Steve Brown (English darts player)

Stephen Brown (born 25 January 1981 in Bristol) is an English professional darts player who competes in the Professional Darts Corporation events.

This article is about the English darts player. For the American darts player, see Steve Brown (darts player).
Steve Brown
Personal information
NicknameBomber
Born (1981-01-25) 25 January 1981
Bristol, England
Home townBristol
England
Darts information
Playing darts since1995
Darts22g Eric Bristow Harrows
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Juke Box Hero" by Foreigner
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC2006–2018, 2020-
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 32: 2011
World MatchplayLast 16: 2010
World Grand PrixLast 16: 2010
UK OpenLast 64: 2009
US Open/WSoDLast 64: 2007
Players Ch'ship FinalsLast 16: 2011
Other tournament wins
Cheltenham Open 2011
Southern Counties Open 2013, 2015
UK Open Qualifier 2011
Other achievements
9 Dart Finish: PDPA Players Championship Crawley 2013

Career

He has competed on the PDC Pro Tour since 2006, regularly reaching the last 64 of events. His best performances came in the 2007 Windy City Open in Chicago and the 2007 UK Open Irish Regional where he reached the quarter-finals. He also made it to the last 16 of the 2007 Peachtree Open and 2007 Hayling Island PDPA Players Championship.

His consistency on the Pro Tour during 2007 saw him qualify for the 2008 PDC World Darts Championship for the first time. He was the fifth highest ranked player on the Pro Tour of those who had not sealed an automatic place in the tournament. Having started the year at 613 in the world rankings—he had climbed to 76th by November. He lost to Chris Mason in the first round.

Brown next qualified for the World Championship in 2010, losing 1-3 to James Wade in the first round. 2010 was a breakthrough year for Brown, as he reached the second round of both the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix. He also reached the second round of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship, defeating Jelle Klaasen to secure a second-round match with Terry Jenkins, which he lost 4-1.

Brown won his first PDC Pro Tour event in February 2011, defeating Ian White 6-3 in the final of UK Open Qualifier 1.[1] In April, he climbed into the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit for the first time.

At the 2012 World Championship Brown lost in the first round to South Africa's preliminary qualifier Devon Petersen 3–2 in sets, having led 2–1 and had a dart at the bullseye to win the match.[2] In the rest of 2012, Brown performed well in the five new European Tour events by qualifying for four of them. He lost in the last 64 once, the last 32 twice and saved his best run for the final event, the Dutch Darts Masters where he defeated Dick van Dijk 6–5 and Wes Newton 6–2, before losing to Mark Walsh 6–3 in the last 16. [3][4]

It was largely thanks to these results that he reached the 2013 World Championship by finishing 41st on the ProTour Order of Merit,[5] taking the 11th of 16 spots that were awarded to the highest non-qualified players.[6] Brown lost to Terry Jenkins 0–3 in the first round.[7] After the tournament, Brown was ranked world number 36.[8] He lost 5–4 to Adrian Gray in the first round of the 2013 UK Open.[9] At the fifth Players Championship of the year, Brown threw a nine-dart finish during a 6–2 second round win over Connie Finnan, but lost 6–0 to Joe Cullen in the next round.[10] At the Gibraltar Darts Trophy he hit six doubles from eight attempts to defeat Brendan Dolan 6–4 and then beat Paul Nicholson 6–3, before being whitewashed 6–0 by youngster Jamie Lewis in the third round.[11][12] He reached the same stage of the German Darts Championship with impressive 6–2 wins over both Gary Anderson and Ian White, but lost by a reverse of this scoreline to Richie Burnett.[13] These two results made up almost half of Brown's prize money in 2013 and he earned the final spot for the 2014 World Championship through the ProTour Order of Merit.[14][15] Brown played 27th seed Andy Smith in the opening round and missed one dart to take a 2–0 set lead. In the third set Brown wired a dart at double 12 to fall agonisingly close to hitting the third nine-dart finish of the event. He did get the double in his next visit to take the leg in 10 darts but this was the last leg he could win in the match as he was beaten 3–1.[16] He dropped 10 places over the course of the year to begin 2014 ranked world number 46.[17]

