Wikipedia

Devon Petersen

Devon Petersen (born 4 June 1986) is a South African professional darts player and pundit for Sky Sports. He qualified for the PDC World Championship on seven occasions with his best result coming in 2014, 2019 and 2021 when he reached the last 16. Petersen become popular for dancing on to the stage to Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" before his matches.

Devon Petersen
Petersen in 2022
Personal information
Nickname"The African Warrior"
Born (1986-06-04) 4 June 1986 (age 38)
Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, South Africa
Home townBradford, England
Darts information
Playing darts since2004
Darts22 Gram Shot Darts Signature
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" by Shakira ft. Freshlyground
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC2009–
Current world ranking(PDC) NR
WDF major events – best performances
World MastersPreliminary Round: 2010
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 16: 2014, 2019, 2021
World MatchplayLast 32: 2021
World Grand PrixLast 16: 2020
UK OpenQuarter Final: 2015, 2021
Grand SlamLast 16: 2020
European Ch'shipSemi Final: 2020
PC FinalsLast 64: 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021
MastersLast 24: 2022
World Series FinalsLast 24: 2015, 2022
Other tournament wins
PDC World South Africa Qualifying 2010, 2011, 2013
PDC World Africa Qualifying 2018, 2019
Darts At Home week 1 2020
South African Masters 2011

European Tour Events

German Darts Championship 2020

Career

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He qualified for the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship as the South African champion. He beat Guyana's Norman Madhoo 4–3 in the preliminary round with big checkouts including a 136 and a 146. In beating Madhoo, he earned a place in the first round proper, where he would play Jamie Caven. Despite winning the first set, Petersen lost by 3 sets to 1.[1]

He qualified for the 2011 PDC Pro Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the second day of the Pro Tour's Q School.[2] Since turning professional, Petersen has left South Africa to live in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, and signed a sponsorship deal with leading darts manufacturer Unicorn.[3]

Petersen retained the South African Open in 2011 to qualify for the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship,[4] where he edged out José Oliveira de Sousa 4–3 (legs) in the preliminary round to reach the last 64 for the second successive year. Petersen played Steve Brown in the first round and recovered from 2–1 down in sets to win 3–2, also recovering from 2–0 down in legs in the deciding set and surviving one match dart. Petersen said after the win that it was a "dream come true" and that he was sure he had more in him.[5] He played Gary Anderson in the second round and played the best he has in front of the television cameras. However, the class of his opponent came through and he lost 4–2, with Anderson stating after the match that "Devon became very tough for me". Petersen himself said that he would "work hard and come back a better player".[6]

He represented South Africa with Shawn Hogan in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they defeated Spain 5–2 in the first round before causing a shock by knocking out number 4 seeds Scotland in the second round in a sudden death leg. They played Wales in the quarter finals and were beaten in the deciding doubles match. Petersen prematurely celebrated as he thought he had taken his country to the semi-finals by hitting double 16. However, he had miscounted and they were out of the tournament moments later when Richie Burnett secured the winning double.[7] Petersen reached the last 64 of the 2012 UK Open by defeating Andrew Gilding 4–0, but then lost to Ronnie Baxter 9–6.[8] In June, he qualified for the European Tour Event 3 after defeating Darren Webster and Gareth Cousins in the UK qualifier.[9] Petersen again lost to Baxter this time 6–2 in the first round in Düsseldorf.[10]

Petersen took a year away from darts in 2013 to recuperate from an arm injury.[11] In September he won the South African Masters by defeating Graham Filby 9–3 in the final and in doing so earned a place in his third World Championship for the 2014 edition, where he saw off Mohd Latif Sapup 4–1 in the preliminary round.[12] Petersen danced onto the stage for his first round match against Steve Beaton which immediately got the crowd on his side as he defeated the 1996 BDO world champion 3–1 in sets.[13] Petersen was 2–1 ahead against Justin Pipe in the next round and in the deciding leg of the fourth set he took out a crucial 130 finish with Pipe on 36, before wrapping up a 4–1 win.[14] In the third round his run came to an end when he lost 4–0 to James Wade.[15] Petersen partnered Filby in the World Cup of Darts and they came past Germany 5–3 in the first round, before Petersen beat Paul Lim 4–0 in his singles match in the second round. Filby lost his to Harith Lim, meaning a doubles match was needed to settle the tie which South Africa edged 4–3.[16] In the quarter-finals they faced the number one seeds of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis, with Petersen and Filby both losing their singles matches to exit the tournament.[17] Petersen was defeated in the final of the South African Qualifier for the 2015 World Championship 9–5 by Nolan Arendse.[18]

