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 action.

He currently resides in his hometown Blackpool.

Baxter is widely regarded as one of the best players never to have won a major TV title.

He is still active on the exhibition circuit.

Baxter played on the North American circuit during the 1980s and when he participated in the British Darts Organisation he had a consistent record for reaching the final stages of their Open events.

As well as winning the Isle of Man Open three times, the Welsh Open twice, and the Syracuse Open, German Open, Denmark Open, Swiss Open, Finnish Open and the Welsh Classic once.

He made his World Championship debut in 1991 and won his debut match against Bruno Raes, but lost in the second round to Jocky Wilson.

Despite hitting the second highest average of the first round at the 1992, Baxter lost 1-3 to Bob Anderson.

After failing to qualify for the 1993 event Baxter was seeded second for the 1994 World Championship after the top player left the BDO and to form the WDC.

Baxter lost in the first round to the eventual champion John Part.

After missing out again in 1995 he reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 1996 when he was beaten by Richie Burnett.

Baxter was seeded seventh for the 1997 World Championship but lost in the second round to Mervyn King.

However, later that year he reached his first major final at the 1997 Winmau World Masters, losing in the final to Graham Hunt.

In 1998 he had again risen in the rankings to be seeded number two – but just as in 1994 he failed to live up his ranking and went out in the first round to Scotland's Peter Johnstone.

Baxter did reach the final of 1998 World Matchplay whilst still a BDO player.

The event was Baxter's first serious breakthrough tournament on television, with Baxter causing a big upset in coming from 5–9 down to defeat defending champion, Phil Taylor, 13–10 in the quarter finals.

Baxter went on to reach the final, but lost 17–19 in an epic against Rod Harrington, despite Baxter having led for most of the match and having had 1 championship dart at double 20.

In 1999, he finally showed some of the form that saw him ranked second in the world by reaching the World Final for the first time.

He beat Burnett, Kevin Painter, Roland Scholten and Andy Fordham before losing 5–6 in the final to Raymond van Barneveld, despite having been 3-1 and 5-4 up.

Still ranked second in the world, he went back to the final in 2000 but lost 0–6 to Ted Hankey in just 46 minutes – the quickest final in the tournament's history.

Baxter made his final appearance at the Lakeside Country Club in 2001 when he lost in the quarter-final against Wayne Mardle.

Baxter made many appearances as an England international, winning five WDF World Cups and five WDF Europe Cups.

Baxter also played in ten British Internationals, winning all ten of them.

Baxter moved to the PDC in 2001, and showed early glimpses of the form he showed in the BDO.

On his World Championship debut in 2002 he reached the quarter-finals.

However, that remains his best performance to date, and since his early days in the PDC he has struggled to reproduce his best form on a consistent basis.

Baxter also reached the final of the 2002 Las Vegas Desert Classic, losing to Phil Taylor.

In 2006 and 2007, Baxter surprisingly exited in the first round.

Baxter's high world ranking saw him qualify for the Premier League Darts in 2006, where he finished fifth.

He has also won a regional final of the UK Open and a PDPA Players Championship, but despite a career which has shown great potential he is yet to clinch a major televised tournament success.

Baxter has thrown four competitive nine-dart finishes in a qualifying round or tournament, the latest being in the 2008 Desert Classic.

However, none of them have been televised.

In the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship, Baxter defeated Finland's Marko Kantele in the first round.

He then beat Denis Ovens in the second round.

However, in one of the matches of the tournament, he lost to world number two Raymond van Barneveld in a sudden-death leg in the seventh and final set.

After hitting the bull to throw first in the deciding leg, Baxter missed two darts at double eight to win the match.

After winning the warm-up Players Tournament in Vegas, Baxter was defeated in the first round of the 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic by Jelle Klaasen (6–2) in July 2009.

In July 2009 Baxter competed in the World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.