO World Championship at

Frimley Green Frimley Green is a large village and ward of in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. It is south of the town of Frimley. Lakeside Country Club was the national venue for the BDO int ...

in 2005, defeating 2004 champion

Andy Fordham Andrew Fordham (2 February 1962 – 15 July 2021) was an English professional darts player, commonly known as The Viking. He won the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship and the 1999 Winmau World Masters. Darts career Fordham made his first ap ...

in the process. He suffered a first round exit in the 2007 World Championship to unranked qualifier

Davy Richardson David Richardson-Page (born 21 October 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He was nicknamed Rocky and The Face. Career Richardson was well renowned for having the worst r ...

. It was announced days later that Van der Voort, along with fellow Dutchmen

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 ...

and

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 ...

would be switching to 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 ...

(PDC).

PDC career

upleft, Van der Voort in 2007 Van der Voort produced a superb run to reach the final of the 2007 UK Open before losing in the final to countryman Raymond van Barneveld. The runner-up prize of £15,000 helped him climb up the world rankings having started placed 211 in the PDC and has now made it into the top 20. He qualified for the

2007 Las Vegas Desert Classic The 2007 SBets.net Las Vegas Desert Classic (also billed as Las Vegas Desert Classic VI) was the sixth time that the Professional Darts Corporation stage the prestigious darts tournament. The tournament was held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casi ...

but lost in the first round to

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 twic ...

2008

Van der Voort reached the second round of the 2008 PDC World Championship. He played his fellow Dutchman Klaasen in the first round, defeating him 3–2 in sets.

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 ...

was his opponent in the second round and Van der Voort lost 2–4. The US Open saw a disappointing 2–3 first round defeat at the hands of

John Kuczynski John Kuczynski (born October 16, 1973 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania) is a former American professional darts player. He currently resides in Zion Grove, Pennsylvania and used the nickname Johnny K for his matches. Career For five years running ...

of the US. 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 ...

saw a return to form with Van der Voort making it all the way to the semi-final. He started in the fourth round with a fine 9–4 win over Colin Lloyd. This was followed up in the fifth round with another victory over Klaasen. The quarter final matched him with Chris Thompson and a 10–5 win was enough to see Van der Voort through to the semi-final. In the semi-final, Van der Voort eventually succumbed to a 10–4 defeat by

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 ...

who went on to win the tournament. His World Matchplay campaign was ended at the first hurdle. Number 13 seed

Alan Tabern "The Saint" Alan Tabern (born 29 September 1966) is an English darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Darts career A left-hander, Tabern made his PDC World Championship debut in 2006 with a surprising ...

won the encounter with a narrow 10–8 victory. The World Grand Prix saw Van der Voort playing former World number 1 Lloyd in the first round and Van der Voort eliminated by a score of 0–2. Van der Voort won group 6 of the inaugural Championship League with a 7–2 thrashing over Mark Walsh to qualify for the Winners group. He would go on to finish bottom of the group, with only one win from his seven matches.

2009

Van der Voort reached the third round of the 2009 PDC World Championship. He defeated

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

's Nándor Bezzeg 3–0 in sets and then defeated number 14 seed

Colin Osborne Colin Osborne (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open. Darts career Osborne has won tw ...

in the second round 4–1 assisted by some superb finishes. He eventually went out to number 3 seed Wade losing 4–0 in the last 16. His results moved him to the brink of the top sixteen, ranking in 17th and having passed Roland Scholten on 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 f ...

, Van der Voort was the second-highest ranked Dutchman in the rankings, behind Van Barneveld. At the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts, Van der Voort suffered a defeat to

Anastasia Dobromyslova Anastasia Petrovna Dobromyslova-Martin (russian: Анастаси́я Петро́вна Добромы́слова; born 26 September 1984) is a professional darts player. She is a three-time Women's World Professional Darts Champion of the B ...

in the group stages, becoming only the second man in history to lose a televised match to a woman. Two days later, however, he sensationally thrashed defending champion Phil Taylor 5–1, becoming only the third man in 2009 to beat Taylor in a televised match (the others being Mervyn King and

2010

On 30 December 2010, Van der Voort's biggest win occurred in the round of 16 of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship where he eliminated the 2010 runner-up and number four seed

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 ...

