Daryl Gurney

Daryl Gurney
Gurney in 2019
Personal information
Nickname	"SuperChin"
Born	(1986-03-22) 22 March 1986 Derry, Northern Ireland
Home town	Derry, Northern Ireland
Darts information
Playing darts since	1996
Darts	Winmau Daryl Gurney 23gr
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond, preceded by "Superman March" from Boston Pops Orchestra and John Williams
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2004–2013
PDC	2013– (Tour Card: 2013–)
Current world ranking	26 (24 November 2024)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 16: 2009, 2010
World Masters	Last 24: 2009
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter-final: 2017, 2021
World Matchplay	Semi-final: 2017, 2019
World Grand Prix	Winner (1): 2017
UK Open	Semi-final: 2017, 2020
Grand Slam	Quarter-final: 2017
European Ch'ship	Semi-final: 2017, 2019
Premier League	Semi-final: 2019
PC Finals	Winner (1): 2018
Masters	Quarter-final: 2024
Champions League	Group Stage: 2018, 2019
World Series Finals	Semi-final: 2017
Other tournament wins
England Masters 2012 Ireland Players Championship 2014 Northern Ireland Open 2012 Tom Kirby Memorial Trophy 2012, 2014 European Tour Events German Darts Championship 2019 Players Championships Players Championship (BAR) 2017, 2019
Other achievements
2016 Breaks into the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time 2017 claims his first major televised title after winning the World Grand Prix 2017 Breaks into the top 4 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time 2019 Reaches a career-high ranking of world No. 3

Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Superchin", he is a winner of two majors, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017 and the Players Championship Finals in 2018.

Career

Gurney reached the quarter-finals of the 2008 Scottish Open, beating Andy Boulton and Alan Soutar before losing to Shaun Greatbatch. He then reached the final of the 2008 WDF Europe Cup, beating Stig Jorgensen in the quarter-finals and then beat Fabian Roosenbrand 4–0 in the semi-finals before losing to defending champion Mark Webster 4–0 in the final.

Gurney qualified for the 2009 BDO World Championships, beating former World Masters finalist Jarkko Komula before defeating Belgium's Kim Huybrechts to become the first Northern Irish player to qualify for Lakeside since Mitchell Crooks in 2001. He defeated 14th seed Garry Thompson in the first round to set up a second round encounter with 2007 champion and reigning Masters champion Martin Adams. Gurney levelled the match at one set all and then two sets all before losing 4-2.

The following year, Gurney qualified again, and once more played the 14th seed in the first round, this time the debuting Scott Mitchell. Gurney won the first two sets before Mitchell levelled the match and took a 2–0 lead in the decider, hitting nine out of twelve darts at double. But Gurney eventually prevailed 4–2 with consistent scoring. He once again played Adams in the second round, and was again defeated. Adams went on to win the title.

In June 2012, Gurney won the England Masters, Northern Ireland Open and the Tom Kirby Memorial Trophy. In winning the latter, he earned a spot in the preliminary round of the 2013 PDC World Championship, where he edged out Robert Marijanović 4–3 in legs. Gurney then beat Andy Smith 3–1 in sets in the first round. He lost each of the first three sets in a deciding leg in the second round against Dave Chisnall and outscored him in the 180 count, but was beaten 4–1. In January 2013, Gurney entered Q School in an attempt to win a two-year PDC tour card and was successful on the second day by winning six matches, concluding with a 6–2 victory over Paul Amos. His best result in his debut year on the tour came at the German Darts Championship, where Gurney defeated Colin Lloyd, Ronnie Baxter and Simon Whitlock in reaching the quarter-finals, but his run came to an end when he lost 6–2 against Peter Wright.

2014

Gurney's second quarter-final appearance in the PDC was at a UK Open Qualifier in February 2014 which he reached by eliminating world number one Michael van Gerwen 6–5 with a 146 checkout. He was beaten 6–4 by Andrew Gilding but the performance ensured he qualified for the UK Open itself for the first time and lost 5–4 to Ian White in the second round. Later in the year, Gurney made his debut in the World Grand Prix which he qualified for by being the second highest non-exempt Irish player on the Pro Tour Order of Merit. He came close to recording an upset in the first round against Adrian Lewis. In the deciding leg of the final set Gurney missed the bull for a 170 finish and two further darts at double eight, being beaten 3–2 in sets. However, he bounced back later in the week when he won the Tom Kirby Memorial Irish Matchplay title by defeating Radek Szagański in the final.

