Devon Petersen

Devon Petersen
Personal information
Nickname The African Warrior
Born (1986-06-04) 4 June 1986
Cape Town, South Africa
Home town Mitchell's Plain, Cape Town
South Africa
Darts information
Playing darts since 2004
Darts 22g Unicorn Contender Devon Petersen
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) by Shakira
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC 2009–
Current world ranking 60
BDO majors - best performances
World Masters Preliminary Round: 2010
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Last 16: 2014
European Ch'ship Last 32: 2016
UK Open Quarter Final: 2015
Players Ch'ship Finals Last 64: 2016
Other tournament wins
PDC World South Africa Qualifying Event 2010, 2011, 2013

Devon Petersen (born 4 June 1986) is a South African professional darts player. He has qualified for the PDC World Championship on three occasions with his best result coming in 2014 when he reached the last 16. Petersen has become popular for dancing on to the stage to Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) before his matches.

Career

He qualified for the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship as the South African champion. He beat Guyana's Norman Madhoo 4-3 in the preliminary round with big checkouts including a 136 and a 146. In beating Madhoo, he earned a place in the first round proper, where he would play Jamie Caven. Despite winning the first set, Petersen lost by 3 sets to 1.[1]

He qualified for the 2011 PDC Pro Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the second day of the Pro Tour's Q School.[2] Since turning professional, Petersen has left South Africa to live in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, and signed a sponsorship deal with leading darts manufacturer Unicorn.[3]

Petersen retained the South African Open in 2011 to qualify for the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship,[4] where he edged out José Oliveira de Sousa 4-3 (legs) in the preliminary round to reach the last 64 for the second successive year. Petersen played Steve Brown in the first round and recovered from 2-1 down in sets to win 3-2, also recovering from 2-0 down in legs in the deciding set and surviving one match dart. Petersen said after the win that it was a "dream come true" and that he was sure he had more in him.[5] He played Gary Anderson in the second round and played the best he has in front of the television cameras. However, the class of his opponent came through and he lost 4-2, with Anderson stating after the match that "Devon became very tough for me". Petersen himself said that he would "work hard and come back a better player".[6]

He represented South Africa with Shawn Hogan in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they defeated Spain 5–2 in the first round before causing a shock by knocking out number 4 seeds Scotland in the second round in a sudden death leg. They played Wales in the quarter finals and were beaten in the deciding doubles match. Petersen prematurely celebrated as he thought he had taken his country to the semi-finals by hitting double 16. However, he had miscounted and they were out of the tournament moments later when Richie Burnett secured the winning double.[7] Petersen reached the last 64 of the 2012 UK Open by defeating Andrew Gilding 4–0, but then lost to Ronnie Baxter 9–6.[8] In June, he qualified for the European Tour Event 3 after defeating Darren Webster and Gareth Cousins in the UK qualifier.[9] Petersen again lost to Baxter this time 6–2 in the first round in Düsseldorf.[10]

Petersen took a year away from darts in 2013 to recuperate from an arm injury.[11] In September he won the South African Masters by defeating Graham Filby 9–3 in the final and in doing so earned a place in his third World Championship for the 2014 edition, where he saw off Mohd Latif Sapup 4–1 in the preliminary round.[12] Petersen danced onto the stage for his first round match against Steve Beaton which immediately got the crowd on his side as he defeated the 1996 BDO world champion 3–1 in sets.[13] Petersen was 2–1 ahead against Justin Pipe in the next round and in the deciding leg of the fourth set he took out a crucial 130 finish with Pipe on 36, before wrapping up a 4–1 win.[14] In the third round his run came to an end when he lost 4–0 to James Wade.[15] Petersen partnered Filby in the World Cup of Darts and they came past Germany 5–3 in the first round, before Petersen beat Paul Lim 4–0 in his singles match in the second round. Filby lost his to Harith Lim, meaning a doubles match was needed to settle the tie which South Africa edged 4–3.[16] In the quarter-finals they faced the number one seeds of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis, with Petersen and Filby both losing their singles matches to exit the tournament.[17] Petersen was defeated in the final of the South African Qualifier for the 2015 World Championship 9–5 by Nolan Arendse.[18]

