Owen Bates (born 12 December 2002) is an English darts player. He is a current PDC Tour card holder, having received a Tour card for finishing second on the PDC Challenge Tour Order of merit.[2] This also granted Bates qualification for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, in which the PDC banned Bates from using his nickname "The Master",[3] garnering significant mainstream media attention.[4][5]
| Owen Bates | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Owen Bates | ||
| Born | 12 December 2002 | ||
| Home town | Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom | ||
| Darts information | |||
| Darts | 25g Loxley | ||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||
| Walk-on music | Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers | ||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||
| PDC | 2021– (Tour Card: 2024–) | ||
| Current world ranking | 118  1 (31 October 2024)[1] | ||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||
| World Ch'ship | Last 96: 2024 | ||
| UK Open | Last 128: 2024 | ||
| Other tournament wins | |||
| |||
Career
editBates began playing on the PDC Development Tour in 2021, but had little success in his first year, not getting further than the Last 64 in any tournament. His results improved in the 2022 season as he reached the quarter finals three times, his best result coming when losing the final of event 15 to Keane Barry. In April 2022 he signed a sponsorship deal with manufacturer Loxley Darts.[6] He entered PDC qualifying school in 2023 but failed to win a tour card, this enabled him to play on the PDC challenge tour for the 2023 season. In February 2023 Bates won Series 3, Week 2 of the MODUS Super Series,[7] earning him £5,000 and qualification to Champions week, beating Leonard Gates 4-3 in the week final while averaging 100.47.[8] Bates finished the season second on the 2023 Challenge Tour Order of merit after reaching five event finals in total and winning one of them against Wesley Plaisier for his maiden PDC title at Challenge Tour 19 in Milton Keynes on 13th August 2023.[9] This earned him qualification to the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship and a Tour card for two years to compete on the PDC Pro Tour.
In the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship Bates lost 3-2 in sets to Steve Lennon in the First round. In his first season as a Tour card holder Bates was eligible to enter in the first round of the 2024 UK Open. He won his first round match against Andy Boulton 6-5 before losing by the same scoreline to Graham Usher in the Second round.[10]
World Championship results
editPDC
edit- 2024: First round (lost to Steve Lennon 2–3)
Performance timeline
editPDC
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC World Championship | DNQ | 1R | ||||||||||||
| UK Open | DNQ | 2R | ||||||||||||
| Non-major televised events | ||||||||||||||
| PDC World Youth Championship | RR | QF | ||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||
| PDC Year-end ranking | - | 109 | ||||||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | BDO DNQ |
GDG DNQ |
IDO 1R |
EDG DNQ |
ADO DNQ |
BSD DNQ |
DDC 1R |
EDO 3R |
GDC DNQ |
FDT DNQ |
HDT DNQ |
SDT DNQ |
CDO DNQ |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 [nb 1] |
BAR DNP |
BAR DNP |
BAR DNP |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 3R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
LEI 4R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 3R |
BAR 4R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 3R |
| 2024 | WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 2R |
LEI 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
LEI 2R |
LEI 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
MIL 3R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
- ^ Not a Tour card holder
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. |
Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round |
DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded | ||
References
edit- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
- ^ https://www.darts1.de/ranglisten/Challenge-Tour-Order-of-Merit-2023.php Challenge Tour Order of Merit 2023
- ^ "Owen Bates must say goodbye to sexually charged nickname after qualifying for World Darts Championship". 20 December 2023.
- ^ "PDC bans Owen Bates from using rude nickname at World Championship". 7 November 2023.
- ^ "'I'm a World Darts Championship star and had nickname banned for being too rude'". 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Owen Bates - Loxley Darts". 20 June 2022.
- ^ "Owen 'The Master' Bates agrees new long-term deal with Loxley Darts after recent MODUS Super Series and Challenge Tour success". 21 February 2023.
- ^ "MODUS Super Series".
- ^ "PDC Challenge Tour 2023 CT 19 Milton Keynes - Mastercaller".
- ^ "Darts results: Dimitri van den Bergh survives last-leg decider to beat Luke Humphries in the UK Open final".