In January 2015, Petersen played in Q School and earned a two-year tour card on the second day by defeating Chris Hartrey 5–1 in the final round.[19] Petersen did not base himself in Britain for 2015 and estimated he would make 20 trips back and forth from South Africa during the year.[20] He entered the UK Open in the second round stage and beat Mark Cox 5–4, Mark Barilli 9–8, Jamie Caven 9–6 and Eddie Dootson 9–3 to reach the quarter-finals of a major PDC event for the first time.[21][22] Petersen led world number one Michael van Gerwen 3–2 at the first break but had had darts to win every leg and went on to lose 10–5.[23] He became the first South African to throw a nine-dart finish on the PDC tour at the sixth Players Championship and went on to reach the quarter-finals where Van Gerwen whitewashed him 6–0.[24] At the World Cup, Petersen and Filby survived a match dart from Finland to win 5–4 before losing both of their singles matches against Van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld of the Netherlands in the second round.[25] Petersen was invited to participate in the first World Series of Darts Finals, where he was eliminated 6–3 by Robert Thornton in the first round.[26]

Petersen saw off Ricky Evans 6–5 and Kim Huybrechts 6–2 at the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters and then lost 6–2 to Mervyn King in the third round.[27] He qualified for six other European Tour events and, even though he didn't reach the third round again, he had done enough to make his debut in the European Championship, but was defeated 6–4 by King in the opening round.[28][29] Petersen and Graham Filby missed 14 darts at doubles as they were beaten 5–1 by Singapore in the first round of the World Cup.[30] Petersen lost in the first round of the European Championship (6–4 to Mervyn King) and the Players Championship Finals (6–3 to Robbie Green).[31][32]

Petersen struggled in the first round of the 2017 World Championship as he could only average 79.29 in a 3–1 defeat to Steve Beaton.[33]

Petersen returned to form in the 2019 World Championship reaching the Last 16 his best run since 2014 beating Wayne Jones, Ian White, and Steve West before narrowly losing to Nathan Aspinall.

Again he qualified via the PDC World Africa Qualifying Event for the 2020 World Championship. He played Luke Humphries in the first round and lost 1–3. Petersen remained in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit and kept his tour card for 2020.[34]

On 22 February 2020, Petersen reached his first ever PDC semi-final, at Players Championship 5, beating high quality players such as Stephen Bunting and Rob Cross (the World Number Four at the time) along the way, before losing to eventual winner Peter Wright 7–5.[35]

On 27 September 2020, Petersen won his first ranking title beating Johnny Clayton 8–3 at the German Darts Championship.[36] He followed this by a Second Round loss to Gerwyn Price in the 2020 European Darts Grand Prix, hence finished 4th with £27,000 on the European Tour order of merit, which cemented his place as a top seed in the 2020 PDc European Championship. In this tournament, Petersen eliminated Andy Hamilton, Martin Kleermaker and Ian White to reach his first major televised Semi Final, but lost narrowly 10–11 to James Wade. This run equaled a cheque of £32,000.

Further televised exposure followed in the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, where he was partnered by Carl Gabriel in a 5-1 First Round humiliation to Poland with Krzysztof Ratajski & Krzysztof Kciuk.

Despite some inconsistency in form at the 2020 PDC Winter Series, Petersen showed rejuvenation in the 2020 PDC Grand Slam of Darts, where he reached the Last 16 on his debut. In the course of doing so, he won all three of his group stage games against Ian White, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Peter Wright, topping the group and receiving the group winner's bonus of £3,500. Australian rising star Damon Heta proved too big of an obstacle and denied Petersen a place in his third major televised Quarter Final in a 10–7 victory over the South African.

Petersen entered the Top 32 in the world before the commencement of the 2020 PDC Players Championship Finals, but lost 3–6 to Luke Humphries, averaging 101.46 against Humphries' 99.65.

Petersen returned to the Alexandra Palace in London for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship and started as a seeded player in Round 2 (Last 64) for the first time in his career. He overcame Steve Lennon and Jason Lowe to reach the fourth round, where he lost 4–0 to Gary Anderson.[37]

In 2023, Petersen once again represented South Africa on the World Cup of Darts, forming a team with Vernon Bouwers. They made it to the second round, where they lost to the French team of Thibault Tricole and Jacques Labre.

Darts used

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Petersen previously used darts given to him by Phil Taylor at the 2009 South African Masters.[38]

World Championship results

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PDC

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Performance timeline

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BDO

Tournament 2010 2011
BDO World Championship DNP DNQ
Winmau World Masters PR DNP

PDC

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
PDC World Championship DNQ 1R 2R DNQ 3R DNQ 1R 1R 4R 1R 4R 2R DNQ
UK Open DNP 2R 3R DNQ QF DNQ 2R DNQ 3R 3R QF 5R 3R DNP
World Matchplay DNQ 1R DNQ
World Grand Prix DNQ 2R DNQ
European Championship DNP DNQ 1R DNQ SF DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts DNQ 2R DNQ
Players Championship Finals DNP DNQ 1R DNQ 1R 1R 1R DNQ
Non-major televised events
The Masters NH DNQ 1R DNQ
PDC World Cup of Darts DNP NH QF DNP QF 2R 1R 2R 2R 2R 1R 2R 1R 2R
World Series of Darts Finals NH 1R DNQ 1R DNQ
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 95 61 63 62 77 60 50 51 60 60 29 26 58 110

