Vincent van der Voort

Vincent van der Voort
Personal information
Nickname	The Dutch Destroyer
Born	18 December 1975 Purmerend, Netherlands
Home town	Purmerend Netherlands
Darts information
Playing darts since	1985
Darts	23g Master Darts
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	Give It Up by K.C. & The Sunshine Band Vertigo by U2 Fast Fuse by Kasabian
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2001 - 2007
PDC	2007 - present
Current world ranking	14
BDO majors - best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Finalist 2005
World Darts Trophy	Round 2 (4) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Int. Darts League	Second Round Group Stage 2004
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Finalist 2011
World Matchplay	Quarter Finalist 2009
World Grand Prix	Round 2 2011
Grand Slam	Group stages 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Ch'ship League	Winners group, 8th, 2008
Desert Classic	Round 1 (2) 2007, 2009
European Ch'ship	Round 1 (4) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
UK Open	Runner Up 2007
Players Ch'ship Finals	Round 2 2009
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
Danish Open	2002, 2006
Other achievements
nine dart finish, Nuland Players Championship 2009
Updated on November 17, 2008.

This is a Dutch name; the family name is van der Voort, not Voort.

Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975 in Purmerend, Netherlands) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is The Dutch Destroyer, but he is more commonly referred to as The Fastest Player in the World, though it was never considered to be an official nickname. During his time in the BDO, he was known as Grease Lighting.

Playing style

Vincent is well known for his spasmodic style and machine-gun speed of play which has gained him a reputation in both the BDO and the PDC for being one of the more erratic throwers in the darting world. This ties in with his old entrance music – Fast Fuse – by English band Kasabian. This has resulted in him tending to be either right on or way off his intended target.

BDO career

His best results in British Darts Organisation events were winning the Danish Open in 2002 and 2006 and reaching the quarter finals of the BDO World Championship at Frimley Green in 2005, defeating 2004 champion Andy Fordham in the process. He is also Dutch Champion 2006.

He suffered a first round exit in the 2007 World Championship to unranked qualifier Davy Richardson. On 14 January 2007 and on the night of the 2007 World Championship Final, it was announced on Dutch television that van der Voort, along with fellow Dutchmen Jelle Klaasen and Michael van Gerwen would be switching to the Professional Darts Corporation.

PDC career

Vincent produced a superb run to reach the final of the 2007 UK Open before losing in the final to countryman Raymond van Barneveld. The runner-up prize of £15,000 helped him climb up the world rankings having started placed 211 in the PDC and has now made it into the top 20. He qualified for the 2007 Las Vegas Desert Classic but lost in the First Round to Peter Manley.

2008

Vincent reached the second round of the 2008 PDC World Championship. He played his fellow Dutchman Klaasen in the first round, defeating him 3-2 in sets. Adrian Lewis was his opponent in the second round and Vincent lost 2-4. The US Open saw a disappointing 2-3 first round defeat at the hands of John Kuczynski of the USA.

The Blue Square UK Open saw a return to form with Vincent making it all the way to the semi-final. He started in the fourth round with a fine 9-4 win over Colin Lloyd. This was followed up in the fifth round with another victory over Klaasen. The quarter final matched him with Chris Thompson and a 10-5 win was enough to see Vincent through to the semi-final. In the semi-final, Vincent eventually succumbed to a 10-4 defeat by James Wade who went on to win the tournament.

His Stan James World Matchplay campaign was ended at the first hurdle. Number 13 seed Alan Tabern won the encounter with a narrow 10-8 victory. The Sky Poker World Grand Prix saw Vincent playing former World number 1 Lloyd in the first round and Vincent eliminated by a score of 0-2.

Vincent won group 6 of the inaugural Championship League with a 7-2 thrashing over Mark Walsh to qualify for the Winners group. He would go on to finish bottom of the group, with only one win from his seven matches.

2009

Vincent reached the third round of the 2009 PDC World Championship. He defeated Hungary's Nándor Bezzeg 3-0 in sets and then defeated number 14 seed Colin Osborne in the second round 4-1 assisted by some superb finishes. He eventually went out to number 3 seed Wade losing 4-0 in the last 16. His results have moved him to the brink of the top sixteen, currently ranking in 17th and having passed Roland Scholten on the PDC Order of Merit, Vincent is the second-highest ranked Dutchman in the rankings, behind van Barneveld.

At the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts, Vincent suffered a defeat to Anastasia Dobromyslova in the group stages, becoming only the second man in history to lose a televised match to a woman. Two days later, however, he sensationally thrashed defending champion Phil Taylor 5-1, becoming only the second man in 2009 to beat Taylor in a televised match (the other being Mervyn King).

2010

On 30 December 2010, Vincent's biggest win occurred in the round of 16 of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship where he eliminated the 2010 runner-up and number four seed Simon Whitlock 4-2. However in the quarter-finals on January 1, 2011, van der Voort then lost 2-5 against Adrian Lewis.

2011

He reached the final in the first of the 2011 players championships in Germany, he lost to Mervyn King 6-1. He went on to win his first title of 2011, winning a UK Open Qualifier against Raymond Van Barneveld in a high scoring match.

2012

Van der Voort beat Mark Hylton 3-2 in the first round of the 2012 World Championship in a thrilling match. His second round tie also went to a deciding set against Andy Hamilton, but this time the Dutchman was on the wrong end and exited the tournament by 3 sets to 4. He then represented the Netherlands in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts to try to defend the title won by Raymond van Barneveld and Co Stompé in 2010. Van der Voort and van Barneveld enjoyed comfortable victories over Austria and Northern Ireland to set up a semi-final clash with the Australian pair of Paul Nicholson and Simon Whitlock. Van Barneveld beat Nicholson 4–0 in their singles match, but this was the only point the Dutch won as they relinquished their crown in a 1–5 defeat.

External links

• Official Website
• Profile and stats on Darts Database