4–2. However, in the quarter-finals on 1 January 2011, Van der Voort then lost 2–5 against

2011

He reached the final in the first of the 2011 players championships in Germany, where he lost 6–1 to Mervyn King. He went on to win his first title of 2011, winning a UK Open Qualifier against Raymond Van Barneveld in a high scoring match.

2012

Van der Voort beat Mark Hylton 3–2 in the first round of the 2012 World Championship in a thrilling match. His second round tie also went to a deciding set 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 ...

, but this time the Dutchman was on the wrong end and exited the tournament by 3 sets to 4. He then represented the Netherlands in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts to try to defend the title won by Raymond van Barneveld and

Co Stompé Jacobus Wilhelmus "Co" Stompé (born 10 September 1962) is a Dutch former professional darts player. He was nicknamed The Matchstick because of his almost bald head and very thin appearance, making him look like a matchstick. He was also one of ...

in 2010. Van der Voort and Van Barneveld enjoyed comfortable victories over Austria and Northern Ireland to set up a semi-final clash with the Australian pair of Paul Nicholson and

. Van Barneveld beat Nicholson 4–0 in their singles match, but this was the only point the Dutch won as they relinquished their crown in a 1–5 defeat. Van der Voort lost 7–9 in the last 32 of the

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 ...

, and at the World Matchplay he was defeated by Ian White 5–10 in the first round. He later revealed he had passed out before the match and returned home to Holland to undergo tests which revealed him to be lactose intolerant. Doctors advised him to miss the rest of 2012, however Van der Voort defied them to beat William O'Connor in the first round of the World Grand Prix in October. He then lost to

Brendan Dolan Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is best known for becoming the first player to hit a ...

1–3 in sets in the last 16. After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Van der Voort was 24th on the Order of Merit, inside the top 32 who qualified 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 ...

. He was beaten by

3–6 in the first round.

2013

Van der Voort won his first round match at the World Championship 3–0 over former World Masters runner-up

Stuart Kellett Stuart Kellett (born 12 August 1981) is a former English darts player. BDO career Kellett reached the last 16 of the 2007 Winmau World Masters, having beaten Andy Fordham among others on the way to the televised stages. He lost 1-3 in sets ...

and then overcame

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 ...

4–2, despite his opponent hitting a nine-dart finish in the third set. He then outscored

in the last 16, but missed too many doubles including ones to win the second and third set and was beaten 0–4. He lost 5–3 in the first round of the

Kirk Shepherd Kirk Shepherd (born 5 October 1986) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He was the youngest player ever to reach the final of the World Professional Darts Championshi ...

and finished bottom of Group D 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 ...

having won one of his three games. Van der Voort reached the last 16 stage of four ProTour events during 2013 but lost on each occasion.

2014

He was involved in a high quality match against

in the second round of the 2014 World Championship as Van der Voort averaged 99.47, but lost 4–1. He missed match darts in three successive legs against compatriot

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 fourth round of the

to be eliminated 9–8. In June, Van der Voort won the Austrian Darts Open by beating

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 ...

6–5. He was 5–2 down in the final, but took two successive legs and then levelled the match by taking out a 136 finish with Caven waiting on 80. In the deciding leg he was first to a finish, and he took out 83 on double 8 with a pressure last dart with Caven waiting on 56. It was Van der Voort's first title in three years. He lost in the first round of the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix 10–4 to Raymond van Barneveld and 2–0 (sets) to

respectively. Van der Voort recorded a 6–4 win against

at the European Championship, before Van Barneveld knocked him out 10–7. He averaged 104.86 in whitewashing

6–0 in the opening round of the

and then eliminated Peter Wright 10–5 and

10–8, after recovering from a 3–0 deficit, to reach his first major semi-final since 2008. He fell 10–3 down to Gary Anderson and, despite a rally to win four successive legs, was beaten 11–7. In the first round of the World Championship 2015 he beat the Scottish player John Henderson.

2015

Van der Voort took out a crucial 157 finish in the deciding set of his first round match at the 2015 World Championship, with his opponent John Henderson waiting on 80 to eliminate him. Van der Voort then won two 14 dart legs to beat him 3–2, before whitewashing teenager

Max Hopp Max Hopp (born 20 August 1996) is a German professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Hopp reached the final of the 2011 WDF World Cup boys' singles, and won the boys' singles event at the 2012 ...