PDC European Tour

Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2012 ADO
DNQ 		GDC
DNQ 		EDO
1R 		GDM
DNQ 		DDM
DNQ
2013 Did not play
2014 Did not play
2015 GDC
1R 		GDT
2R 		GDM
DNQ 		DDM
DNQ 		IDO
DNQ 		EDO
3R 		EDT
DNP 		EDM
DNP 		EDG
1R
2016 DDM
3R 		GDM
2R 		GDT
DNQ 		EDM
1R 		ADO
DNQ 		EDO
2R 		IDO
2R 		EDT
2R 		EDG
1R 		GDC
DNQ
2017 GDC
DNQ 		GDM
DNQ 		GDO
DNQ 		EDG
DNQ 		GDT
DNQ 		EDM
DNQ 		ADO
DNQ 		EDO
3R 		DDM
DNQ 		GDG
DNQ 		IDO
DNQ 		EDT
DNQ
2018 EDO
DNQ 		GDG
DNQ 		GDO
DNQ 		ADO
DNQ 		EDG
DNQ 		DDM
DNQ 		GDT
DNQ 		DDO
DNQ 		EDM
DNQ 		GDC
DNQ 		DDC
DNQ 		IDO
DNQ 		EDT
DNQ
2019 EDO
DNQ 		GDC
DNQ 		GDG
DNQ 		GDO
DNQ 		ADO
1R 		EDG
DNQ 		DDM
DNQ 		DDO
DNQ 		CDO
1R 		ADC
DNQ 		EDM
DNQ 		IDO
DNQ 		GDT
DNQ
2020 BDC
DNQ 		GDC
W 		EDG
2R 		IDO
DNQ
2021 HDT
2R 		GDT
2R
2022 IDO
2R 		GDC
2R 		GDG
DNQ 		ADO
1R 		EDO
2R 		CDO
DNQ 		EDG
DNQ 		DDC
DNQ 		EDM
DNQ 		HDT
DNQ 		GDO
DNQ 		BDO
DNQ 		GDT
DNQ
2023 BSD
DNQ 		EDO
DNQ 		IDO
DNQ 		GDG
DNQ 		ADO
DNQ 		DDC
DNQ 		BDO
DNQ 		CDO
DNQ 		EDG
DNQ 		EDM
DNQ 		GDO
DNP 		HDT
DNP 		GDC
DNQ
Performance Table Legend
W Won the tournament F Finalist SF Semifinalist QF Quarterfinalist #R
RR
L# 		Lost in # round
Round-robin
Last # stage 		DQ Disqualified
DNQ Did not qualify DNP Did not participate WD Withdrew NH Tournament not held NYF Not yet founded

References

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  1. ^ "Devon Petersen".
  2. ^ Qualifying School Day Two Archived 18 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
  3. ^ Darting Devon for Petersen! Unicorn Darts
  4. ^ Petersen's South African Joy Archived 10 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
  5. ^ "World Championship - Night Seven". PDC. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  6. ^ "World Championship - Day 11". PDC. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  7. ^ "Cash Converters World Cup Quarter-Finals Round-Up". PDC. 5 February 2012. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  8. ^ "2012 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  9. ^ "European Tour 3 UK Qualifier". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  10. ^ "European Darts Open Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  11. ^ "Q School Set For Record Field". PDC. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  12. ^ "Petersen & Sapup Win Ally Pally Spots". PDC. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  13. ^ "World Darts Championship: Devon Petersen, Ricky Evans earn big wins at Alexandra Palace". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  14. ^ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day 12". PDC. 27 December 2013. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  15. ^ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day 13". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  16. ^ "bwin World Cup of Darts Second Round". PDC. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  17. ^ "bwin World Cup of Darts Quarter-Finals". PDC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  18. ^ "Arendse Wins South African Masters". PDC. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  19. ^ "PDC Qualifying School Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  20. ^ "Proud Petersen set to clock up the air miles on his return to the PDC circuit". Live Darts. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  21. ^ "2015 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  22. ^ "Coral UK Open Fifth Round". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  23. ^ "Coral UK Open Quarter-Finals". PDC. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  24. ^ "Mighty Mike Defies Wade For Title". PDC. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  25. ^ "bwin World Cup of Darts Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  26. ^ "Unibet World Series of Darts Finals Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  27. ^ "2016 PDC Dutch Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  28. ^ "Devon Petersen 2016". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  29. ^ "2016 European Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  30. ^ "Betway World Cup of Darts Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  31. ^ "2016 European Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  32. ^ "2016 Players Championship Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  33. ^ "2017 PDC World Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  34. ^ "Humphries produces clinical display in victory over Petersen - Darts News". Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  35. ^ "DartConnect TV Matches : PDC Players Championship 05".
  36. ^ "Darts results: Devon Petersen wins a historic maiden PDC title at the German Darts Championship". sportinglife.com. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  37. ^ "Price & Anderson power through to quarter-finals on Day 13".
  38. ^ Unicorn Darts - Devon Petersen Unicorn Darts
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