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 The Wizard for his matches.

His walk-on music is "Down Under" by Men at Work.

In the Last 16 he thrashed 1996 BDO World Champion Steve Beaton 10–1 but lost to eventual runner up Scott Waites in a tight encounter.

In 1999/2000 Kevin Berlyn Formed the DPA (Dartplayers Australia) and the Australian Grand Prix – a series of tournaments in Whitlock's native country, and Whitlock won the first two events.

He was the first Australian to reach the final since Tony David won the tournament in 2002.

He reached the last 16 of the 2003 PDC World Darts Championship and also the semi-finals of the 2005 BDO World Darts Championship but lost heavily 0–5 to Martin Adams.

In other events, he has also reached the semi-finals of the International Darts League in 2005 (losing to Mervyn King) and 2006 (defeating Phil Taylor, losing to Raymond van Barneveld).

Whitlock has also finished runner-up at the 2008 BDO World Darts Championship and the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship.

He claimed that the prize money gained from the latter tournament which included money for the highest checkout (joint with Phil Taylor) would allow him to move over to the UK from Australia and compete on the PDC Pro Tour.

His defeat also made him the first, and only, player to have never won a World Championship after reaching both the BDO and PDC World Championship Final.

He is widely regarded as the greatest Australian dart player of all time and is to thank for the rejuvenated popularity of darts in Australia and Oceania.

The eventual winner of the AGP would have received automatic qualification for the 2008 PDC World Championship; however, Whitlock remained a WDF/BDO player and chose to compete in the BDO World Championship instead.

Whitlock showed great form throughout the tournament, beating Edwin Max and Fabian Roosenbrand before defeating former world champion Ted Hankey 5–0 in the quarter-finals.

He then beat Brian Woods to reach the final, where he lost to the number one seed Mark Webster 7–5.

Whitlock entered the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship as the number 12 seed and reached the second round by beating Mark Barilli, but lost to Darryl Fitton.

After many weeks of speculation, Whitlock returned to the PDC on 19 March 2009.

He began playing in the AGP circuit where he won eight tournaments.

He qualified for the Las Vegas Desert Classic but lost in the first round of the televised stages against Terry Jenkins.

He played in the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts and performed well in the Group stages winning all 3 of his games against Ted Hankey, Wayne Mardle and Scott Waites.

At the 2010 PDC World Championship, Whitlock made a great impression, beating Colin Osborne (3–1), Wayne Jones (4–0) and Terry Jenkins (4–2), before going on to beat James Wade 5–3 in an epic encounter, setting up a semi final clash against Raymond van Barneveld which he won 6–5, after falling 4-2 behind.

In the final against Phil Taylor, he lost the first set before winning the next two, including his second 170 checkout of the tournament, but Taylor would also make his second 170 checkout later in the match and went on to win 7–3.

During the championships, Whitlock made a televised post-match appeal for sponsorship during a Sky Sports interview.

As a result of his performances, he did earn a sponsorship deal, enabling him to move to the UK and compete on the PDC Pro Tour full-time.

After his run to the World Championship final, it was announced that he would be competing in the 2010 Premier League Darts as a wild card.

He finished second in the table, therefore qualified for the semi-finals, after having beaten Raymond van Barneveld (twice), Adrian Lewis, Mervyn King (twice), Terry Jenkins and James Wade in the process.

His run came to an end in the semis where he was beaten 8-6 by eventual runner-up Wade.

Whitlock's trademark in darts is his big finishing and superb checking out.

In the 2010 Premier League, Whitlock had a 50% success rate in checking out, stretching 14 weeks.

On his World Matchplay debut in 2010, Whitlock reached the semi-finals before losing to Phil Taylor.

At the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts, he lost all three of his group matches against Dave Chisnall, Colin Osborne and Robert Thornton.

Whitlock represented his native Australia alongside Paul Nicholson during the inaugural PDC World Cup of Darts in December 2010, losing out in the semi-finals to the Welsh pairing of Mark Webster and Barrie Bates.

At the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship, Whitlock defeated Steve Evans 3–0 in the first round, and Denis Ovens 4–0 in the second round, before losing 2–4 to Vincent van der Voort in the third round.

He competed in the 2011 Premier League, again as a wildcard, but failed to qualify for the play-offs after finishing sixth.

During the 2011 PDC Pro Tour, he became the first player to hit nine-dart finishes in successive Pro Tour events.

His first came in the Bobby Bourn Memorial Players Championship in Barnsley on 12 June, during his win against South African Devon Petersen.

His second came in the Dutch Darts Trophy event in Nuland six days later, against Nigel Heydon.

At the 2011 World Matchplay, Whitlock defeated Peter Wright 10–7 and Denis Ovens 13–1 to reach the quarter-finals, where he played Andy Hamilton.

Whitlock was leading 15–8 and within one leg of victory, when Hamilton fought back, winning nine consecutive legs to take the match 17–15.

His greatest achievements to date are winning the 2012 European Championship and 2022 World Cup of Darts for Australia with Damon Heta.