Ian White

He had earlier beaten two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis 6–1 and the title saw him move up to 23rd on the Order of Merit.

Ian White (born 17 August 1970), nicknamed Diamond, is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.

White is the winner of 13 PDC ranking events, and has reached many quarter-finals in majors.

In 1997, White reached the final of the PDC's revived News of the World Darts Championship.

He defeated Des Byrne, Gary Spedding, Peter Manley and Andy Jenkins on the way to the final, where he was defeated by Phil Taylor.

White won the Antwerp Open, Denmark Open and the English National Championship in 2009.

He qualified for the 2010 BDO World Darts Championship, but lost 0-3 in the first round to Stephen Bunting.

Shortly afterwards, he left the BDO and joined the PDC, when fellow Stoke player Adrian Lewis offered to sponsor White and suggested he was capable of being in the world's top eight.

A solid first year in the PDC saw him reach the semi-finals of a Pro Tour event in Dublin, gain an automatic Tour Card, and narrowly miss out on the 2011 PDC World Championship by £100.

In February 2011, he reached his first PDC final since 1997.

He lost 3-6 to Steve Brown in the final of the 2011 UK Open Qualifier 1.

White finished third in the 2011 Grand Slam of Darts wildcard qualifier, and was awarded a place in the tournament proper after Simon Whitlock withdrew due to injury.

White's exceptional form carried on at his next event, the 11th Players Championship, as he beat the likes of Simon Whitlock and Terry Jenkins to reach the final.

He played Michael van Gerwen and lost in a final for the fourth time this year following a 1–6 defeat.

At the European Championship he exacted his revenge over Lewis with a sensational 6–0 whitewash in the first round.

However, he lost to Kim Huybrechts 5–10 in his following match.

At the World Grand Prix in October, White took out finishes of 144, 132 and 112 to beat van Barneveld 2–0 in sets and then faced Wes Newton in the last 16, where he was beaten 1–3.

He qualified for his first PDC World Championship in 2012, where he was beaten 1-3 by Robert Thornton in the last 64.

He threw a nine-dart finish in the opening Players Championship event of the season in a first round match against Mark Hylton.

White reached the semi-finals of the event, where he was beaten 4-6 by the eventual winner Justin Pipe.

In April, he earned a place in the European Tour Event 1 in Vienna by defeating Adrian Gray in the UK qualifier.

He played Colin Lloyd in the first round and lost 3–6, with his opponent averaging 111.

In May, he reached the final of the Players Championship Event 5 where he lost 2–6 to Dave Chisnall.

He also qualified for the third European Tour Event with a win over John Scott, but was then beaten by Raymond van Barneveld 2–6 in the first round in Düsseldorf.

By July, White had reached two semi-finals and two finals in PDC events in 2012, meaning he qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time in his career due to being the sixth highest player on the ProTour Order of Merit who was not in the world's top 16.

He played Vincent van der Voort in the first round and took out 164 and 161 finishes in a 10–5 victory to set up a last 16 fixture with 12-time World Matchplay champion Phil Taylor, which he lost 3–13.

White threw his second nine-darter of the season in the fourth European Tour event, the German Darts Masters in a last 16 win against Andy Hamilton.

He continued his momentum with a quarter-final deciding leg victory over Robert Thornton and a 6–4 semi-final win against Raymond van Barneveld.

In the final he faced two-time reigning world champion and occasional practice partner Adrian Lewis, and was beaten 3–6.

After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, White finished eighth on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Players Championship Finals for the first time.

He was beaten 5–6 by Michael Smith in the first round.

However, his impressive play in events in 2012 earned him the first spot of sixteen that were available for non-qualified players via the ProTour Order of Merit.

White was over £18,000 ahead of the second placed Michael Smith.

He was beaten by Mark Webster 1–3 in the first round.

However, after the tournament he was ranked world number 30, the first time White has been inside the top 32.

He was beaten by Steve West 3–9 in the third round of the UK Open.

At the eighth Players Championship in September, White won his first PDC tournament by defeating Simon Whitlock 6–3 in a final with an average of almost 101.

White was just outside the top 32 ranked players who qualified automatically for the 2013 World Championship.

White came agonisingly close to winning his first PDC title in November, as he held a 4–0 lead over Michael van Gerwen in the final of the 18th Players Championship event, but went on to lose 5–6.

In 2019, he reached his first major semi final.