Dirk van Duijvenbode

Dirk van Duijvenbode (born 30 June 1992) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is known for his energetic walk-on, combined with hardstyle music. More recently, he has become known for his job on an aubergine farm, which has led to him having the nickname 'Aubergenius'.

Van Duijvenbode has won six ranking PDC titles and was the runner-up at the 2020 World Grand Prix and 2022 World Series of Darts Finals, losing to Gerwyn Price in the final on both occasions.

Career

Early career: 2011–2017

In 2011, van Duijvenbode reached the final of a German PDC Youth Tour event, losing 2–4 against Paul Barham. In 2013, he won through to the final of two Challenge Tour events but was beaten 1–4 by Rowby-John Rodriguez and 3–4 by Jan Dekker.

Van Duijvenbode began playing in main PDC events in 2014 and qualified for the German Darts Championship, where he beat Brian Woods 6–3 before losing 5–6 to Wes Newton, having been 5–3 ahead. He reached the quarter-finals of a PDC event for the first time at the fourth UK Open Qualifier by defeating Robert Thornton 6–4, but then lost by a reverse of this scoreline to Brendan Dolan. At the UK Open itself he beat John Bowles 5–1 and, despite at one time holding a 7–4 lead over Joe Murnan in third round, was then edged out 8–9. Van Duijvenbode progressed to the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship, but lost 2–6 against Keegan Brown. He was defeated 1–5 by Colin Fowler in the final of the penultimate Challenge Tour event of the year.

In 2015, van Duijvenbode hit his first nine-dart finish during the third Development Tour event after he wired double 12 for a perfect leg in his previous match. His first quarter-final of the year on the main tour came at the 12th Players Championship where he lost 2–6 to Michael Smith. Van Duijvenbode made his debut at the European Championship, but was knocked out 2–6 by Justin Pipe in the first round.

Van Duijvenbode made his first appearance in the PDC World Championship in the 2016 event and lost the first set against compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in the first round. The next went to a deciding leg, but when van Duijvenbode was on 180 he hit three treble 20s to bust his score and could not win another leg in a 3-0 loss. At the UK Open he enjoyed wins over Michael McFall, Peter Hudson and Robbie Green to play in the fourth round and was defeated 4–9 by Mark Webster. During the rest of the season, the best van Duijvenbode could do was reach the last 32 of three Players Championship events.

2018-2020

After winning his Tour Card back at the start of 2018 only to lose it after his two-year spell, van Duijvenbode won a Tour Card for the third time at 2020 European Q-School. On 9 February 2020, he made his first ever PDC semi-final, losing to Gerwyn Price 7–4 at Players Championship 2. He also reached the semi-final of the 2020 Belgian Darts Championship. Van Duijvenbode's strong start to the 2020 PDC Pro Tour helped him qualify for the 2020 World Grand Prix, where despite being a debutant and the lowest-ranked qualifier on the Order of Merit, he defeated top 16 players Mensur Suljović, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Gary Anderson & Simon Whitlock to reach his first televised final, where he was defeated by Gerwyn Price. His strong performances on the Pro Tour this year were enough to earn him a spot at the World Championship for the first time in 5 years.

2021

At the 2021 World Championship, van Duijvenbode came back from 2 sets behind to beat Bradley Brooks 3–2 in the first round, and then beat the fifth seed Rob Cross in the second. In the third round he whitewashed Adam Hunt 4-0, to set up a tie with Glen Durrant in the last 16. Although he lost the first 2 sets to Durrant, he won the match 4–3 to progress to the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by Gary Anderson 5–1, ending his run. However, this performance was enough to see him reach the world's top 32 for the first time in his career. 2021 also saw van Duijvenbode pick up his first ranking tournament win in the PDC with a Players Championship final win against fellow Dutchman Martijn Kleermaker.

