James Wilson (darts player)

James Wilson (born 25 February 1972) is an English darts player^[1] who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation.

Career

BDO

Wilson first rose to prominence in 2012 by winning several tournaments, rising to number four in the world and reaching the quarter-finals of the Winmau World Masters. Despite this, he was unseeded on his debut appearance at the World Championship and was drawn against top seed Stephen Bunting in round one, taking a 2–1 lead before eventually losing 3–2. Wilson followed up on his form in 2013, rising to second in the world and reaching the final of the World Masters beating Jan Dekker and Robbie Green en route to a 7–0 loss to Bunting. Later that year Wilson demolishing Bunting 5–1 in the final of the Zuiderduin Masters. Wilson therefore entered the World Championship as the second seed, and beat former world champion Christian Kist in the first round then Scott Mitchell in the second round, to set up a quarter-final against Alan Norris, which Norris won 5–2 despite Wilson averaging 99.06, hitting three 11 dart legs (one of which included a bounce-out) and 14 180s.

In February 2014, Wilson found himself as de facto number one after Stephen Bunting's defection to the rival Professional Darts Corporation. He subsequently won his first major at the inaugural BDO World Trophy. Wins over Richie George, Rick Hofstra, Jeffrey de Graaf and Paul Jennings saw Wilson progress to the final where he defeated Ross Montgomery 13–11 for a winner's cheque of £30,000.^[2]

Wilson entered the 2014 World Masters as the number one seed but suffered a shock first round exit, losing 3-0 in sets to Mark McGeeney. He also entered the 2015 BDO World Darts Championship as the number one seed but also lost in the first round to Sweden's Peter Sajwani.

PDC

The day after being knocked out of the 2015 BDO World Championship, Wilson announced on his Twitter page that he had signed up to the Professional Darts Corporation's Qualifying School with the intention of earning a tour card.^[3] On the third of four qualifying days Wilson won a two-year membership with the PDC by beating Nathan Aspinall 5–2 in the final round.^[4] Wilson's first PDC major was the UK Open and he beat Mark Frost 5–0 and Ricky Evans 9–4 to reach the fourth round, where he lost 9–7 against Kyle Anderson.^[5] In May he knocked out Steve Brown, Michael Smith, Jamie Lewis and Darren Johnson at the ninth Players Championship event of the year to reach his first PDC quarter-final and was defeated 6–3 by Gary Anderson.^[6] Wilson qualified for three European Tour events during the year, but was eliminated in the second round of each.^[7]

Wilson lost to Kyle Anderson in the fourth round of the UK Open for the second year in a row, this time 9–2.^[8]

World Championship results

BDO

• 2013: First round (lost to Stephen Bunting 2–3)
• 2014: Quarter-finals (lost to Alan Norris 2–5)
• 2015: First round (lost to Peter Sajwani 1–3)

Major titles

BDO major finals: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2013	World Masters	Bunting, StephenStephen Bunting	0–7 (s)
Winner	1.	2013	Zuiderduin Masters	Bunting, StephenStephen Bunting	5–1 (s)
Winner	2.	2014	BDO World Trophy	Montgomery, RossRoss Montgomery	13–11 (l)

External links

• James Wilson's official website
• James Wilson's profile and stats on Darts Database

References