Josh Payne (born 10 December 1993) is an English

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.

Career

Payne won his first title in 2013 at a PDC Challenge Tour event by beating

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 ...

4–3 in the final. He also qualified for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy and beat Wayne Jones 6–2, before losing 6–1 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 ...

in the second round despite averaging 100.50. In 2014, Payne reached the final of the first two Youth Tour events, losing to Nick Kenny and Lewis Venes respectively. He qualified for 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 ...

for the first time and lost 5–4 to

Andy Boulton Andrew Boulton (born 25 February 1973) is a Scottish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "X-Factor", he has won four titles on the PDC Challenge Tour. Career BDO, UK Open appearances ...

in the second round. At the fifth Players Championship of the year Payne recorded wins over three-time world champion

John Part John Part (born 29 June 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator, who competes in World Seniors events. Nicknamed "Darth Maple", he is a three-time World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Champions ...

and 2012 UK Open winner Robert Thornton to reach the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time, where he was whitewashed 6–0 by Mervyn King. He also won through to the last 16 of the World Youth Championship and lost 6–4 to Jack Twedwell. In September, Payne came from 3–0 down in the final of a Youth Tour event to beat Jake Jones 4–3 and he lost by a reverse of this scoreline in the final of the 16th event to Dean Reynolds. He finished second on the Youth Tour Order of Merit to earn a two-year PDC tour card which commenced in 2015. At the

2015 UK Open The 2015 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the thirteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competing in a single eliminat ...

, Payne defeated Lionel Sams 5–3,

Dave Prins David Michael Prins (born 16 November 1968) is an English professional darts player. Career Prins reached the last 16 of the 2009 World Masters (darts), 2009 Winmau World Masters, where he lost to Tony O'Shea in three straight sets. Prins qua ...

5–4 and

Andy Jenkins Andrew Jenkins (born 11 March 1971) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was nicknamed "Rocky" due to his rough personality. Jenkins has reached high rankings in the PDC ...

9–6 to play in the fourth round, where

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is a Serbian-Austrian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he reached a peak ranking of world number five ...

beat him 9–4. Payne beat Wayne Jones,

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 ...

and Michael Smith at the Dutch Darts Masters to play in the quarter-finals of a PDC event for the first time, where he lost 6–4 to

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- ...

. Payne finished as the runner-up in two Development Tour in the second half of the year, as well as being a quarter-finalist in the World Youth Championship. Payne lost 9–5 to Ryan de Vreede in the third round of 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 ...

. He took the third Development Tour event by defeating

in the final. In May, Payne beat

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 ...

Ronny Huybrechts Ronny Huybrechts (born 20 July 1965) is a Belgian professional darts player. Career Ronny and his brother Kim Huybrechts became the first brothers to play in the World Cup of Darts in February 2013 and advanced from Group H courtesy of a 5– ...

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Op ...

and Steve Brown to play in the final of the sixth Players Championship. He then claimed the title with a 6–5 victory over

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. ...

, sealing it with a 116 finish with Wade waiting on 40. This win saw him qualify for the World Matchplay. On his debut in the event Payne was defeated 10–7 by Robert Thornton. Payne received an invitation to play in the

World Series of Darts Finals The World Series of Darts is a series of darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Beginning in 2013, the World Series has comprised between two and seven tournaments across the world, where a mixture of the top-ranked P ...

and was ousted 6–3 by

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 ...

in the opening round. Payne qualified for his first

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in the 2017 event through the Pro Tour Order of Merit and he won the first set versus

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 ...

. He went 2–1 down and missed one dart to square the match, going on instead to be beaten 3–1. At the end of the 2021 season, Payne lost his tour card and had to qualify back through the PDC Q-school. He was unsuccessful in his attempt winning only 1 point, which was not enough to earn a 2 year tour card. He earned back his Tour card in Q-School 2023.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2017: First round (lost to

1–3) * 2019: Second round (lost to

2–3) * 2020: Second round (lost to

Dimitri Van den Bergh Dimitri Barbara Peter Van den Bergh (born 8 July 1994) is a Belgian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty-two; he reached a peak ranking of world n ...

0–3)

Performance timeline

PDC European Tour PDC Players Championships

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Josh Living people Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders English darts players 1993 births Sportspeople from Wolverhampton PDC ranking title winners