In January 2015, Petersen played in Q School and earned a two-year tour card on the second day by defeating Chris Hartrey 5–1 in the final round.[19] Petersen did not base himself in Britain for 2015 and estimated he would make 20 trips back and forth from South Africa during the year.[20] He entered the UK Open in the second round stage and beat Mark Cox 5–4, Mark Barilli 9–8, Jamie Caven 9–6 and Eddie Dootson 9–3 to reach the quarter-finals of a major PDC event for the first time.[21][22] Petersen led world number one Michael van Gerwen 3–2 at the first break but had had darts to win every leg and went on to lose 10–5.[23] He became the first South African to throw a nine-dart finish on the PDC tour at the sixth Players Championship and went on to reach the quarter-finals where Van Gerwen whitewashed him 6–0.[24] At the World Cup, Petersen and Filby survived a match dart from Finland to win 5–4 before losing before their singles matches against Van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld of the Netherlands in the second round.[25] Petersen was invited to participate in the first World Series of Darts Finals, where he was eliminated 6–3 by Robert Thornton in the first round.[26]

Petersen saw off Ricky Evans 6–5 and Kim Huybrechts 6-2 at the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters and then lost 6–2 to Mervyn King in the third round.[27] He qualified for six other European Tour events and, even though he didn't reach the third round again, he had done enough to make his debut in the European Championship, but was defeated 6–4 by King in the opening round.[28][29] Petersen and Graham Filby missed 14 darts at doubles as they were beaten 5–1 by Singapore in the first round of the World Cup.[30] Petersen lost in the first round of the European Championship (6–4 to Mervyn King) and the Players Championship Finals (6–3 to Robbie Green).[31][32]

Petersen struggled in the first round of the 2017 World Championship as he could only average 79.29 in a 3–1 defeat to Steve Beaton.[33]

Darts

Petersen used to use darts given to him by Phil Taylor at the 2009 South African Masters.[34]

World Championship results

PDC

Performance timeline

Tournament20112012201320142015201620172018
PDC World Championship 1R 2R DNQ 3R DNQ 1R 1R
UK Open 2R 3R DNQ QF DNQ 2R DNQ
European Championship DNQ 1R DNQ
Players Championship Finals DNQ 1R DNQ
Performance timeline legend
DNP Did not play in the event #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(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. ↑ http://www.pdc-darts.co.uk/?tag=devon-petersen
  2. ↑ Qualifying School Day Two PDC.tv
  3. ↑ Darting Devon for Petersen! Unicorn Darts
  4. ↑ Petersen's South African Joy PDC.tv
  5. ↑ "World Championship - Night Seven". PDC. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "World Championship - Day 11". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "Cash Converters World Cup Quarter-Finals Round-Up". PDC. 5 February 2012. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  8. ↑ "2012 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "European Tour 3 UK Qualifier". PDC. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  10. ↑ "European Darts Open Day One". PDC. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  11. ↑ "Q School Set For Record Field". PDC. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "Petersen & Sapup Win Ally Pally Spots". PDC. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "World Darts Championship: Devon Petersen, Ricky Evans earn big wins at Alexandra Palace". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  14. ↑ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day 12". PDC. 27 December 2013.
  15. ↑ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day 13". PDC. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  16. ↑ "bwin World Cup of Darts Second Round". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "bwin World Cup of Darts Quarter-Finals". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  18. ↑ "Arendse Wins South African Masters". PDC. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  19. ↑ "PDC Qualifying School Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "Proud Petersen set to clock up the air miles on his return to the PDC circuit". Live Darts. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "2015 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "Coral UK Open Fifth Round". PDC. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  23. ↑ "Coral UK Open Quarter-Finals". PDC. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  24. ↑ "Mighty Mike Defies Wade For Title". PDC. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  25. ↑ "bwin World Cup of Darts Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  26. ↑ "Unibet World Series of Darts Finals Day One". PDC. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "2016 PDC Dutch Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  28. ↑ "Devon Petersen 2016". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  29. ↑ "2016 European Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  30. ↑ "Betway World Cup of Darts Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  31. ↑ "2016 European Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  32. ↑ "2016 Players Championship Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  33. ↑ "2017 PDC World Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  34. ↑ Unicorn Darts - Devon Petersen Unicorn Darts
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