4–0 and seeing off

4–2. Van der Voort came back from 2–0 down in the quarter-finals against Phil Taylor to lead 3–2. Taylor missed a multitude of set darts in the deciding leg of the next, but Van der Voort was unable to set up a shot at a double with six darts from 156 as Taylor levelled at 3–3. The final two sets both went to Taylor as he won 5–3. Van der Voort progressed through to the final of the second UK Open Qualifier, where he lost 6–1 to

. Despite averaging 101.03 in the fifth round of the

, it was still over 10 points lower than Taylor's average, as Van der Voort was eliminated 9–3. Van der Voort gained some revenge over Taylor in the first round of the World Grand Prix by defeating him 2–0 in sets in the first round and then beat

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 ...

3–0 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. He led

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 (B ...

1–0, but missed 11 darts to win the next set which changed the whole match as he then lost nine consecutive legs to be knocked out 3–1. He lost in the first round of the European Championship 6–1 to Phil Taylor and 10–6 to

in the second round of the

. 2015 did mark the first time that Van der Voort had reached two major quarter-finals in the same year.

2016

Van der Voort beat Laurence Ryder 3–0 in the first round of the 2016 World Championship and then came back from 2–0 down against Kyle Anderson to win 4–2. However, he could only win one leg against Gary Anderson in a 4–0 third round defeat. He had a high quality match with Phil Taylor in the fifth round of the

as both players averaged over 100, but Van der Voort lost 9–7. He reached the semi-finals of the sixth Players Championship event and was defeated 6–4 by

. This would prove to be Van der Voort's only last four appearance of 2016. His year tailed off after that as he was eliminated in the first round of the World Matchplay, failed to qualify for the World Grand Prix, European Championship and

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 ...

and lost in the second round of the

2017

Van der Voort was beaten 3–1 by

in the first round of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, and then suggested he might retire from darts due to a back injury that has been plaguing his performances in recent years.

2018

Van der Voort was beaten by Raymond van Barneveld in the third Round of 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 ...

4–1.

2019

He reached the third round of the

again by beating

Lourence Ilagan Lourence Gregorio Ilagan (born 11 February 1978) is a Filipino professional soft-tip and steel-tip darts player who plays currently in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and international soft-tip events. His biggest achievement to date was adv ...

and

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 ...

before losing to

Chris Dobey Chris Dobey (born 31 May 1990) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career His first major TV appearance came in the 2015 UK Open where he lost 5–1 in the first round to N ...

3-4. His consistent results on the 2019 tour allowed him a spot at the 2019 World Matchplay, qualifying for Blackpool again after three years.

World Championship results

BDO

*2002: First round (lost to

2–3) *2003: Second round (lost to

Tony David Tony David (born 11 September 1967) is an Australian former professional darts player, who played under the nickname The Deadly Boomerang. He is the only Australian player to have been a senior singles world darts champion, having won the 200 ...

1–3) *2004: First round (lost 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 ...

2–3) *2005: Quarter-finals (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 0–5) *2006: Second round (lost to

Tony O'Shea Tony O'Shea (born 9 May 1961) is an English professional darts player. His squat figure has resulted in the nickname "Silverback". O'Shea has reached the finals of seven British Darts Organisation (BDO) major darts tournaments, but to date ...

0–4) *2007: First round (lost to

1–3)

PDC

*2008: Second round (lost to

2–4) *2009: Third round (lost to

0–4) *2010: Second round (lost to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

3–4) *2011: Quarter-finals (lost to Adrian Lewis 2–5) *2012: Second round (lost to

3–4) *2013: Third round (lost to James Wade 0–4) *2014: Second round (lost to Adrian Lewis 1–4) *2015: Quarter-finals (lost to Phil Taylor 3–5) *2016: Third round (lost to Gary Anderson 0–4) *2017: First round (lost to

1–3) *2018: Third round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 1–4) *2019: Third round (lost to

3–4) *2020: Second round (lost 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 Champion ...

1–3) *2021: Fourth round (lost to

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 ...

2–4) *2022: Third round (withdrew –

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

) *2023: Third round (lost to

Luke Humphries Luke Humphries (born 11 February 1995) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship. Career Humphries won five PDC Development Tour titles in 20 ...

3–4)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

BDO PDC ''PDC European Tour''

References

External links

Official website
*
Management website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voort, Vincent Van Der 1975 births Living people Dutch darts players Dutch sports announcers People from Purmerend Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders British Darts Organisation players PDC ranking title winners PDC World Cup of Darts Dutch team Sportspeople from North Holland