Ian White (born 17 August 1970), nicknamed "Diamond", is an English 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 competes in

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

(PDC) events. White has won thirteen PDC ranking events, including three titles on the

PDC European Tour The PDC European Tour is a series of darts tournaments held across Europe organized by the Professional Darts Corporation. Starting in 2012 with five events, the number of events has steadily risen with eight held in 2013 and 2014, nine in 2015, 10 ...

. He reached his first major semi-final at the 2019 Players Championship Finals.

Career

In 1997, White reached the final of the PDC's revived

News of the World Darts Championship The News of the World Championship was one of the first major organised darts competitions, which began in 1927. It became England's first national darts competition from 1947, as the years went by it gradually became international essentially ...

. He defeated Des Byrne, Gary Spedding, Peter Manley and Andy Jenkins on the way to the final, where he was defeated by Phil Taylor. White won the Antwerp Open, Denmark Open and the English National Championship in 2009. He qualified for the 2010 BDO World Darts Championship, but lost in the first round to

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number four. Nicknamed "the Bullet", Bunting formerly competed in Brit ...

3–0. Shortly afterwards, he left the BDO and joined the PDC, when fellow Stoke player

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player who formerly competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Jackpot", he is a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2011 and 2012. ...

offered to sponsor White and suggested he was capable of being in the world's top eight. A solid first year in the PDC saw him reach the semi-finals of a Pro Tour event in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, and gain an automatic Tour Card, but narrowly missed out on the 2011 PDC World Championship by £100. In February 2011, he reached his first PDC final since 1997. He lost 6–3 to Steve Brown in the final of the 2011 UK Open Qualifier 1. White finished third in the

2011 Grand Slam of Darts The 2011 William Hill Grand Slam of Darts, was the fifth staging of the darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place from 12–20 November 2011 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England. F ...

wildcard qualifier, and was awarded a place in the tournament proper after

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed "The Wizard", he won th ...

withdrew due to injury.

2012

He qualified for his first PDC World Championship in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, where he lost to Robert Thornton 3–1 in the last 64. He threw a

nine-dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly a ...

in the opening Players Championship event of the season in a first round match against Mark Hylton. White reached the semi-finals of the event, where he was beaten 6–4 by the eventual winner

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won six PDC titles. Playing career Pipe was a Boxing, boxer in his youth, and, as a staunch anti- ...

. In April, he earned a place in the 2012 Austrian Darts Open (European Tour Event 1) in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

by defeating Adrian Gray in the UK qualifier. He played Colin Lloyd in the first round and lost 6–3, with his opponent achieving a three-dart average of 111. In May, he reached the final of the Players Championship 5 where he lost to

Dave Chisnall David Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twelve; he reached a peak ranking of world number five in ...

6–2. He also qualified for the third 2012 European Darts Open (ET3) with a win over John Scott, but was then beaten by

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he was ranked world number one from January 2008 to June 2008. Nicknamed "Barney", he is a five-t ...

in the first round 6–2 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. By July, White had reached two semi-finals and two finals in PDC events in 2012, meaning he qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time in his career due to being the sixth highest player on the ProTour Order of Merit who was not in the world's top 16. He played Vincent van der Voort in the first round and took out 164 and 161 finishes in a 10–5 victory to set up a last 16 match-up with Phil Taylor, which he lost 13–3. White threw his second nine-darter of the season in the fourth European Tour event, the 2012 German Darts Masters in a last 16 win against

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, West London. He was educa ...

. He continued his momentum with a quarter-final deciding leg victory over Robert Thornton and a 6–4 semi-final win against

. In the final he faced two-time reigning world champion and occasional practice partner

, and was beaten 6–3. White's exceptional form carried on at his next event, the 11th Players Championship, as he beat the likes of

and

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached a peak ranking of world number three in the darts world ranki ...

to reach the final. He played

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 ...

and lost in a final for the fourth time this year following a 1–6 defeat. At the

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

he exacted his revenge over Lewis with a sensational 6–0 whitewash in the first round. However, he lost to

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player competing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was runner-up in the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 13–6. He also made the fin ...

