Ronnie Baxter

British Pentathlon	1997
Denmark Open	1996
Eastbourne Pro	2005, 2006
England GP of Darts Blackpool	2012
Finnish Open	1998
German Open	1995
Hampshire Open	2001
Irish Masters	2003
Isle of Man Open	1996, 1997, 2000
Shoalhaven Classic	2008, 2008
Swiss Open	1997
Vauxhall Autumn Open	2001
Welsh Open	1991, 1993
Windy City Open	2007
Winmau Darts Dazzler Batley	2009

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR)	2010
Players Championship (BIR)	2012
Players Championship (CAN)	2011
Players Championship (GER)	2011
Players Championship (NED)	2004
Players Championship (IOW)	2005
Players Championship (VEG)	2009
Players Championship (WAL)	2008

UK Open Regionals/Qualifiers

Regional Final (IRL)

2003

Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961 in Blackpool, Lancashire)^[1] is a former World No. 1 English professional darts player. He uses the nickname The Rocket for his matches. Baxter is known for his fast robotic throwing action. He currently resides in his hometown Blackpool.

BDO

Baxter played on the North American circuit during the 1980s and when he participated in the British Darts Organisation he had a consistent record for reaching the final stages of their Open events. As well as winning the Welsh Open twice, German Open, Denmark, Swiss and Finnish Opens he also reached the final of the Opens in England, Wales, Finland, Denmark (twice) and the semi-finals of the Scottish Open four times, British Open three times, England Open twice and the British Classic in 2001.

He made his World Championship debut in 1991 - before the split in the game and lost in the second round to Jocky Wilson. A first round defeat in 1992 to Bob Anderson was followed by failure to qualify for the 1993 event. When the top players left the BDO to form the WDC after the 1993 World Championship, Baxter had risen in the rankings to be seeded number two for the 1994 World Championship, but he was beaten in the first round - this time by eventual champion John Part.

He missed out on the 1995 Championship, but then reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 1996 when he was beaten by Richie Burnett. Baxter was seeded seventh for the 1997 World Championship but lost in the second round to Mervyn King. However, later that year he reached his first major final at the 1997 Winmau World Masters, losing in the final to Graham Hunt. In 1998 he had again risen in the rankings to be seeded number two - but just as in 1994 he failed to live up his ranking and went out in the first round to Scotland's Peter Johnstone.

In 1999, he finally showed some of the form that saw him ranked second in the world by reaching the World Final for the first time. He beat Burnett, Kevin Painter, Roland Scholten and Andy Fordham before losing 5-6 in the final to Raymond van Barneveld. Still ranked second in the world, he went back to the final in 2000 but lost 0-6 to Ted Hankey in just 46 minutes - the quickest final in the tournament's history.

His last appearance at the Lakeside Country Club came in 2001, he beat Martin Adams in the second round but lost to Wayne Mardle in the quarter-final.

PDC

Baxter moved to the PDC in 2002, and showed early glimpses of the form he showed in the BDO. On his World Championship debut in 2002 he reached the quarter-finals.

However, that remains his best performance to date, and since his early days in the PDC he has struggled to reproduce his best form on a consistent basis. In 2006 and 2007, Baxter surprisingly exited in the first round.

Baxter did reach the final of 1998 World Matchplay whilst still a BDO player. The event was Baxter's first serious breakthrough tournament on television, with Baxter causing a big upset in coming from 6–9 down to defeat defending champion, Phil Taylor, 13–10 in the quarter finals. Baxter went on to reach the final, but lost 17–19 in an epic against Rod Harrington, despite Baxter having led for most of the match and having had 1 championship dart at double 20. Baxter also reached the final of the 2002 Las Vegas Desert Classic, losing to Phil Taylor. Baxter's high world ranking saw him qualify for the Premier League Darts in 2006, where he finished fifth. He has also won a regional final of the UK Open and a PDPA Players Championship, but despite a career which has shown great potential he is yet to clinch a major televised tournament success.

Baxter has thrown four competitive nine-dart finishes in a qualifying round or tournament, the latest being in the 2008 Desert Classic. However, none of them have been televised.

In the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship, Baxter defeated Finland's Marko Kantele in the first round. He then beat Denis Ovens in the second round. However, in one of the matches of the tournament, he lost to world number two Raymond van Barneveld in a sudden-death leg in the seventh and final set. After hitting the bull to throw first in the deciding leg, Baxter missed two darts at double eight to win the match.

After winning the warm-up Players Tournament in Vegas, Baxter was defeated in the first round of the 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic by Jelle Klaasen (6-2) in July 2009.

In July 2009 Baxter competed in the World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. As a native of the town, he received strong and vocal support. He narrowly defeated Jelle Klaasen and Alan Tabern in the first two rounds, before taking on James Wade in the quarter-finals. Wade was blown away by Baxter, who eventually won 16-10. However, the next day he was defeated 17-12 by Terry Jenkins in the semi-finals.

The World Grand Prix in Dublin in October 2009 saw Baxter's poor run in the competition continue as he was defeated by Steve Beaton in the opening round.

