Ronnie Baxter

Ronnie Baxter
Personal information
Nickname	The Rocket
Born	5 February 1961(1961-02-05) Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Home town	Blackpool, Lancashire England
Playing darts since	1980s
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1980s - 2001
PDC	2001 - present
Current world ranking	18
BDO majors - best performances
World Ch'ship	Finalist (2) 1999, 2000
World Masters	Finalist 1997
World Darts Trophy	Semi Finalist 2006
Int. Darts League	Second Round Group Stage 2006
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Finalist (2) 2002, 2010
World Matchplay	Runner Up 1998
World Grand Prix	Semi Finalist 2004
Grand Slam	Last 16 2010
Premier League	5th (2) 2006, 2010
Desert Classic	Runner Up 2002
European Ch'ship	Quarter Finalist (2) 2008, 2010
UK Open	Semi Finalist 2009
Players Ch'ship Finals	Semi Finalist 2009

Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961 in Blackpool, Lancashire) is an English darts player. He uses the nickname The Rocket for his matches. Baxter is known for his fast, robotic throwing action. He currently resides in his hometown Blackpool.

BDO

Baxter played on the North American circuit during the 1980s and when he participated in the British Darts Organisation he had a consistent record for reaching the final stages of their Open events. As well as winning the Welsh Open twice, German Open, Denmark, Swiss and Finnish Opens he also reached the final of the Opens in England, Wales, Finland, Denmark (twice) and the semi-finals of the Scottish Open four times, British Open three times, England Open twice and the British Classic in 2001.

He made his World Championship debut in 1991 - before the split in the game and lost in the second round to Jocky Wilson. A first round defeat in 1992 to Bob Anderson was followed by failure to qualify for the 1993 event. When the top players left the BDO to form the WDC after the 1993 World Championship, Baxter had risen in the rankings to be seeded number two for the 1994 World Championship, but he was beaten in the first round - this time by eventual champion John Part.

He missed out on the 1995 Championship, but then reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 1996 when he was beaten by Richie Burnett. Baxter was seeded seventh for the 1997 World Championship but lost in the second round to Mervyn King. In 1998 he had again risen in the rankings to be seeded number two - but just as in 1994 he failed to live up his ranking and went out in the first round to Scotland's Peter Johnstone.

In 1999, he finally showed some of the form that saw him ranked second in the world by reaching the World Final for the first time. He beat Burnett, Kevin Painter, Roland Scholten and Andy Fordham before losing 5-6 in the final to Raymond van Barneveld. Still ranked second in the world, he went back to the final in 2000 but lost 0-6 to Ted Hankey in just 46 minutes - the quickest final in the tournament's history.

His last appearance at the Lakeside Country Club came in 2001, he beat Martin Adams in the second round but lost to Wayne Mardle in the quarter-final.

Born February 5 1961 (age 50)

PDC

Baxter moved to the PDC in 2002, and showed early glimpses of the form he showed in the BDO. On his World Championship debut in 2002 he reached the quarter-finals.

However, that remains his best performance to date, and since his early days in the PDC he has struggled to reproduce his best form on a consistent basis. In 2006 and 2007, Baxter surprisingly exited in the first round.

He did reach the final of 1998 World Matchplay whilst still a BDO player, beating Phil Taylor along the way before losing to Rod Harrington - and the final of the 2002 Las Vegas Desert Classic. His high world ranking saw him qualify for the Premier League Darts in 2006, where he finished fifth. He has also won a regional final of the UK Open and a PDPA Players Championship, but despite a career which has shown great potential he is yet to clinch a major televised tournament success.

Baxter has thrown four competitive nine-dart finishes in a qualifying round or tournament, the latest being in the 2008 Desert Classic. However, none of them have been televised.

In the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship, Baxter defeated Finland's Marko Kantele in the first round. He then beat Denis Ovens in the second round. However, in one of the matches of the tournament, he lost to world number two Raymond van Barneveld in a sudden-death leg in the seventh and final set. After hitting the bull to throw first in the deciding leg, Baxter missed two darts at double 16.

After winning the warm-up Players Tournament in Vegas, Baxter was defeated in the first round of the 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic by Jelle Klaasen (6-2) in July 2009.

In July 2009 Baxter competed in the World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. As a native of the town, he received strong and vocal support. He narrowly defeated Jelle Klaasen and Alan Tabern in the first two rounds, before taking on James Wade in the quarter-finals. Wade was blown away by Baxter, who eventually won 16-10. However, the next day he was defeated 17-12 by Terry Jenkins in the semi-finals.

The World Grand Prix in Dublin in October 2009 saw Baxter's poor run in the competition continue as he was defeated by Steve Beaton in the opening round.

At the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship, Baxter saw off Haruki Muramatsu from Japan in round one, before beating Gary Anderson 4-0. Colin Lloyd, Baxter's third-round opponent, was swiftly despatched 4-1. He eventually lost 5-0 in the quarter-finals to van Barneveld. However, Baxter's performance was sufficient to lift him to sixth in the World Rankings, earning him automatic qualification into the 2010 Premier League.

Baxter was unfancied going into the tournament, but played surprisingly well, spending the majority of the season in the top four places of the table. However he narrowly missed out on a top-four spot, which would have earned him qualification for the semi-finals, following a 8-2 defeat to van Barneveld. Baxter ended the tournament in fifth place, level on points with the fourth-placed Mervyn King.

World Championship Performances

• 1991 (BDO) - Round 2 lost to Jocky Wilson 1-3
• 1992 (BDO) - Round 1 lost to Bob Anderson 1-3
• 1994 (BDO) - Round 1 lost to John Part 0-3
• 1996 (BDO) - Quarter-finals lost to Richie Burnett 2-4
• 1997 (BDO) - Round 2 lost to Mervyn King 2-3
• 1998 (BDO) - Round 1 lost to Peter Johnstone 2-3
• 1999 (BDO) - Runner-up lost to Raymond Van Barneveld 5-6
• 2000 (BDO) - Runner-up lost to Ted Hankey 0-6
• 2001 (BDO) - Quarter-finals lost to Wayne Mardle 3-5
• 2002 (PDC) - Quarter-finals lost to Peter Manley 2-6
• 2003 (PDC) - Round 3 lost to Kevin Painter 3-5
• 2004 (PDC) - Round 4 lost to Kevin Painter 2-4
• 2005 (PDC) - Round 4 lost to Bob Anderson 2-4
• 2006 (PDC) - Round 1 lost to Ray Carver 2-3
• 2007 (PDC) - Round 1 lost to Adrian Gray 2-3
• 2008 (PDC) - Round 2 lost to Mark Dudbridge2-4
• 2009 (PDC) - Round 3 lost to Raymond Van Barneveld 3-4
• 2010 (PDC) - Quarter-finals lost to Raymond Van Barneveld 0-5
• 2011 (PDC) - Round 2 lost to Mark Webster 0-4
• 2012 (PDC) - Round 1 lost to Steve Farmer 2-3

External links

• Darts Database Profile