10–5 in his following match. At the World Grand Prix in October, White took out finishes of 144, 132 and 112 to beat van Barneveld 2–0 in sets and then faced Wes Newton in the last 16, where he was beaten 3–1. White came agonisingly close to winning his first PDC title in November, as he held a 4–0 lead over

in the final of the 18th Players Championship event, but went on to lose 6–5. After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, White finished eighth on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Players Championship Finals for the first time. He was beaten by Michael Smith 6–5 in the first round.

2013

White was just outside the top 32 ranked players who qualified automatically for the 2013 World Championship. However, his impressive play in events in 2012 earned him the first spot of sixteen that were available for non-qualified players via the ProTour Order of Merit. White was over £18,000 ahead of the second placed Michael Smith. He was beaten by Mark Webster 3–1 in the first round. However, after the tournament he was ranked world number 30, the first time White has been inside the top 32. He was beaten by Steve West 9–3 in the third round of the

UK Open The Ladbrokes UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. The event is often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts" as it has an unseeded open dr ...

. At the eighth Players Championship in September, White won his first PDC tournament by defeating

6–3 in a final with an average of almost 101. He had earlier beaten two-time World Champion

6–1 and the title saw him move up to 23rd on the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded ...

. White faced

in the first round of the World Grand Prix and missed eight darts for legs in the deciding set to lose 2–1. He made his debut in the

Championship League Championship League (officially the BetVictor Championship League Snooker) is a professional snooker tournament devised by Matchroom Sport. The event was introduced in 2008 Championship League, 2008 as an invitational qualifier to the Premier ...

and won his

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

at the first time of asking by beating Peter Wright 6–4 in the final. In the Winners Group he won three of his seven matches to finish sixth in the eight man table. Whilst the top 16 players on the Order of Merit were competing in the Masters in November, White took full advantage by winning his second PDC ranking title at the 14th Players Championship with a 6–3 success over Andy Jenkins in the final. He beat

Ronnie Baxter Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He used the nickname "The Rocket" for his matches. Baxter was known for his fast robotic throwing a ...

6–3 and

9–2 at the Players Championship Finals to reach the quarter-finals of a PDC major event for the first time. White fell 4–0 down to

and could never recover the deficit as he lost 9–6.

2014

White was the 21st seed for the 2014 World Championship and won his first ever match in the event by beating Australia's Kyle Anderson 3–1. He then survived a huge scare in the second round as

came back from 3–0 down to level, but White held his nerve to take the deciding set. He then produced a successful fightback in the third round against Richie Burnett by winning nine of eleven legs from 3–1 behind to triumph 4–3. In the quarter-finals White came up against fourth seed

and trailed 3–0 and 4–1, but then won a trio of sets each by three legs to one to square the game at 4–4. White missed two darts to hold his throw in the fifth leg of the decider and lost the next leg to fall agonosingly short of reaching the semi-finals. He moved into the top 16 on the Order of Merit for the first time after the tournament. A third successive quarter-final in a major event came at the

by beating Gary Anderson 9–7 in the fifth round. White faced

and trailed 6–2 and 8–5 but pulled the gap back to 9–8 before losing the next leg to fall just short of reaching his first televised semi-final. His first final in the floor events of 2014 came at the fourth Players Championship, but he was whitewashed 6–0 by Phil Taylor. Another final followed at the sixth event and he led Robert Thornton 4–2 and 5–4, before missing six darts to win the match in the next leg, instead going on to lose 6–5. White ensured that he reached the second round of the World Matchplay for the third year running by seeing off

10–4, but then was heavily beaten 13–4 by Van Gerwen. White won his third PDC title at the penultimate Players Championship courtesy of a 6–2 success over

