Cliff Lazarenko

Cliff Lazarenko
Personal information
Nickname Big Cliff
Born (1952-03-16) 16 March 1952
Liss, England
Home town Wellingborough
England
Darts information
Playing darts since 1970s
Darts 20g Golden Unicorn
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO 1977-1993, 2008-2010
PDC 1993-2007 (Founding Member)
BDO majors - best performances
World Ch'ship Third Place: 1981
World Masters Third Place: 1978
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Quarter Final: 1999
World Matchplay Semi Final: 1995
World Grand Prix Last 32: 2001, 2002
UK Open Last 16: 2003
Other tournament wins
Tournament Years
British Matchplay
British Open
Denmark Open
Flowers Dartsathlon
WDF Europe Cup Pairs
WDF World Cup Pairs		 1979
1980, 1984
1981, 1983
1982, 1983, 1985, 1986
1984

1981

Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952[1] in Liss, Hampshire) is an English retired former professional darts player who competed for the British Darts Organisation and the Professional Darts Corporation events. Nicknamed Big Cliff, due to his height (6 feet 4 inches) and weight (over 20 stone at his peak) he is well known for being a very colourful character on and off the stage.[2]

Biography

Lazarenko was born in Hampshire, growing up in Greatham, where his parents ran a garage.[1] He honed his darts skills in his local pub, The Queen.[1] He later moved to Wellingborough. Before becoming a professional darts player in 1975, he worked as a labourer.[2]

Lazarenko first appeared in a televised match on the show Indoor League in the 1970s.[1] He went on to win several singles and pairs titles.[1] He won the British Open in 1980, winning it again later in the decade, and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship four times.[1][2][3] In 1980, he lost out to Bobby George; the next year he gained revenge on George by beating him in the quarter-finals, eventually losing to world champion Eric Bristow. In 1985, he reached the semi-finals again, this time without losing a single set en route, winning the opening round against Singapore's Paul Lim (2-0), the second round against the Swede Stefan Lord (3-0), and the quarter-finals against Northern Irish player Fred McMullan (4-0), but was narrowly defeated in the semi-finals by fellow Englishman John Lowe 5-3. He reached the semis again in 1990, but once again fell short of the final, losing 5-0 to eventual winner Phil Taylor.

Big Cliff made a habit of winning the Dartsathlon (an event made up of having 15 darts at various doubles, trebles, Bullseyes, 25s, and 501 legs) in the early - mid 80s winning the event four times in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986. He also won the Autumn Gold Masters in 1984 and 1986, the British Matchplay in 1979, British Gold Cup in 1984, Jersey Open in 1982 and 1983, and the Danish Open in 1981 and 1983. He came to the fore, however, with his 1977 win in the Marlboro Masters.

Lazarenko was one of the sixteen players who defected from the BDO to form the PDC. Although he managed to maintain his popularity with the fans, he never managed to repeat his performances in the PDC World Darts Championship, with several first-round exits to his name, and only managing a quarter-final at best in 1999. In other PDC tournaments, however, Lazarenko showed great promise: he reached the semi-finals of the 1995 World Matchplay, beating Dennis Smith, Shayne Burgess, and Nigel Justice along the way, before losing to Dennis Priestley. He was also a Matchplay quarter-finalist in 2001.

In the mid-2000s, Lazarenko suffered from ill health, losing a lot of weight, and ceased competing in darts tournaments.[1] However, in the 2007 UK Open Darts at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton, Lazarenko made a welcome return to the big stage, and won two matches in one night, en route to the second round. He then won another game the next night, before finally falling in the third round. In 2008 it was announced that Lazarenko would compete in the BetFred League of Legends along with the likes of Bristow, Lowe, George, and Bob Anderson. Lazarenko reached the semi-finals of the tournament, losing to Keith Deller.

In An American Werewolf in London, a darts match between Rab Smith and Lazarenko is featured on TV in the flat of the character played by Jenny Agutter.

World Championship performances

BDO

PDC

Career finals

BDO major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
World Matchplay (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Runner-up 1. 1984 MFI World Matchplay England John Lowe 3–5 (s)
  1. ↑ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline

Tournament1977197819791980198119821983198419851986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007
BDO World Championship NYF DNQ 1R SF SF 2R QF 1R SF 1R QF 2R 1R SF 2R DNQ DNQ No longer a BDO Member
Winmau World Masters 1R SF 2R 3R QF QF 2R 2R 3R 3R QF 1R 4R 2R Did not participate
British Professional Not held 2R QF QF QF QF 2R 1R 1R Not held
MFI World Matchplay Not held F SF QF QF 1R Not held
PDC World Championship Not yet founded RR RR RR RR DNQ QF 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R Did not qualify
World Matchplay Not yet founded 1R SF 2R 1R 1R 1R DNQ QF 2R 1R Did not qualify
World Grand Prix Not held Did not qualify 1R 1R Did not qualify
UK Open Not held 5R 4R 5R 1R 3R
Performance Table Legend
DNP Did not play at the event DNQ Did not qualify for the event NYF Not yet founded #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gripton, Peter (2008) Greatham Memories, Las Atalayas Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9556753-4-8, p. 72
  2. 1 2 3 Hartley, Alan J. (2004) Darts for Everyone, p. 71
  3. ↑ Doyle, Paul (2004) "'Big' Cliff Lazarenko", The Guardian, 3 December 2004, retrieved 2010-12-05
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