Dean Winstanley

Dean Winstanley
Personal information
Nickname Over The Top
Born (1981-02-10) 10 February 1981
Swinton, Rotherham, England
Home town Doncaster
England
Darts information
Darts Dean Winstanley 23g
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music Like a Prayer by Madonna
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO 2008–2012
PDC 2012–
Current world ranking 34
BDO majors - best performances
World Ch'ship Runner-up: 2011
World Masters Runner-up: 2011
Zuiderduin Masters Quarter-finals: 2010, 2011
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Last 16: 2015
World Matchplay Last 16: 2012
World Grand Prix Last 16: 2014
Grand Slam Semi-finals: 2012
European Ch'ship Last 32: 2014
UK Open Last 16: 2014
Players Ch'ship Finals Quarter-finals: 2014
Other tournament wins
Belgium Open 2010
British Classic 2011
Czech Open 2011
England Open 2010
German Open 2010

Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events.

He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22.[1] He turned professional in 2008 and won his first event at the 2010 German Open.

Darts career

BDO

Winstanley won the German Open, England Open, and Belgium Open in 2010. As a result of his performances on the BDO circuit, he qualified for the 2010 Winmau World Masters as the fourth seed. He defeated Stewart Rattray in the last 16 before losing to Martin McCloskey in the quarter-finals.

Winstanley also qualified for the 2011 World Championship as the third seed. In the first round, he survived two match darts against Martin Atkins before winning 3–2. He then defeated Robbie Green 4–1 in the second, Stephen Bunting 5–1 in the quarter-final and Jan Dekker 6–2 in the semi-finals, thus making him one of a small number of players to have reached the final at his first attempt. He was defeated 7–5 by Martin Adams in the final, having led 4–3 and 5–4. Later that year, Winstanley reached the final of the World Masters, where he was beaten 7–2 in sets by Scott Waites.

Winstanley qualified for the 2011 Grand Slam of Darts. He topped his group with victories over Ted Hankey, Ian White and Raymond van Barneveld. In the second round, he lost 10–9 to Mark Walsh having narrowly missed three match darts at 9–8 in front and a further two in the deciding leg.

Winstanley was seeded 3rd for the 2012 World Championship. He defeated Joey ten Berge 3–1 in the first round, before being defeated 4–3 by Alan Norris in the second round having led 3–1.

PDC

It was announced at the end of the 2012 BDO World Championship that Winstanley had entered the rival PDC's 'Q School' He beat Matt Clark 6–1 on the third day to earn a PDC Pro Tour card after earlier beating Dave Ladley, Kevin Dowling, Mareno Michels and Simon Craven.[2] In April, he earned a place in the European Tour Event 1 in Vienna by defeating Gary Butcher in the UK qualifier.[3] He enjoyed wins over Paul Nicholson and Jim Walker in the event, before losing in the third round 3–6 to Richie Burnett.[4] Winstanley also qualified for the second European Tour event, with a win over Mark Jones in the UK qualifier.[5] He played Mark Walsh in the first round of the event in Berlin, coming back from 2–5 down to triumph 6–5.[6] In round two Winstanley was on the other end of a final leg decider, losing to Michael Mansell.[7]

Winstanley's first PDC major was the UK Open, where he lost to an in-form Terry Jenkins 3–9 in the last 32.[8] Winstanley's results during his first 6 months on the tour were good enough to seal a place in the World Matchplay due to his ranking on the ProTour Order of Merit.[9] He faced Gary Anderson in the first round and came back from 0–5 down to win 13–11 and set up a last 16 meeting with Ronnie Baxter.[10] There, Winstanley hit nine 180s, but only 25% of his doubles as he bowed out of the tournament with an 8–13 defeat.[11] His doubles continued to prove a weakness in his game as he missed two for the match in a 2–3 loss to Dave Chisnall in his debut performance in the World Grand Prix.[12]

Winstanley went into the last round of matches at the Grand Slam of Darts knowing a win over Simon Whitlock would secure his place in the knockout stages. He produced a superb performance to win 5–1 with a 100.63 average, before seeing off Arron Monk 10–5 and Kevin Painter 16–12 to reach his first PDC major semi-final.[13] He faced Michael van Gerwen who started the match exceptionally by leading 5–0 and 10–1 and Winstanley could never catch up as he lost 8–16.[14]

2013

His first year as a PDC player saw him finish 33rd on the ProTour Order of Merit after all 33 Players Championship, UK Open and European Tour Events had been played.[15] This was enough to see him qualify for the World Championship as the third highest non-qualified player.[16] The week before the tournament Winstanley practiced intensely with five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, playing two four- to six-hour sessions a day at the Ducthman's home with the players aiming to take out 5001 in 50 turns.[17] Winstanley beat Mervyn King 3–2 in his debut, recovering from 1–2 down in sets and 0–2 in legs in the decider, also surviving one match dart to eventually win the final set 6–4.[18] In his second round match, whilst trailing Vincent van der Voort 0–2 in sets and having won only one leg in the match, Winstanley hit his first televised nine-dart finish and the fifth in World Championship history. He eventually lost 2–4 having had darts at doubles to win both the fifth and sixth sets.[19] Winstanley won the Best Newcomer at the annual PDC dinner in January 2013.[20] His only quarter-final of 2013 came in May at the Players Championship One, where he lost 6–1 to Robert Thornton.[21] Winstanley suffered a surprise 4–5 defeat to qualifier Dave Weston in the first round of the UK Open.[22] Winstanley produced an encouraging 5–2 victory over Kim Huybrechts in his opening group game of the Grand Slam of Darts but followed it up with 5–1 and 5–3 defeats to Michael van Gerwen and Van der Voort to finish third and exit the tournament.[23]

