Gary Stone (born 19 June 1981) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

professional

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

player who currently plays in the

World Darts Federation The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body and (along with the PDC) a tournament organiser for the game of darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-poin ...

tournaments.

Career

BDO

Stone began his darts career at The Village Tavern in his hometown of Larkhall, reaching the semifinal of the weekly tournament before being eliminated by eventual winner and local darts protégé Darren Cross. The next week, Stone reached the final only to be beaten again by "The Crucifying Cross". It was Stone's first prize in darts; the prize was four credits for the jukebox. Stone was spotted by local promoter Dave "Clubber" Lang, who recommended him to the BDO tour's management, who beat out competition from rival darts promotions in St Tam's and Netties to sign him to play professionally on the tour. Stone qualified for the 2012 BDO World Championship and reached the last 16, defeating

Ron Meulenkamp Ronnie Meulenkamp (born 5 November 1988) is a Dutch darts player playing in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Career Meulenkamp was runner-up in both the 2011 Isle of Man Open and England Open. He was also a semi-finalist ...

3–0 but losing 4–0 to

Martin Adams Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...

. He won the

WDF Europe Cup The WDF Europe Cup is a darts tournament held biennially since 1978. The tournament consists of a team championship, a pairs championship and a singles championship. All events have a men's competition, and a women's competition (since 1982). Tou ...

, beating reigning world champion

Christian Kist Christian Kist (born 21 April 1986) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2012, he won the BDO World Darts Championship, defeating Tony O'Shea in the final. Career BDO Kist reached ...

in the final. He qualified for the 2013 BDO World Championship and lost 3–1 to Steve Douglas in the first round. Stone was part of the Scotland team that won gold in the men's team event at the

WDF World Cup The WDF World Cup is a darts tournament organised by the World Darts Federation and held biennially since 1977. It has featured men's events since the beginning, while women's events were added in 1983 and youth events in 1999. The most recent ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, with teammates

Ross Montgomery Ross Montgomery (born 16 October 1962), nicknamed The Boss, is a Scottish former professional darts player who competes in World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. He formerly participated in both World Darts Federation (WDF) and Prof ...

, Craig Baxter and Alan Soutar. Scotland defeated America 9–7 in the team final. Stone also helped Scotland win silver in the overall competition. In 2019, Gary Stone won the Swedish Classic, defeating John Scott 5–2 in the final.

PDC

Stone entered the PDC Q School in January 2014, and secured a tour card on the third day with a 5–2 win over Steve Grubb in the final round. He made his debut in the European Tour at the European Darts Open in July, losing 6–4 to Ryan de Vreede in the first round. He also reached the last 32 of two Players Championship events during the season. He qualified for the

2015 German Darts Masters The 2015 German Darts Masters was the third of nine PDC European Tour events on the 2015 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in the Ballhausforum, Munich, Germany, between 4–6 April 2015. It featured a field of 48 players and £115,000 in pri ...

and overcame

Rowby-John Rodriguez Rowby-John Rodriguez (born 27 March 1994) is an Austrian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Little John", he was runner-up at the PDC World Cup of Darts in both 2021 and 2024, partne ...

6–4, before losing 6–2 to

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player, who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number three; he was ranked world number one from 20 ...

. Stone also reached the second round of the Dutch Darts Masters by beating

Dean Winstanley Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player. He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...

6–4 with an average of almost 100, but then narrowly lost 6–5 to

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competes in World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. Nicknamed "the Bronzed Adonis", Beaton formerly formerly competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO), World Dart ...

. His tour card expired at the end of 2015 and with Stone ranked 100th on the Order of Merit he needed to enter Q School. A single last 16 showing over the four days was not enough for Stone to win his place back. A trio of last 64 defeats saw him qualify for the

2016 UK Open The 2016 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the fourteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competing in a single eliminat ...

, where he beat Johnny Haines 6–5, before losing 6–2 to

Jamie Caven Jamie Robert Caven (born 10 March 1976) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation and British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He won seven PDC Pro Tour titles, including two in the same we ...

in the second round. Stone played in the majority of

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

events, with two last 16 defeats being his best runs.

World Championship results

BDO

* 2012: Second round (lost to

0–4) * 2013: First round (lost to Steve Douglas 1–3) * 2020: First round (lost to Jim Williams 2–3)

WDF

* 2023: Third round (lost to

Andy Baetens Andy Baetens (born 24 February 1989) is a Belgian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former WDF World Champion, having won the 2023 World Championship to become the first Belgian playe ...

1–3) * 2024: Third round (lost to

Paul Lim Paul Lim Leong Hwa (born 25 January 1954) is a Singaporean professional darts player. Nicknamed "the Singapore Slinger", Lim was the first player to hit a perfect nine-dart finish during the Embassy World Darts Championship, which he achiev ...

2–3)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Gary Living people British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders Sportspeople from Bellshill Scottish darts players 1981 births