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 ...

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. Karl ...

. 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 events were winning the Danish Open in 2002 and 2006 and reaching the quarter finals of the BDO World Championship at Frimley Green in 2005, defeating 2004 champion Andy Fordham in the process. He suffered a first round exit in the 2007 World Championship to unranked qualifier Davy Richardson. 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 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 Wor ...

(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 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 ...

. 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 but lost in the first round to Peter Manley.

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 Vega ...

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 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 see ...

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 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 ...

. 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 t ...

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, Croa ...

's Nándor Bezzeg 3–0 in sets and then defeated number 14 seed Colin Osborne 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 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 The 2011 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 18th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at the Alexandra Palace, London from ...

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 w ...

, 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 The 2012 Cash Converters World Cup of Darts was the second edition of the PDC World Cup of Darts which took place between 3–5 February 2012 at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg, Germany. The Netherlands were the defending champions after ...

to try to defend the title won by

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 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony o ...

. 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 1 ...

, 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 hi ...

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. 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 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 a ...

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

to Kirk Shepherd and finished bottom of

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA World C ...

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 Da ...

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 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 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

and 2–0 (sets) to Michael van Gerwen 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 Players Championship Finals 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 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 Michael van Gerwen. 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 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 Michael van Gerwen in the second round of the Players Championship Finals. 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 and lost in the second round of the Players Championship Finals.

2017

Van der Voort was beaten 3–1 by Max Hopp 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 4–1.

2019

He reached the third round of the

again by beating Lourence Ilagan and Darren Webster before losing to Chris Dobey 3-4. His consistent results on the 2019 tour allowed him a spot at the 2019 World Matchplay, qualifying for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

again after three years.

World Championship results

BDO

*2002: First round (lost to Mensur Suljović 2–3) *2003: Second round (lost to Tony David 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 W ...

2–3) *2005: Quarter-finals (lost to

0–5) *2006: Second round (lost to Tony O'Shea 0–4) *2007: First round (lost to Davy Richardson 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 Max Hopp 1–3) *2018: Third round (lost to

1–4) *2019: Third round (lost to Chris Dobey 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 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 identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

) *2023: Third round (lost to Luke Humphries 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