Wikipedia

Steve Brown (darts player, born 1981)

This article is about the English darts player. For the American darts player, see Steve Brown (darts player, born 1962).
For other people with the same name, see Stephen Brown (disambiguation) and Steve Brown (disambiguation).

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

Steve Brown
Personal information
Nickname"Bomber"
Born (1981-01-25) 25 January 1981 (age 43)
Bristol, England
Home townBristol, England
Darts information
Playing darts since1995
Darts22g Winmau Signatures
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"War" by Edwin Starr
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 32: 2008
US Open/WSoDLast 64: 2007
PC 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

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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

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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. His son, John Brown, joined him on the PDC Pro Tour after winning a Tour Card at the 2021 Q-School.[28]

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.[29] This has now become the Junior Darts Corporation and it is officially partnered with the PDC.

World Championship results

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PDC

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Performance timeline

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Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
PDC World Championship DNQ 1R DNQ 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R DNQ DNP DNP
UK Open 3R 4R 3R 2R 3R 1R 1R 1R DNQ DNP DNP 1R
World Matchplay DNQ 2R 1R DNQ DNP DNQ
World Grand Prix DNQ 2R 1R DNQ DNP DNQ
Players Championship Finals DNQ 1R 2R DNQ 1R DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 59 58 57 36 27 36 46 60 116 91 112 162 - 122
Performance timeline legend
DNP Did not play in the event #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(RR = Round robin) 		QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

References

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  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 10 October 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 12 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. ^ Allen, Dave. "Koltsov & Mitchell enjoy Day Four wins as 2021 Q Schools conclude". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  29. ^ "Home". stevebrowndartsacademy.co.uk.
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