Brown lost 5–4 to Ewan Hyslop in the first round of the 2014 UK Open and had to wait until the penultimate Players Championship of the year to reach the last 16 for the only time this season.[18][19] He knocked out Dave Ladley, James Wade and Jelle Klaasen, before Adrian Lewis defeated him 6–3.[20]

In 2015 he missed out on qualifying for the UK Open for the first time since 2006.[21] He won the Southern Counties Open with a 6–5 victory over Andy Jenkins.[22] Brown had a poor year on the Pro Tour as he only reached the last 32 on two occasions.[23]

Brown had to enter Q School in 2016 as he had dropped out of the top 64 on the Order of Merit.[24] He reached the last 16 on the second day but overall did not do enough to secure a tour card, giving him a limited selection of events for the year ahead.[25] He didn't qualify for the UK Open, but at the sixth Players Championship he beat Joe Cullen, James Richardson, Antonio Alcinas, James Wilson and Simon Whitlock to reach the semi-finals of an event for the first time in nearly five years. He was defeated 6–3 by Josh Payne.[26] Brown also got to the last 32 and last 16 in two other events to qualify for the Players Championship Finals, where he will play Mensur Suljović.[27]

On 19 January 2020, Brown regained his PDC Tour Card by finishing tenth on the UK Q School Order of Merit. He will play on the ProTour in 2020 and 2021.

Outside of darts

Brown began taking up darts around 1995, and prior to becoming a full-time professional, he made his living as a plasterer. He is a fan of Bristol City and is married with four children.

The darts that Steve Brown is now using are 22 gram custom-made Laserdarts. Horizon Darts, Inc (USA), makers of Laserdarts, is one of Steve's sponsors.

In 2010 Brown also founded the Steve Brown Darts Academy for kids between the ages of 8 and 16 with multiple venues across the UK.[28] This has now become the Junior Darts Corporation and it is officially partnered with the PDC.

World Championship results

PDC
gollark: I read (well, skim) all messages in all the channels I have access to (except voice chat/bots) because I have waaaay too much free time right now.
gollark: That's more blueish. Turquoise, maybe.
gollark: The color corrected one looks pretty weird, I guess because it looks like you're not in water.
gollark: I said "[it] seems neat", not "yes I have definitely decided I want to do lots of this and go through a probably somewhat expensive certification/training thing".
gollark: Scuba diving seems neat. I'm doing a "discover scuba diving" thing next month (not sure exactly when, since I had my parents book it and forgot to ask...).

References
  1. Brown Sinks White For Maiden Win PDC.tv
  2. "World Championship - Night Seven". PDC. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  3. "Steve Brown 2012". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  4. "2012 PDC Dutch Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  5. "ProTour Order of Merit". PDC. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  6. "2013 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  7. "Ladbrokes WDC Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  8. "Order of Merit on 1 January 2013". PDC. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  9. "Speedy Services UK Open - Thursday". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  10. "Wright Brilliant In Crawley". PDC. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  11. "Gibraltar Darts Trophy Day One". PDC. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  12. "2013 PDC Gibraltar Darts Trophy Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  13. "2013 PDC German Darts Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  14. "ProTour Order of Merit". PDC. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  15. "2014 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  16. "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Six". PDC. 19 December 2013.
  17. "Order of Merit on 2 January 2014". PDC. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  18. "Coral UK Open - Friday Afternoon". PDC. 3 December 2014.
  19. "Steve Brown 2014". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  20. "2014 PDPA Players Championship Coventry Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  21. "Steve Brown Premier Events". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  22. "2015 Southern Counties Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  23. "Steve Brown 2015". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 29 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  24. "Order of Merit on 4 January 2016". PDC. Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  25. "2016 PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  26. "Payne Edges Out Wade For Maiden Title". PDC. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  27. "Steve Brown 2016". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  28. http://www.stevebrowndartsacademy.co.uk/
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