2015

Gurney's Irish Matchplay title earned him a place in the preliminary round of the 2015 World Championship and Scott MacKenzie missed one dart to eliminate him 4–0. Instead, Gurney levelled at 3–3 before MacKenzie missed a dart at double 11 to complete a 142 finish which allowed him to step in and seal a 4–3 win. Gurney then lost 3–1 against Ronnie Baxter in the first round. From the last 32 stage of the fifth UK Open Qualifier, Gurney beat Alan Norris, Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall to reach his first PDC semi-final where he was defeated 6–2 by Michael Smith. The performance helped him to enter the UK Open at the third round stage and he thrashed Kevin McDine 9–1 to play John Henderson in the fourth round. Gurney won five legs in a row between 13 and 15 darts to surge 8–7 ahead, before Henderson sent the tie into a deciding leg which he won. His second semi-final came at the 10th Players Championship event and he was eliminated 6–3 by Joe Murnan. Gurney lost 2–0 in sets to Robert Thornton in the first round of the World Grand Prix, but two quarter-final exits saw him play in the Players Championship Finals for the first time. He averaged 101.38 in a 6–2 victory over Kim Huybrechts and then knocked out reigning world champion Gary Anderson 10–4, winning the last six legs in a row, to reach his first major quarter-final. Gurney then advanced to the semi-finals with a 10–5 victory over Benito van de Pas, but from level at 2–2 with Michael van Gerwen, Gurney lost nine successive legs to exit the tournament.

2016

Gurney won the first set of his second round match against Anderson at the 2016 World Championship. He went on to lose 4–1, but missed a dart to win the second set and four to win the third. He averaged 105.18 in getting past Peter Wright 6–4 in the third round of the Dutch Darts Masters and then averaged 106.84 during a 6–4 quarter-final win over Adrian Lewis. Gurney swept into his first PDC final with a 6–1 win over Mensur Suljović, but lost 6–2 to world number one Van Gerwen. He was now Northern Ireland's number two player on the Order of Merit and so he teamed up with Brendan Dolan at the World Cup of Darts and they beat Japan, Ireland and Canada to reach the semi-finals, where they lost both their singles matches against the English pairing of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis. Gurney qualified for his first World Matchplay, but was ousted 10–2 by Ian White in the first round. He fared much better at the World Grand Prix, despite having taken a month off due to a broken bone in his throwing hand. He beat Mensur Suljović 2–1 in a deciding leg and Steve West 3–0 to make the quarter-finals, where he lost 3–1 to Dave Chisnall. Gurney was also knocked out in the first round of the European Championship 6–4 by Gerwyn Price and 6–1 by Kim Huybrechts in the second round of the Players Championship Finals.

2017

After breaking into the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit in 2016, Gurney was a seeded player for the first time at the 2017 World Championship and beat Jermaine Wattimena 3–1 in the first round. He won the first six legs of his second round match with Robert Thornton, but Thornton recovered to move 3–2 up. However, Gurney then took six of the final seven legs to move into the third round for the first time in his career and played Mark Webster. Gurney missed five darts to win 4–2, but held on to take it 4–3 and become the first player from Northern Ireland to reach a PDC World Championship quarter-final. His run ended with a 5–1 defeat to Michael van Gerwen. Comfortable victories over Alex Roy, Mark Webster and Vincent van der Voort saw Gurney advance to the quarter-finals of the UK Open. He then took five successive legs from 7–4 down to Simon Whitlock, but it still went to a deciding leg which Gurney took and dedicated the win to his best friend who died earlier in 2017. In the semi-finals he lost 11–5 to Peter Wright.

Gurney won his first PDC title by overcoming Kim Huybrechts 6–3 in the final of the seventh Players Championship. He got to the final of the eighth event a day later and he came from 4–1 down to level at 5–5 with Joe Cullen, but missed one dart at the bullseye to win. Gurney missed four match darts against Mensur Suljović in the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Darts Trophy.

In July, Gurney was invited to participate in the US Darts Masters as part of the World Series of Darts. He won his first round match against DJ Sayre, which included a 154 checkout, before defeating Peter Wright 8–7 in the quarter-finals on a last leg decider, before coming from 4–1 down to win 7 legs in a row to defeat Gary Anderson 8–4 in the semi-finals, to set up a final with Michael van Gerwen, which despite leading 5–3, he eventually lost 8–6.