At the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship, Baxter saw off Haruki Muramatsu from Japan in round one, before beating Gary Anderson 4-0. Colin Lloyd, Baxter's third-round opponent, was swiftly despatched 4-1. He eventually lost 5-0 in the quarter-finals to van Barneveld. However, Baxter's performance was sufficient to lift him to sixth in the World Rankings, earning him automatic qualification into the 2010 Premier League.

Baxter was unfancied going into the tournament, but played surprisingly well, spending the majority of the season in the top four places of the table. However he narrowly missed out on a top-four spot, which would have earned him qualification for the semi-finals, following an 8-2 defeat to van Barneveld. Baxter ended the tournament in fifth place, level on points with the fourth-placed Mervyn King.

In June 2012, Baxter won the seventh Players Championship of the season, beating world number two and reigning world champion Adrian Lewis 6–3 in the final. It was Baxter's first ranking title for ten months.^[2] He continued his form by reaching the final of the ninth Players Championship after beating Simon Whitlock in the quarter-finals and Lewis in the semis. He faced Dave Chisnall and lost 4–6.^[3] These results ensured his place in the World Matchplay through the PDC ProTour Order of Merit,^[4] as Baxter has dropped out of the top 16 in the world rankings and therefore lost his automatic entry into the major events.^[2]^[5] He beat Chisnall in the first round, PDC newcomer Dean Winstanley in the second round and Justin Pipe in the quarter-final to reach his first hometown championship semi-final since 2009.^[6] There he faced Phil Taylor and, despite rallying from 0–6 down to trail just 6–8, was beaten 10–17.^[7] His good performance in the tournament gave him a boost in the Order of Merit, seeing him rise six places to world number 14. Baxter qualified from Group 3 of the Championship League with a 6–5 victory against Dave Chisnall.^[8] He finished 6th in the Winners Group, as he won three of his seven league matches, missing out on the play-offs by way of leg difference.^[9] After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Baxter was 15th on the Order of Merit, which qualified him for the Players Championship Finals.^[10] He edged out Paul Nicholson 6–5 in the first round,^[11] but was then outplayed by Simon Whitlock in a 10–3 defeat, with the Australian averaging 110.^[12]

Baxter fought back from 1–3 down in sets in the second round of the 2013 World Championship against Kevin Painter to level the match at 3–3. He won the first two legs of the deciding set to be one leg away from the last 16, however, Painter won four straight legs to send Baxter out.^[13] Baxter's consistent play in the eight UK Open Qualifiers in the early part of 2013, where he was a losing quarter-finalist three times and a losing semi-finalist once, saw him placed ninth on the UK Open Order of Merit.^[14] At the tournament he beat Ken MacNeil 9–8, Lee Palfreyman 9–6 and Jelle Klaasen 9–7 to face Raymond van Barneveld in the quarter-finals.^[15] Baxter came from 0–3 to lead 7–4, before van Barneveld responded to move 9–8 ahead. Baxter forced a last leg decider and missed one dart for the match to allow the Dutchman in to hit double eight for the win.^[16] Two successive first round losses in premier events followed at the European Championship (6–5 against Mervyn King) and the World Matchplay (10–1 against Andy Hamilton).^[17]^[18] At the World Grand Prix Baxter beat Colin Lloyd 2–0 in sets before losing 3–0 to Simon Whitlock.^[19]

Baxter was defeated 3–0 by newcomer Ricky Evans in the first round of the 2014 World Championship.^[20] At the German Darts Championship he won four games to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 6–4 to Gary Anderson in the semi-finals.^[21] Baxter lost 9–5 against Adrian Lewis in the third round of the UK Open.^[22] He was knocked out in the first round of the three remaining major events he qualified for during the rest of 2014 and reached the quarter-finals of five Players Championship events, but could never advance beyond that stage.^[23]

At the 2015 World Championship, Baxter won his first televised match since the 2013 World Grand Prix by eliminating Daryl Gurney 3–1.^[24] He could only take out 17% of his doubles during his second round match with Robert Thornton in a 4–0 defeat.^[25] Baxter lost 9–4 to Jan Dekker in the fourth round of the UK Open.^[26] He failed to qualify for the World Matchplay this year ending a run of 17 straight appearances in the event.^[27] Baxter's sole quarter-final appearance of 2015 was at the 11th Players Championship by defeating Phil Taylor 6–2, but he lost 6–3 to Dave Chisnall.^[28] Baxter dropped out of the top 32 on the Order of Merit in 2015 which meant he failed to qualify for the 2016 World Championship. It will be the first World Championship either PDC or BDO to not feature Baxter's name since 1995.^[29]

Personal life

Baxter has two sons with his ex-wife Carol, Terrence (born 1989) and Tim (born 1990).