2015

White won six consecutive legs against

in the second round of the 2015 World Championship to take a 3–2 lead, but from there could only win one more leg as he lost 4–3. White threw a

in a 6–3 victory over Mervyn King in the quarter-finals of the final UK Open Qualifier and then averaged 109.37 in edging past

6–5, before losing 6–2 against Phil Taylor in the final. He also hit a nine-darter during a 6–3 success over Jamie Lewis in the semi-finals of the 11th Players Championship, but lost 6–1 to

in the final. A third defeat in a final this year came at the 14th event where he was eliminated 6–2 by Jelle Klaasen. White had a high quality game with

in the first round of the World Matchplay as both players averaged over 100 (White the highest with 103.51), 17 maximums were thrown and White took out three ton-plus finishes to win 10–6. He played in the quarter-finals after ousting

13–9 and led

6–1, before being pegged back to 7–7. White fell 12–10 behind, but produced a 12-dart leg to move 13–12 in front, before a host of missed doubles from White including seven in the final leg saw him lose 16–13. His first title of 2015 came at the 17th Players Championship when he held on from 5–1 ahead of Chisnall to win 6–5. In the second round of the World Grand Prix, White averaged 97.96 in the double-to-start event in defeating reigning world champion Gary Anderson 3–1 in sets. Although he averaged 20 points lower in the quarter-finals against Robert Thornton, the match went to a deciding leg at 2–2 in sets which White lost. He was eliminated out of the

at the first round stage and couldn't get out of his group at the Grand Slam. However, deciding leg victories over

and

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. He competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world ...

saw White reach his third major quarter-final of the year at the Players Championship Finals. White's search for a first PDC semi-final will go on though, as he was ousted 10–6 by Mensur Suljović.

2016

White took the first set against Dimitri van den Bergh in the opening round of the 2016 World Championship, but went on to lose 3–1. He was defeated 9–6 by

in the third round of the

, but in the final of the fifth Players Championship event, he whitewashed world number one

6–0 in the final, with an average of 106.20. White also secured the 11th event with a 6–3 win over Joe Cullen. After comfortably seeing off

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty-five; he reached a peak ranking of world number thre ...

10–2 in the first round of the World Matchplay, White lost 11–6 to Peter Wright. He returned to win his third Players Championship crown of the year and seventh PDC tournament in his career by beating Benito van de Pas 6–4. White eliminated

6–2 at the

and came back from 8–3 to force a deciding leg against Mensur Suljović, but lost it to be defeated 10–9. His titles during the year qualified him for the Grand Slam and a win over

Darryl Fitton Darryl Fitton (born 5 May 1962) is a former English professional darts player. He was nicknamed The Dazzler and worked as an undertaker before embarking on his darts career. Fitton won the 2009 Finder Masters and the 2016 BDO World Trophy. ...

would have seen him progress from his group, but he lost 5–4 from being 3–1 up and missed three match darts in the process. upright=1.20, White at the 2017 German Darts Grand Prix

2017

White faced Peter Wright in the third round of the 2017 World Championship after overcoming

Kevin Simm Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English singer and songwriter. He was a member of Liberty X (2001–2007) and is the vocalist of Wet Wet Wet. Simm also won ''The Voice UK'' in 2016. Career 2001–2007: Liberty X In 2001, Simm a ...

3–0 and

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number five. Nicknamed "the Ferret", he has won four PDC major televised s ...

4–1. He lost nine of the first ten legs and could never recover in a 4–1 defeat. His quarter-final with

at the

went to a deciding leg and White was on 20 to win but burst his score by hitting double 15 to allow Price to edge through 10–9. White thrashed

6–1 to reach the semi-finals of the German Darts Open, where he lost 6–3 to Benito van de Pas. His first final of the year was at the 12th Players Championship, but he missed five darts for the title in a 6–5 defeat to Rob Cross. He reached another final two events later, but lost 6–1 to Gary Anderson.

