Mark "Flash" Dudbridge (born 11 January 1973) is an English professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the ...

player. He appeared in the 2005 Premier League Darts after reaching the final of the

2005 PDC World Darts Championship The 2005 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 12th edition of the PDC World Darts Championship, and was held at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet taking place between 26 December 2004 and 3 January 2005. Phil Taylor went on to clinch his 1 ...

. He also is a former

World Master In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

and has reached the final of the World Matchplay.

Career

Dudbridge started playing in his very early teens, citing Dennis Priestley as one of his heroes. Dudbridge made a name for himself in the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

by winning the

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...

in 2002, defeating Tony West in the final – in his first televised tournament. He never competed in the BDO version of the World Championship and switched instead to compete in the

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 ...

. In 2003, he won a regional final of the UK Open and also the Ireland Open Classic and knocked out

John Part John Part (born June 29, 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator. Nicknamed Darth Maple, he is a three-times World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, ...

, who was defending champion at the time, in his first appearance at the World Championship in 2004. His success continued in Blackpool at the World Matchplay in 2004 going on to reach the final before losing to

Phil Taylor Phil Taylor may refer to: * Phil Taylor (musician) (1954–2015), English drummer, best known as "Philthy Animal" Taylor * Phil Taylor (darts player) (born 1960), English darts player * Phil Taylor (American football) (born 1988), American footbal ...

. His 2005 PDC World Championship campaign started off by beating two former World Champions back to back –

Richie Burnett Richard Mark "Richie" Burnett (born 7 February 1967), nicknamed Prince of Wales, is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former World No. 1 who won the 1995 Embassy World Darts Cha ...

and then

. He then beat

Denis Ovens Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957 in Enfield) is an English retired professional darts player. He is nicknamed ''The Heat'' and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is widely regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he ...

and

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil T ...

before meeting Taylor again in the final – possibly Dudbridge's best achievement to date. This achievement saw him qualify for the inaugural

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and he also took the decision to become a full-time professional player. Since 2005, Dudbridge's ranking has slipped and he has not made the major impact on the game that his earlier results might have suggested. He started 2007 ranked 20 in the

world rankings A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

and his best result of that year was reaching the quarter finals of the new US Open in May. Later in that season, in the World Grand Prix, he did however achieve what has become one of the more notable and memorable moments in the tournament's history; in his second round clash with

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

, with the match going into a deciding leg, he missed his first 9 darts at the double-in, and his opponent took a 285 point lead - Dudbridge however managed to produce some heavy scoring in his next visits and won the leg and match. Dudbridge qualified for the

2013 UK Open The 2013 Speedy Services UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the eleventh year of the UK Open tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a ...

, his first televised appearance since the 2012 PDC World Championship. He also qualified for the 2014 World Championship. In 2017, he won two Challenge Tour events. He earned a Pro Tour Card for 2018 by finishing second in the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.

Outside darts

Dudbridge is one of the few players chosen to appear in the '' PDC World Championship Darts'' computer game. Dudbridge owns Cafe501 and Solar Darts. He currently lives in

Bradley Stoke Bradley Stoke is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated northeast of Bristol,OS Explorer Map, Bristol and Bath, Keynsham & Marshfield. Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). It is near the Severn Estuary of ...

and is married with three children. He is a supporter of Bristol City and several players including Scott Murray and

Louis Carey Louis Anthony Carey (born 22 January 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a central defender, mostly for Bristol City. Carey, who was born in Bristol, was eligible to play for Scotland at international level through his grandp ...

have been spotted watching his matches live.

World Championship results

PDC

*2004: Quarter-finals (lost to

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the g ...

1-5) *2005: Runner-up (lost to

4-7) *2006: 3rd round (lost to Kevin Painter 1-4) *2007: 2nd round (lost to

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, southwest London. He wa ...

3-4) *2008: 3rd round (lost to

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

2-4) *2009: 3rd round (lost to

Barrie Bates Barrie Bates (born 17 October 1969) is a former Welsh darts player who played on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) circuit. His original nickname was Batesy, but since 2007, he was known as Champagne. Career Bates made his PDC televised ...

0-4) *2010: 3rd round (lost to

Co Stompé Jacobus Wilhelmus "Co" Stompé (born 10 September 1962) is a Dutch former professional darts player. He was nicknamed The Matchstick because of his almost bald head and very thin appearance, making him look like a matchstick. He was also one of ...

2-4) *2011: 2nd round (lost to

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

1-4) *2012: 1st round (lost to

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champions ...

0-3) *2014: 1st round (lost to Gary Anderson 0-3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 1 (1 title)

PDC premier event finals: 2 (2 runners-up)

Performance timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dudbridge, Mark 1973 births Living people English darts players Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders British Darts Organisation players PDC ranking title winners 21st-century English people