World Championship performances

BDO

1991: Second round (lost to Jocky Wilson 1–3)
1992: First round (lost to Bob Anderson 1–3)
1994: First round (lost to John Part 0–3)
1996: Quarter-finals (lost to Richie Burnett 2–4)
1997: Second round (lost to Mervyn King 2–3)
1998: First round (lost to Peter Johnstone 2–3)
1999: Runner-up (lost to Raymond Van Barneveld 5–6)
2000: Runner-up (lost to Ted Hankey 0–6)
2001: Quarter-finals (lost to Wayne Mardle 3–5)

PDC

2002: Quarter-finals (lost to Peter Manley 2–6)
2003: Third round (lost to Kevin Painter 3–5)
2004: Fourth round (lost to Kevin Painter 2–4)
2005: Fourth round (lost to Bob Anderson 2–4)
2006: First round (lost to Ray Carver 2–3)
2007: First round (lost to Adrian Gray 2–3)
2008: Second round (lost to Mark Dudbridge 2–4)
2009: Third round (lost to Raymond Van Barneveld 3–4)
2010: Quarter-finals (lost to Raymond Van Barneveld 0–5)
2011: Second round (lost to Mark Webster 0–4)
2012: First round (lost to Steve Farmer 2–3)
2013: Second round (lost to Kevin Painter 3–4)
2014: First round (lost to Ricky Evans 0–3)
2015: Second round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–4)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 3 (3 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–2)
Winmau World Masters (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score^{[N 1]}
Runner-up	1.	1997	Winmau World Masters	Graham Hunt	2–3 (s)
Runner-up	2.	1999	World Championship	Raymond van Barneveld	5–6 (s)
Runner-up	3.	2000	World Championship	Ted Hankey	0–6 (s)

↑ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

PDC major finals: 2 (2 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score^{[N 1]}
Runner-up	1.	1998	World Matchplay	Rod Harrington	17–19 (l)
Runner-up	2.	2002	Las Vegas Desert Classic	Phil Taylor	0–3 (s)

↑ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011		2012	2013	2014	2015
BDO World Championship	DNP			L16	L32	DNP	L32	DNP	QF	L16	L32	RU	RU	QF	No longer a BDO Member
Winmau World Masters	QF	DNP	QF	DNP				QF	DNP	RU	QF	L32	L16	L32	L16	No longer a BDO Member
PDC World Championship	NYF						Non-PDC								QF	L16	L16	L16	L64	L64	L32	L16	QF	L32		L64	L32	L64	L32
World Matchplay	Not held							DNP			RU	L32	SF	L16	QF	L32	SF	SF	QF	QF	L16	SF	L16	L32		SF	L32	L32	DNP
World Grand Prix	Not held										DNP		L16	L32	QF	L32	SF	L16	L16	L32	L32	L32	L32	L32		L32	L16	L32	DNP
Las Vegas Desert Classic	Not held														RU	RR	QF	L32	L32	DNP		L32	Not held
UK Open	Not held															L64	L16	L64	L16	L96	L16	SF	L16	L32		L16	QF	L64	L32
Premier League Darts	Not held																	DNP	5th	DNP			5th	DNP
Grand Slam of Darts	Not held																			RR	DNP		L16	DNP
European Championship	Not held																				QF	L16	QF	L16		L16	L32	DNP
Championship League	Not held																				RR	RR	RR	RR		RR	RR	NH
Players Championship Finals	Not held																					SF	L16	L32	L32	L16	L32	L32	DNP
International Darts League	Not held															DNP			RR	RR	Not held
World Darts Trophy	Not held														DNP				SF	L40	Not held

Performance Table Legend
DNP	Did not play at the event	DNQ	Did not qualify for the event	NYF	Not yet founded	L#	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF	lost in the quarter-finals	SF	lost in the semi-finals	RU	lost in the final	W	won the tournament

References

↑ "Biography". Ronnie Baxter. 1961-02-05. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
1 2 "Brilliant Baxter's Birmingham Win". PDC. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
↑ "Chisnall Rockets To Crawley Treble". PDC. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
↑ "Betfair World Matchplay Field". PDC. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
↑ "2012 World Matchplay Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
↑ "2012 PDC World Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
↑ "Betfair World Matchplay Semi-Finals". PDC. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
↑ "2012 Championship of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
↑ "Taylor Retains CLD Title In Style". PDC. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
↑ "Minehead Qualifiers Confirmed". PDC. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
↑ "Cash Converters PCF Day One". PDC. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
↑ "Cash Converters PCF Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
↑ "Ladbrokes WDC Day Nine". PDC. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
↑ "2013 UK Open Order Of Merit". PDC. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
↑ "2013 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
↑ "Speedy Services UK Open Quarter-Finals". PDC. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
↑ "partypoker.net Euro Champs - Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
↑ "BetVictor World Matchplay Night Three". PDC. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
↑ "2013 World Grand Prix Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
↑ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Four". PDC. 16 December 2013.
↑ "2014 PDC German Darts Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
↑ "Coral UK Open - Friday Evening". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
↑ "Ronnie Baxter 2014". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Three". PDC. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
↑ "William Hill World Championship Day Seven". PDC. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
↑ "2015 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
↑ "Huge Weekend For Blackpool Hopefuls". PDC. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
↑ "Jubilant Chisnall Claims Barnsley Victory". PDC. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
↑ "Ronnie Baxter World Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 December 2015.

External links

Darts Database Profile

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.