World Championship results

Gurney in 2019

BDO

• 2009: Second round (lost to Martin Adams 2–4)
• 2010: Second round (lost to Martin Adams 1–4)

PDC

• 2013: Second round (lost to Dave Chisnall 1–4)
• 2015: First round (lost to Ronnie Baxter 1–3)
• 2016: Second round (lost to Gary Anderson 1–4)
• 2017: Quarter-finals (lost to Michael van Gerwen 1–5)
• 2018: Second round (lost to John Henderson 2–4)
• 2019: Third round (lost Jamie Lewis 3–4)
• 2020: Third round (lost Glen Durrant 2–4)
• 2021: Quarter-finals (lost to Gerwyn Price 4–5)
• 2022: Third round (lost Rob Cross 3–4)
• 2023: Second round (lost to Alan Soutar 0–3)
• 2024: Fourth round (lost to Dave Chisnall 2–4)

Career finals

WDF major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2008	Europe Cup Singles	Mark Webster	0–4 (s)

PDC major finals: 2 (2 titles)

Legend
World Grand Prix (1–0)
Players Championship Finals (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2017	World Grand Prix	Simon Whitlock	5–4 (s)
Winner	2.	2018	Players Championship Finals	Michael van Gerwen	11–9 (l)

PDC world series finals: 2 (2 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2017	US Darts Masters	Michael van Gerwen	6–8 (l)
Runner-up	2.	2019	Melbourne Darts Masters	Michael van Gerwen	3–8 (l)

Performance timeline

BDO

Tournament	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
BDO World Championship	Did not participate					2R	2R	DNP
Winmau World Masters	2R	1R	DNP	1R	4R	5R	2R	3R	4R

PDC

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	2R	DNQ	1R	2R	QF	2R	3R	3R	QF	3R	2R	4R
UK Open	DNQ	2R	4R	3R	SF	4R	5R	SF	5R	4R	4R	4R
World Matchplay	Did not qualify			1R	SF	2R	SF	2R	1R	2R	QF	1R
World Grand Prix	DNQ	1R	1R	QF	W	SF	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R
European Championship	Did not qualify			1R	SF	1R	SF	1R	DNQ	1R	2R	2R
Grand Slam of Darts	Did not qualify				QF	DNQ	2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNQ		SF	2R	QF	W	1R	1R	QF	2R	1R	3R
Non-ranked televised events
Premier League Darts	Did not participate					5th	SF	8th	DNP
The Masters	Did not qualify					1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	DNQ	QF
Champions League of Darts	Not held			DNQ		RR	RR	NH
World Cup of Darts	Did not qualify			SF	1R	2R	1R	1R	QF	QF	RR	DNQ
World Series of Darts Finals	NH		DNQ	2R	SF	2R	2R	QF	DNQ			QF
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	96	61	37	24	4	5	6	11	22	26	26

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2013	UKM 1R	EDT DNQ	EDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	GDT DNQ	GDC QF	GDM 1R	DDM 2R
2014	GDC DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	GDT 2R	EDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	EDT DNQ
2015	GDC DNQ	GDT 1R	GDM 1R	DDM 1R	IDO 3R	EDO 1R	EDT 2R	EDM DNQ	EDG DNQ
2016	DDM F	GDM 2R	GDT 2R	EDM 3R	ADO DNQ	EDO 3R	IDO WD	EDT WD	EDG WD	GDC QF
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM 2R	GDO DNQ	EDG 3R	GDT SF	EDM 3R	ADO QF	EDO 3R	DDM QF	GDG 3R	IDO 2R	EDT 2R
2018	EDO 2R	GDG SF	GDO 3R	ADO QF	EDG 2R	DDM SF	GDT 3R	DDO 2R	EDM 3R	GDC 3R	DDC 3R	IDO 3R	EDT QF
2019	EDO QF	GDC W	GDG 3R	GDO 3R	ADO SF	EDG 3R	DDM 2R	DDO 3R	CDO QF	ADC 2R	EDM 3R	IDO QF	GDT SF
2020	BDC DNP	GDC QF	EDG 2R	IDO 2R
2021	HDT 2R	GDT DNQ
2022	IDO 2R	GDC SF	GDG DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDO 2R	CDO 2R	EDG 3R	DDC DNQ	EDM 2R	HDT 2R	GDO 3R	BDO DNQ	GDT 1R
2023	BSD 2R	EDO 1R	IDO 1R	GDG 1R	ADO SF	DDC 2R	BDO 2R	CDO DNQ	EDG 3R	EDM DNQ	GDO 2R	HDT 1R	GDC 2R
2024	BDO 1R	GDG 2R	IDO 2R	EDG 2R	ADO 3R	BSD 3R	DDC 2R	EDO 2R	GDC SF	FDT 1R	HDT QF	SDT QF	CDO 1R

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

External links

• Official website
• Daryl Gurney player profile at Darts Orakel