Wes Newton

After the tournament, he fell outside the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit, eventually dropping as low as 36th.

Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player.

Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32.

He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Open in 2003 and 2004 and reached the first final of his career at the Golden Harvest North American Cup, but lost 4–0 to John Part.

Newton qualified for the 2004 Las Vegas Desert Classic and was beaten 2–1 by Wayne Mardle in the first round.

His World Championship debut came in 2005 when he lost 3–0 to Gerry Convery in the second round.

His first semi-final in a major event was at the 2005 Las Vegas Desert Classic where he knocked out George Walls, Mark Walsh and Ray Carver, before losing 4–0 to Phil Taylor.

Newton suffered a broken collarbone by slipping in the shower shortly after the event which kept him out of action for three months but returned to play in his first World Grand Prix, losing 3–0 in the second round to Colin Lloyd.

His second attempt in the World Championship ended with a second round 4–3 defeat to Kevin Painter.

He reached the semi-finals of the Las Vegas Desert Classic for the second successive year but was denied a place in the final as John Part beat him 4–2.

Newton's form saw him make his debut in the World Matchplay but he could only average 82.38 as Part comfortably beat him 10–2.

Newton lost in the second round of the World Championship again in 2007 this time 4–2 against Colin Osborne.

In June, at a Players Championship event at Hayling Island he reached his first final on the PDC Pro Tour but was whitewashed 3–0 by Terry Jenkins.

He couldn't translate his form into the major events, however, as he only reached the last 16 once which came in Las Vegas where he lost 8–7 to Jenkins.

Newton suffered a 3–0 first round exit in the 2008 World Championship to qualifier Jamie Caven.

He won the Wildcard Qualifier for the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts, beating Colin McGarry in the final.

He was drawn into Group F with Terry Jenkins, Colin Lloyd and American Darin Young where Newton defeated Lloyd and Young in his first two games to stand a great chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

However, Newton would go on to lose to Jenkins 0–5 and Young beat Lloyd to pip him to second place and knock Newton out.

Newton entered the 2009 PDC World Championship as the number 31 seed and defeated Denmark's Per Laursen in the first round, before falling to Raymond van Barneveld in round two.

Newton won the WDF-ranked Las Vegas Open on 25 January 2009.

Newton made the second round of the 2010 World Championship after defeating Jarkko Komula in the first round 3–0.

However, he came up against an in-form Adrian Lewis in the second round, falling to a 2–4 defeat.

On the weekend of 7/8 November 2010, Newton won two Players Championship tournaments in the same weekend, only the fifth player to do so.

This followed qualifying for the Grand Slam of Darts on the evening of 6 November.

As a result of his double win, Newton broke into the top 16 in the Order of Merit for the first time in his career.

At the Grand Slam, he was knocked out in the group stage after defeating Michael van Gerwen and losing to Ted Hankey and Phil Taylor.

Newton continued his progress at the 2011 World Championship, defeating Darin Young, Brendan Dolan and Mensur Suljović on the way to the quarter-finals.

He then led Terry Jenkins 4–3 in his quarter-final, before Jenkins fought back to win 5–4.

In March 2011, Newton moved into the top eight of the PDC Order of Merit, following a win in a Pro Tour event in Crawley.

At the 2011 UK Open, Newton progressed to his first televised final.

On the way to the final, he beat John Henderson, Michael van Gerwen, Raymond van Barneveld, Dave Chisnall and Denis Ovens, but succumbed to James Wade losing 8–11.

As a result of his run to the final, he qualified for the 2011 Grand Slam of Darts by right.

After the UK Open, it was announced that Newton had appointed three-time world finalist Peter Manley as his manager.

At the 2011 World Matchplay, Newton beat Andy Smith in the first round 10–2, making it past the first round for the first time in the tournament.

Newton then beat Justin Pipe 13–8 in the second round, hitting a 9-darter, before losing 5–16 to Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals.

Newton breezed through the first round of the 2012 World Championship by whitewashing Kurt van de Rijck 3–0 and played Justin Pipe in the last 32.

He won the first two sets but then seemed to become distracted by Pipe's slow style and lost the next three.

Newton managed to take the match into a deciding set but could not break Pipe's throw and lost 3–4.

At the first UK Open qualifier in February, Newton beat Kim Huybrechts 6–3 in the final to receive £6,000.

He also beat Kevin Dowling, Andy Brown, Robert Thornton, Jerry Hendriks and Richie Howson on the way to the final.