Robbie Green
| Robbie Green | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Nickname | Kong |
| Born | 19 July 1974 Liverpool, England |
| Home town | Wallasey |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 1991 |
| Darts | 21.5g CSM Gold Robbie Green |
| Laterality | Right-handed |
| Walk-on music | You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 2008-2015 |
| PDC | 2003-2007, 2015- |
| Current world ranking | 62 |
| WDF major events – best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Semi Final: 2014 |
| World Masters | Runner Up: 2009 |
| Int. Darts League | Preliminary Round: 2007 |
| Finder Masters | Runner Up: 2010 |
| PDC premier events – best performances | |
| World Matchplay | Last 32: 2004 |
| UK Open | Quarter Final: 2006 |
| Grand Slam | Last 16: 2014, 2015 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| Belgium Open Birkenhead Open England National Ch'ships Gwynedd Open Isle of Man Open Northern Ireland Open Scandinavian Masters Scottish Open Sunparks Masters Wales National Ch'ships | 2012 2010 2012 2011, 2012, 2014 2014 2010 2009 2011, 2014 2011 2008 |
Robbie Green (born 19 July 1974 in Liverpool) is an English darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation events. His nickname is Kong.
PDC career
Green made his televised debut at the 2004 UK Open, reaching the last 64 stage. The same year he qualified for the World Matchplay in Blackpool Losing in the first round to Bob Anderson. In the 2006 UK Open, he reached the quarter-finals, beating Jamie Harvey, Chris Mason, Mark Walsh and Terry Jenkins along the way. He was beaten by John MaGowan.
Positive drugs test
After drugs testing was introduced to the sport in 2006, after the UK Open in what was the eighth random test in the British-based organisation by agency UK Sport, Green became the first darts player to test positive for drugs. As a result of a positive test for marijuana, he was: forced to return his £4,000 prize money from the UK Open; fined £2,000; and banned from competition for eight weeks.[1][2][3]
After his ban, during which he lost sponsorship, he returned and qualified for the International Darts League and had another UK Open campaign, but a shortage of sponsorship money forced him to play fewer tournaments during the following period.
BDO career
On 22 January 2008, Green became one of only a handful of players to switch from the PDC to the rival BDO. His first tournament with the BDO was the Scottish Open on 17 February where he reached the second round. Green returned to his Merseyside roots, after a spell playing for Cheshire and now he plays county darts for Merseyside. He followed his good form with a semi-final showing in the BDO International Open, beating Martin Adams, Gary Anderson, Martin Atkins and Ted Hankey along the way, eventually losing to England Open champion Ross Montgomery of Scotland.
In 2009, Green became an international player, having been picked to play for England. He reached the 2009 Winmau World Masters final, beating 6th seed Ross Montgomery and qualifiers Connie Finnan from Ireland and Filipino Lourence Ilagan in the televised stages. In the final Green led Martin Adams, the defending champion, by six sets to three and had a dart at double 16 for the title, but was unable to convert it and subsequently lost the next six legs in succession as Adams retained his title. Green remains one of only four players, along with Mike Gregory, Darryl Fitton and Mervyn King, to have lost at least one major televised darts final having had a dart at double to win. Green managed to secure qualification for the World Championship, but in the first round on the Lakeside Leisure Complex stage, he lost 3-2 to number 1 seed Tony O'Shea.
Green continued his good form the following season. On 7 March 2010 Green hit a 3 dart average of 128.82, which is one of the highest ever recorded. Reaching the final of the Zuiderduin Masters and once again missing championship darts before losing 5-4 in sets to Ross Montgomery, having led 4-0. Green's consistency led to him returning to Lakeside in 2011 as a seeded player. He comfortably defeated stand-by qualifier Andy Boulton 3-0 in the first round, but was defeated 4-1 in the second round by third seed Dean Winstanley.
He won the Scottish Open in 2011, defeating Clive Bardon 5-4 in the final. This success led to him becoming world #1 for a brief period.