2022

Van Duijvenbode qualified for the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship as the 17th seed, and therefore entered the tournament at the second round stage. He defeated Boris Koltsov in the second round 3–2 in sets. In the third round Dirk played against Ross Smith and came back from 3–0 down to win the match 4–3. He was defeated in the fourth round by Gerwyn Price. Despite a successful 2021 campaign, van Duijvenbode did not begin the 2022 season on form. He lost in the first round at the 2022 Masters and in the third round (last 16) of the first 3 European Tour events while in the first four Players Championship events of the year he only picked up 3 wins. However, Dirk was able to get back to a consistently high standard of play on the 2022 PDC Pro Tour, reaching three quarter–finals on the European Tour and several quarter–finals in Players Championship events while winning two Players Championship events and being the runner–up in two others in the 2022 PDC Players Championship series. Van Duijvenbode made his second appearance at the World Matchplay and entered the event as the 14th seed based on his then-ranking on the PDC Order of Merit. At the 2022 World Matchplay, he defeated Ryan Searle and world number 3 Michael Smith before losing to his 2022 PDC World Cup teammate Danny Noppert 16–11 in the quarter-final stage. According to the PDC statistical website Darts Orakel, van Duijvenbode usurped José de Sousa as the most prolific 180 hitter on the PDC circuit, averaging one maximum every 0.378 legs of darts in the calendar year up to August 2022.

As a result of his tournament wins and performance in the Matchplay, van Duijvenbode reached career–high rankings of 2nd on the ProTour Order of Merit and 10th in the overall PDC Order of Merit.

2023–2024

Van Duijvenbode qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship as the 14th seed and defeated Karel Sedláček in the second round 3–2 to set up a rematch with Ross Smith, defeating him in the third round of the World Championship 4–3 for the second year running. The match had 31 180s, a record for a best of 7 sets match. Van Duijvenbode lost to Michael van Gerwen 4–1 in the fourth round.

Dirk started the 2023 PDC Pro Tour season well, reaching the final of the 2023 European Darts Open and winning 3 of the first 10 Players Championship events.

However Van Duijvenbode suffered with injury after falling over during his walk–on before his match against Dylan Slevin at the 2023 Dutch Darts Championship and only reached one more quarter-final in the 2023 PDC Players Championship series. He reached quarter-finals on the European Tour at the 2023 Belgian Darts Open and 2023 German Darts Open and was runner–up at the 2023 European Darts Matchplay, losing the final 8–7 to Luke Humphries in a deciding leg.

Van Duijvenbode reached the second round at the 2023 World Matchplay but failed to win a match at the World Grand Prix, European Championship, Players Championship Finals, World Championship and the 2024 UK Open. Van Duijvenbode finished third in his group at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, losing to Gary Anderson 5–4 in a deciding leg in his opening match followed by a 5–2 win over Steve Lennon and a 5–1 loss to Luke Humphries. Van Duijvenbode failed to average over 86 in any of his three group matches.

As a result of his early exits at tournaments Van Duijvenbode's ranking suffered and he failed to qualify for the 2024 World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts. Van Duijvenbode did reach a quarter-final on the European Tour at the 2024 Flanders Darts Trophy, helping him qualify for the European Championship where he reached the quarter-finals. At the 2024 PDC Players Championship series Van Duijvenbode reached the quarter-finals at Players Championship 4, the final at PC6, losing to Dave Chisnall 8–6 in the final, and semi–finals at Players Championships 11 and 28.

This qualified Van Duijvenbode for the 2024 Players Championship Finals as the 23rd seed. He defeated 42nd seed Callan Rydz in the first round 6–1. Van Duijvenbode then defeated Florian Hempel, 6–3, and Jermaine Wattimena, 10–5, to reach the quarter-finals. Van Duijvenbode defeated Connor Scutt 10–9 in a deciding leg to reach his first semi-final at the Players Championship Finals.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2016: First round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 0–3)
* 2021: Quarter-finals (lost to Gary Anderson 1–5)
* 2022: Fourth round (lost to Gerwyn Price 1–4)
* 2023: Fourth round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 1–4)
* 2024: Second round (lost to Boris Krčmar 1–3)
* 2025: Second round (lost to Madars Razma 1–3)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 2 (2 runners-up)

PDC world series finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

PDC European Tour

PDC Players Championships

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duijvenbode, Dirk van
1992 births
Living people
Dutch darts players
British Darts Organisation players
Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders
Sportspeople from Katwijk
PDC World Cup of Darts Dutch team