Alan Tabern
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| Alan Tabern | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Nickname | The Saint |
| Born | 29 September 1966 St. Helens, Lancashire, England |
| Home town | St. Helens, Merseyside England |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 1985 |
| Darts | Target Darts [1] |
| Laterality | Left-handed |
| Walk-on music | The Saints Are Coming by The Skids |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| PDC | 2005 - present |
| Current world ranking | 25 |
| PDC premier events - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Quarter Finalist 2007 |
| World Matchplay | Quarter Finalist 2008 |
| World Grand Prix | Round 2 2007 |
| Grand Slam | Group Stages 2008 |
| Ch'ship League | Winners group, Semi-finals 2008 |
| Desert Classic | Quarter Finalist 2008 |
| European Ch'ship | Quarter Finalist 2008 |
| UK Open | Semi Finalist 2006 |
| US Open/WSoD | Last 64 2007 |
| Players Ch'ship Finals | Round 2 2009 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| UK Open NW Regional Players Ch'ship NW |
2006 |
Alan Tabern (born 29 September 1966 in St. Helens, Lancashire) is an English darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation, where he is also known as "The Saint". Widely respected as a 'floor' player on the PDC Pro Tour, his recent performances in televised events have pushed him to a career high ranking of 9 in the PDC Order of Merit, although he has fallen down recently.
[edit] Darts career
A left-hander, he made his PDC WorldChampionship debut in 2005 with a surprising win over Alex Roy. He was beaten in the second round by Mark Dudbridge. Tabern reached the quarter finals of the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship, where he was beaten 5-0 by eventual winner Raymond van Barneveld. In the 2008 World Championship, he defeated Denmark's Per Laursen and Andy Jenkins before losing 4-3 in the third round to Phil Taylor, having led 3-2. Tabern caused a major shock in the 2008 Las Vegas Desert Classic by beating No.2 Seed and reigning champion van Barneveld 8-4 in the 2nd round. In the 2008 World Matchplay Tabern reached the quarter-finals, knocking out current World Champion John Part before losing to Dennis Priestley.
Following this great run of form Alan attracted a new sponsor in Target Darts [2] and has just spent 2 months developing his own set of darts that he used for the very first time at the 2008 World Matchplay. In August 2008 Alan claimed his second PDC Pro Tour victory in the Peach Tree Open in Atlanta by defeating Andy Hamilton 3-1 in the final and the next month he claimed another Players Championship win in Wales. This put him in the top 10 in the PDC Order of Merit for the first time in his career. Tabern played in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts, where he was involved in the first televised nine-dart shootout after he and Hamilton had finished level on points and leg difference in their group. Tabern lost 265-169 in it, with only one of his 9 darts hitting treble 20, with three others in either five or one beds, contrasting with Hamilton's four treble 20s from six darts.
Tabern suffered a second round exit in the 2009 PDC World Championship, losing to Co Stompé. The following year, Tabern suffered another second round defeat, this time losing 4-3 to Mark Dudbridge having missed six darts to win. Tabern once again missed six match darts in the second round of the 2011 tournament against Mark Walsh.