At the 2012 BDO World Darts Championship, Green was the fourth seed. He beat Darryl Fitton 3-1 in the first round but was defeated 4-1 by Wesley Harms in the second round.
At the 2013 BDO World Darts Championship, Green was seeded fifth. He faced defending champion Christian Kist in the first round and beat him 3-1. He then defeated Scott Mitchell 4-1 in the second round to reach his first World Championship quarter-final, where he faced Tony O'Shea. Green won the first set and had eight darts at double to win the second, but missed and eventually lost the match 5-3 having never retaken the lead.
Despite winning no titles during 2013, Green had better success in the majors as he reached the semi-final of the Winmau World Masters, eliminating world champion Scott Waites before losing 6-3 to James Wilson. He followed this up with his best showing at the BDO World Championship, maintaining a 90+ tournament average in wins over Richie George (3-0), Gary Robson (4-1), and a 5-2 win over Tony Eccles in which he hit back-to-back checkouts of 125 and 164, to reach the semi-finals at Lakeside for the first time in his career, where he was defeated by top seed Stephen Bunting 1-6. He then won the Isle of Man tournament beating James Wilson in the final 5-1 with an incredible average of 114.65.[4]
Green made his debut at the PDC's Grand Slam of Darts in 2014 and qualified as runner-up in a tough group that included Raymond van Barneveld, Robert Thornton and Vincent van der Voort. Green lost to Barneveld but defeated Thornton in his second match and then van der Voort in the crucial third match, ending with a 170 checkout in the deciding leg. Green was defeated in the next round by eventual runner-up Dave Chisnall. Green then entered the World Championship as the 16th seed but, after high-quality wins over Darius Labanauskas and Peter Sajwani, was instilled as bookmakers' favourite for the title going into his quarter-final against Jeff Smith. However, Smith defeated Green 5-1.
PDC Return
Green returned to the PDC after a seven-year absence in January 2015. At Qualifying School he was unable to automatically earn a place on any of the four days, but had done enough to finish inside the top 18 on the Order of Merit to earn a two-year PDC tour card.[5] He qualified for the UK Open, but was thrashed 5–0 by Stuart Kellett in the first round.[6] Green had to wait until September to reach his first quarter-final back on the tour which came at the 16th Players Championship, but he lost 6–2 to Jelle Klaasen.[7] Another soon followed at the 20th event where Klaasen was again the victor, this time 6–4.[8] Green qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts by winning five matches which included 5–1 successes over Andy Hamilton and Vincent van der Voort.[9] A 5–1 victory over Martin Phillips in his final group fixture saw Green reach the last 16 of the event for the second year in a row.[10] He was 4–0 down to Robert Thornton and claimed his first leg courtesy of a 170 finish. Green was also 7–3 behind and reduced the deficit to 7–6, but went on the be defeated 10–8.[11]
World Championship results
BDO
- 2010: First round (lost to Tony O'Shea 2–3)
- 2011: Second round (lost to Dean Winstanley 1–4)
- 2012: Second round (lost to Wesley Harms 1–4)
- 2013: Quarter-finals (lost to Tony O'Shea 3–5)
- 2014: Semi-finals (lost to Stephen Bunting 1–6)
- 2015: Quarter-finals (lost to Jeff Smith 1–5)
References
- ^ "Green gets first darts drugs ban BBC Sport". Retrieved 10 January 2013.
- ^ "KONG HIT WITH A DRUGS BAN". Daily Mirror. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
- ^ http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/13by83l7tt3z1x0x67ldy1wan/title/dra-statement-robbie-green
- ^ http://www.bdodarts.com/2484/08-03-2014/Isle_of_Man_Open_2014_Results
- ^ "PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ^ "Coral UK Open - Friday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ^ "2015 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "2015 PDPA Players Championship Coventry Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Qualifier". PDC. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "2015 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam - Wednesday". PDC. Retrieved 30 November 2015.