2018

White was eliminated in the second round of the 2018 World Championship following a 4–1 defeat to

. He hit a nine-darter during his win against

in UK Open Qualifier 2. White won two Players Championship titles during the year, narrowly beating

6–5 to win the sixth event and beating Darren Webster 6–3 to win the 16th event. He also secured his first ever

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

title at the Dutch Darts Championship with an 8–5 victory over Ricky Evans in the final, achieving the feat in his 63rd European Tour event.

2019

Under the new format, White started the 2019 World Championship in the second round as 11th seed. However, he was beaten 3–2 by Devon Petersen after Petersen recovered from a 2–0 deficit. A run of form in April and May saw White reach four consecutive European Tour finals. He was defeated by

in the finals of both the German Darts Open and Austrian Darts Open by scores of 8–3 and 8–7 respectively. White won his second European Tour title at the European Darts Grand Prix, surviving a last-leg decider to beat Peter Wright 8–7. He added a third title at the Dutch Darts Masters with another 8–7 victory, this time over Van Gerwen who had just won the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. These performances resulted in White entering the world's top 10. He hit a nine-darter and averaged 107 in the final of Players Championship 26 but was defeated 8–7 by Mensur Suljović. White reached the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix, where he was defeated 3–2 by Chris Dobey. He reached his maiden major semi-final at the Players Championship Finals following a 10–9 win over William O'Connor in the quarter-finals, before losing 11–8 to eventual champion Michael van Gerwen.

2020–2021

White entered the 2020 World Championship second round as the ninth seed but suffered another early exit, losing 3–1 to Darius Labanauskas. On the Pro Tour, he won the eighth Players Championship event after defeating

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number nine; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2010. ...

8–3 in the final. He reached the quarter-finals of the

, eliminating

in the process. He went out of the tournament after losing to Devon Petersen. White was the tenth seed at the 2021 World Championship. He was defeated 3–1 by

in a match where both players averaged over 100. He reached the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix, where he was beaten 3–1 by Danny Noppert.

2022–present

At the 2022 World Championship, White progressed to the third round of the competition for the first time since the 2018 event after winning his opening match 3–1 against Chris Landman. After the win, White noted that it was difficult seeing himself drop down the rankings, as the lack of European Tour events in 2020 and 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

meant he was unable to win back large portions of his 2019 ranking money that was taken off after two years. In the third round, White led Gary Anderson 3–0 but ultimately lost the match 4–3. After losing in the Tour Card Holder Qualifier for the 2023 World Championship, White failed to qualify for the World Championship for the first time since 2011. He returned at the 2024 World Championship, but was beaten in the first round by Japanese debutant Tomoya Goto. At the 2024 Players Championship Finals, White produced an upset win over Michael van Gerwen in the first round, winning 6–1. White was due to face Sandro Eric Sosing in the first round of the 2025 World Championship, but Sosing was forced to withdraw from the match on medical grounds. White received a bye to the second round, where he defeated reigning European Champion Ritchie Edhouse 3–1. He lost to

Luke Littler Luke Littler (born 21 January 2007) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number two. Nicknamed "the Nuke", Littler is the rei ...

4–1 in the third round.

World Championship results

BDO

*2010: First round (lost to

0–3)

PDC

*2012: First round (lost to Robert Thornton 1–3) *2013: First round (lost to Mark Webster 1–3) *2014: Quarter-finals (lost to

4–5) *2015: Second round (lost to

3–4) *2016: First round (lost to Dimitri van den Bergh 1–3) *2017: Third round (lost to Peter Wright 1–4) *2018: Second round (lost to

1–4) *2019: Second round (lost to Devon Petersen 2–3) *2020: Second round (lost to Darius Labanauskas 1–3) *2021: Second round (lost to

1–3) *2022: Third round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4) * 2024: First round (lost to Tomoya Goto 1–3) * 2025: Third round (lost to

1–4)

Career finals

Independent major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

BDO PDC PDC European Tour PDC Players Championships

Notes

References

External links

Official website
(archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Ian 1970 births Living people English darts players Sportspeople from Runcorn Sportspeople from Stoke-on-Trent Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders PDC ranking title winners