2014

He qualified for the 2014 World Championship through the 2013 ProTour Order of Merit and fell 2–0 down to Richie Burnett in the first round, before missing one dart to square the match at two sets all and was instead beaten 3–1.[24][25] Winstanley was ranked world number 36 after the tournament.[26] He enjoyed a good run at the UK Open by beating Andy Boulton 9–2 and reigning BDO world champion Stephen Bunting 9–6, before losing to Kevin Painter 9–5 in the fifth round.[27] Later in the month he reached his first final since joining the PDC at the second Players Championship where he was beaten 6–1 by Michael van Gerwen.[28]

Winstanley earned a place in the European Darts Trophy, where he overcame Gino Vos, Jamie Caven, Ian White and Peter Wright en route to reach his first appearance in the semi-finals of a European tour event, but lost there again against Michael van Gerwen.[29] He defeated Michael Smith 2–1 in sets at the World Grand Prix, before being eliminated 3–1 by Van Gerwen in the second round.[30] A first round exit at the European Championship followed and Winstanley was knocked out of the Grand Slam in the group stage after failing to win any of his three games.[31] However, he found his form at the Players Championship Finals by averaging 103.94 in a 6–3 triumph over Simon Whitlock and then beat Jelle Klaasen 10–5 to play in his first major PDC quarter-final.[32] He took an early 3–0 lead over Vincent van der Voort, but went on to lose 10–8.[33]

2015

Winstanley secured narrow 3–2 and 4–3 wins over Wayne Jones and Darren Webster in the 2015 World Championship to reach the third round of the event for the first time.[34] He dropped the first two sets without winning a leg against Vincent van der Voort, but improved to trail 3–2. Winstanley missed one dart to take the tie into a final set and was instead defeated 4–2.[35] He lost 5–3 to William O'Connor in the second round of the UK Open.[36] Winstanley did not qualify for the rest of the PDC majors in 2015 and could not get past the last 16 in any Pro Tour event.[37]

2016

At 2–2 in sets and 4–4 in legs in their first round 2016 World Championship match, Ronny Huybrechts broke throw with a 164 finish with Winstanley waiting on 40 and then took out 104 to win in the next leg.[38]

Personal life

Winstanley is affectionately known as "the oldest 34 year old in darts" due to his physical appearance, and is a father of five.[39] He is married to female darts player Lorraine Farlam.

Career finals

BDO major finals: 2 (2 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)
Winmau World Masters (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2011 World Championship England Martin Adams 5–7 (s)
Runner-up 2. 2011 Winmau World Masters England Scott Waites 2–7 (s)

    World Championship results

    BDO

    PDC

    Nine-dart finishes

    Dean Winstanley televised nine-dart finishes
    Date Opponent Tournament Method Prize
    23 December 2012 Netherlands Vincent van der Voort PDC World Championship 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 £7,500

    References

    1. ↑ "Profile for Dean Winstanley". Lakesideworlddarts.com. 10 February 1981. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
    2. ↑ "Qualifying School Day Three". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
    3. ↑ "European Tour 1 – UK Qualifier". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
    4. ↑ "2012 PDC European Tour Vienna Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
    5. ↑ "2012 PDC European Tour Berlin UK Qualifier Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
    6. ↑ "German Darts Champs Day One". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
    7. ↑ "German Darts Champs Day Two". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
    8. ↑ "Speedy Services UK Open RD4". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
    9. ↑ "Betfair World Matchplay Field". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
    10. ↑ "Betfair World Matchplay – Night Four". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
    11. ↑ "Betfair World Matchplay – Night Six". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
    12. ↑ "PartyPoker.com WGP – Monday". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
    13. ↑ "2012 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
    14. ↑ "William Hill Grand Slam Semi-Finals". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
    15. ↑ "ProTour Order of Merit". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
    16. ↑ "2013 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
    17. ↑ "Raymond van Barneveld is Back with a Bang". Express.co.uk. Northern & Shell. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
    18. ↑ "Ladbrokes WDC Day Five". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
    19. ↑ "Ladbrokes WDC Day Ten". Planet Darts. Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
    20. ↑ "MvG's Awards Treble As Taylor Scoops Top Honour". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
    21. ↑ "Six Of The Best For Thornton!". Professional Darts Corporation. 4 May 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
    22. ↑ "Speedy Services UK Open - Thursday". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
    23. ↑ "2013 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
    24. ↑ "2014 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
    25. ↑ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day One". PDC. 14 December 2013.
    26. ↑ "Order of Merit on 2 January 2014". PDC. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
    27. ↑ "2014 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
    28. ↑ "Players Championship 2 Latest". PDC. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
    29. ↑ "Smith's European Darts Trophy Joy". PDC. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
    30. ↑ "2014 World Grand Prix Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
    31. ↑ "Dean Winstanley 2014". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
    32. ↑ "Cash Converters PCF Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
    33. ↑ "Super Anderson's Minehead Glory". PDC. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
    34. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Eight". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
    35. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Ten". PDC. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
    36. ↑ "Coral UK Open - Friday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
    37. ↑ "Dean Winstanley 2015". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 5 December 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
    38. ↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Six". PDC. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
    39. ↑ "Dean Winstanley marches into quarter-finals at Lakeside". BBC Sport. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012.

    External links

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