Matt Clark (darts player)
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| Matt Clark | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Nickname | Superman | ||||||||||
| Born | 4 April 1968 Dartford, England | ||||||||||
| Home town | Walkden, Greater Manchester | ||||||||||
| 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– | ||||||||||
| PDC | 2003–2017 | ||||||||||
| Current world ranking | (BDO) 63 | ||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||
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Matthew 'Matt' Clark (born 4 April 1968 in Dartford) is an English darts player who competes for the Professional Darts Corporation and formerly played for the British Darts Organisation. 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,[1] 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.
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)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BDO World Championship | DNQ | QF | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | No longer a BDO Member | ||||||||||||||
| Winmau World Masters | RR | 3R | DNQ | 3R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | No longer a BDO Member | 3R | ||||||||||||||
| Finder Darts Masters | Not held | RR | RR | DNP | No longer a BDO Member | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Darts Trophy | Not held | 1R | Did not participate | Not held | ||||||||||||||||||||
| International Darts League | Not held | RR | Did not participate | Prel. | Not held | |||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | Non-PDC | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | Did Not Qualify | 1R | Did Not Qualify | |||||||||||||
| World Matchplay | Non-PDC | DNQ | 1R | 1R | DNQ | QF | Did Not Qualify | |||||||||||||||||
| Las Vegas Desert Classic | Not held | Did Not Qualify | 2R | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | Not held | |||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Not held | DNQ | 3R | 4R | 4R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 2R | Prel. | DNQ | 1R | 1R | 3R | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNP | Did not play at the event | DNQ | Did not qualify for the event | NYF | Not yet founded | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) |
| QF | lost in the quarter-finals | SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
References
- ^ Matt Clark's December 2006 report Archived 29 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine from Matt Clark's official website, retrieved 23 July 2008