Matt Clark (darts player)

Matt Clark
Personal information
Nickname	"Superman"
Born	(1968-04-04) 4 April 1968 Dartford, England
Home town	Walkden, Lancashire, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1988
Darts	22g Elvan own design
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Superman Theme" by John Williams
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1996–2003, 2018–2019
PDC	2003–2017, 2019-
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Final: 1996
World Masters	Last 32: 1996, 1998
World Trophy	Last 32: 2002
Int. Darts League	Last 16 Group: 2003
Finder Masters	Last 16 Group: 2000, 2001
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 32: 2006
World Matchplay	Quarter Final: 2008
UK Open	Last 32: 2006
Desert Classic	Last 16: 2006
US Open/WSoD	Last 32: 2007, 2009
Other tournament wins
Canadian Open 1999 Mill Rythe Darts Festival 1995 Open Holland 2008 PDC Challenge Tour 2015 PDC World Championship Qualifiers 2013

Matthew Clark (born 4 April 1968) is an English darts player who competes for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and formerly played for the British Darts Organisation (BDO). He uses the nickname "Superman" for his matches.

Darting history

Matt Clark first started playing darts at the age of 19 at his local village pub, and after a few years was playing for the Kent county team. At the age of 24 he began moving towards pro darts attending the Dutch Open where he made the quarter finals of the pairs and singles competitions. Clark appeared in the BDO World Darts Championship eight successive years, reaching the quarter-finals in 1996.

He switched to the PDC in 2004 and quickly reached the top 32 in the world rankings. He made his PDC World Darts Championship debut in 2006 and reached the second round, losing to eventual champion Phil Taylor. He entered the 2007 tournament as the number 31 seed, but lost in the first round to Mick McGowan. In 2008, Clark lost in the first round to Roland Scholten. Despite losing, Clark won more legs than Scholten, Clark winning 12 to Scholten's 10. However, he gained revenge on Scholten having qualified for the 2008 World Matchplay through the Players Championship Order of Merit and defeating him 10–4 in the first round. He continued to defeat veteran Peter Manley 13–6 in an upset and reached the quarter-finals, his best performance in the competition, before being defeated by defending champion James Wade, despite checking out at 161 which was the highest checkout of that year's tournament. Prior to the Matchplay Event Matt lost 3 stone in weight which forced him to change his throwing stance.

Clark suffered a first round exit in the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship, losing to Kevin Painter in a sudden leg death which Clark missed one dart at double 12 to win.

After losing his PDC Tour Card at the end of 2017, Clark decided to play some of the BDO Tour and the PDC Challenge Tour. A final in the Luxembourg Open and a quarter-final in the Belfry Open were followed by an agonising loss in the BDO World Championship qualifiers when he was one win from qualifying. Clark also made a quarter-final on the Challenge Tour in 2018 before re-entering PDC UK Q-School in January 2019. A last 16 exit on day two put him in a good position to win back his Tour Card, and he did it by right on the third day, beating Gavin Carlin 5–2 in the final to seal a two-year PDC Tour Card. Matt Clark also took part in the PDC Home Tour, on Saturday 25 April 2020, missing out on winning his group by one leg. The other three players in his group consisted of Harry Ward, Martijn Kleermaker and Michael Smith.

World Championship results

BDO

• 1996: Quarter Final (lost to Les Wallace 1–4)
• 1997: 1st Round (lost to Andy Fordham 2–3)
• 1998: 1st Round (lost to Mervyn King 0–3)
• 1999: 1st Round (lost to Paul Williams 2–3)
• 2000: 2nd Round (lost to Chris Mason 2–3)
• 2001: 2nd Round (lost to Kevin Painter 1–3)
• 2002: 1st Round (lost to Marko Pusa 1–3)
• 2003: 1st Round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 1–3)

PDC

• 2006: 2nd Round (lost to Phil Taylor 1–4)
• 2007: 1st Round (lost to Mick McGowan 1–3)
• 2008: 1st Round (lost to Roland Scholten 2–3)
• 2009: 1st Round (lost to Kevin Painter 2–3)
• 2010: 1st Round (lost to Mervyn King 0–3)
• 2014: 1st Round (lost to Vincent van der Voort 1–3)

Career statistics

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Prel.

DNQ

DNP

NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held

Performance timeline

Tournament	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
BDO Ranked televised events
BDO World Championship	DNQ	QF	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	No longer a BDO Member															DNQ	DNP
World Masters	Prel.	3R	DNQ	3R	1R	2R	2R	2R	No longer a BDO Member															3R	DNP	NH
Finder Darts Masters	Not held					RR	RR	DNP	No longer a BDO Member															DNP	NH
World Darts Trophy	Not held							1R	DNP					Not held
International Darts League	Not held								RR	DNP			Prel.	Not held
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNP									DNQ		2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	DNQ			1R	DNQ
World Matchplay	DNP									DNQ	1R	1R	DNQ	QF	DNQ
UK Open	Not held								DNQ	3R	4R	4R	3R	3R	2R	3R	2R	Prel.	DNQ	1R	1R	3R	DNQ		2R	2R
PDC Past major events
Las Vegas Desert Classic	Not held							DNQ				2R	DNQ	1R	DNQ	Not held
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	Non-PDC								-	-	31	31	39	36	40	47	55	94	92	97	116	93	81	NR	111	94

External links

• Matt Clark's official website
• Matt Clark player profile at Darts Orakel