Photo: Michael Smith is into his ninth major final after beating Raymond Van Barneveld in the Grand Slam of Darts semi-final (Taylor Lanning/PDC)
Full name: Michael Colin Smith
Nickname: “The Bully Boy”
Born: 18 September 1990 (age 32)
Home town: St Helens, England
| Major achievements | |
|---|---|
| 2013 Breaks into the world’s top 32 for the first time 2014 PDC Young Player of the Year 2015 Breaks into the world’s top 16 for the first time 2015 Breaks into the world’s top 8 for the first time 2019 Reaches a career-high ranking of world No. 3 2019 Sets his highest televised average with 113.62 at the Grand Slam |
BIOGRAPHY
Michael Smith (born 18 September 1990) is an English professional darts player playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was the 2013 PDC Under-21 World Champion and has since won nine titles on the PDC Pro Tour.
He won his first PDC major title at the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts, having previously been a runner-up at the World Championship (2019 and 2022), the Premier League (2018), the World Matchplay (2019), the European Championship (2022), the UK Open (2022), The Masters (2020) and the World Series Finals (2018).
EARLY LIFE
Smith attended Saint Cuthbert’s High School in St Helens. When he was 15 he fell off his bike on the way to school breaking his hip, which required him to use crutches for 16 weeks. During that period, Smith threw his first 180 whilst on crutches.
After leaving school, he took a joinery course at college, but he decided to drop out with one exam remaining to play in a darts tournament instead, a decision that he has described as the best of his life. He was a regular winner of local darts events and made his debut in a PDC major at the 2009 UK Open where he lost 6–5 to Dave Ladley in the first round.
CAREER
Smith reached the last 32 of the 2010 UK Open, knocking out Peter Manley and Matt Clark before losing to Mervyn King. He was one of a number of young players to make a significant impact in the tournament, along with William O’Connor, Arron Monk and Reece Robinson.
He was the number four seed for the 2011 PDC Under-21 World Championship, where he lost in the quarter-finals to Benito van de Pas.
On 26 February 2011, Smith hit a nine-dart finish in a PDC Youth Tour event in Barnsley, against Michael van Gerwen. He reached the final but lost to Shaun Griffiths. The following day, he won his first PDC Pro Tour event, defeating Dave Chisnall 6–5 in the final of the 2011 UK Open Qualifier 2.
Smith had now become a full-time professional on the PDC darts Circuit and made his debut at the World Championships in 2012, losing 0–3 to Co Stompé in the first round. Smith only hit 3 of his 14 darts at a double during the match.
World Championship Results
PDC
- 2012: First round (lost to Co Stompé 0–3)
- 2013: First round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 0–3)
- 2014: Third round (lost to Peter Wright 3–4)
- 2015: Third round (lost to Stephen Bunting 2–4)
- 2016: Quarter-finals (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 4–5)
- 2017: Third round (lost to James Wade 3–4)
- 2018: Second round (lost to Rob Cross 3–4)
- 2019: Runner-up (lost to Michael van Gerwen 3–7)
- 2020: Second round (lost to Luke Woodhouse 1–3)
- 2021: Second round (lost to Jason Lowe 1–3)
- 2022: Runner-up (lost to Peter Wright 5–7)
- 2023:
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 26 September 2022. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
