James Wilson (darts player)

Wilson first rose to prominence in 2012 by winning several tournaments, rising to number four in the world and reaching the quarter-finals of the Winmau World Masters. Despite this, he was unseeded on his debut appearance at the World Championship and was drawn against top seed Stephen Bunting in round one, taking a 2–1 lead before eventually losing 2–3. Wilson followed up on his form in 2013, rising to second in the world and reaching the final of the World Masters beating Jan Dekker and Robbie Green en route to a 7–0 loss to Bunting. Later that year Wilson demolished Bunting 5–1 in the final of the Zuiderduin Masters. Wilson therefore entered the World Championship as the second seed, and beat former world champion Christian Kist in the first round then Scott Mitchell in the second round, to set up a quarter-final against Alan Norris, which Norris won 5–2 despite Wilson averaging 99.06, hitting three 11 dart legs (one of which included a bounce-out) and 14 180s.

In February 2014, Wilson found himself as de facto number one after Stephen Bunting's change-over to the rival Professional Darts Corporation. He subsequently won his first major at the inaugural BDO World Trophy. Wins over Richie George, Rick Hofstra, Jeffrey de Graaf and Paul Jennings saw Wilson progress to the final where he defeated Ross Montgomery 13–11 for a winner's cheque of £30,000.[3]

Wilson entered the 2014 World Masters as the number one seed but suffered a shock first round exit, losing 3-0 in sets to Mark McGeeney. He also entered the 2015 BDO World Darts Championship as the number one seed but also lost in the first round to Sweden's Peter Sajwani.

The day after being knocked out of the 2015 BDO World Championship, Wilson announced on his Twitter page that he had signed up to the Professional Darts Corporation's Qualifying School with the intention of earning a tour card.[4] On the third of four qualifying days Wilson won a two-year membership with the PDC by beating Nathan Aspinall 5–2 in the final round.[5] Wilson's first PDC major was the UK Open and he beat Mark Frost 5–0 and Ricky Evans 9–4 to reach the fourth round, where he lost 9–7 against Kyle Anderson.[6] In May he knocked out Steve Brown, Michael Smith, Jamie Lewis and Darren Johnson at the ninth Players Championship event of the year to reach his first PDC quarter-final and was defeated 6–3 by Gary Anderson.[7] Wilson qualified for three European Tour events during the year, but was eliminated in the second round of each.[8]

In 2016, Wilson lost to Kyle Anderson in the fourth round of the UK Open for the second year in a row, this time 9–2.[9] Later in the year he reached the semi-finals of three successive Pro Tour events, before his first PDC final arrived at the 15th Players Championship event with wins over Steve Hine, James Richardson, Steve West, Vincent van der Voort, Raymond van Barneveld and Jermaine Wattimena. From 3–3, world number one Michael van Gerwen moved away to defeat Wilson 6–3.[10] The pair met in the second round of the World Grand Prix with Van Gerwen winning 3–0 in sets.[11] At the European Championship, Wilson beat Kim Huybrechts 6–3 and Mervyn King 10–9 to play in his first major PDC quarter-final, which he lost 10–7 to James Wade.[12] He won a place at the Grand Slam of Darts through the qualifier and saw off Dave Chisnall 5–2 in his opening game, before losing 5–3 to Wade. He needed a win over Jamie Hughes to progress to the knockout stage and led 4–2, but went on to lose 5–4.[13] Wilson also played in the Players Championship Finals for the first time after finishing 11th on the Order of Merit, but was knocked out 6–2 by Vincent Kamphuis in the first round.[14]

Wilson topped the Pro Tour Order of Merit for non-qualified players to qualify for the 2017 World Championship.[15] In his first appearance at the event he lost 3–0 to Kim Huybrechts in the opening round.[16]

• 2013: First round (lost to Stephen Bunting 2–3)
• 2014: Quarter-finals (lost to Alan Norris 2–5)
• 2015: First round (lost to Peter Sajwani 1–3)

• 2017: First round (lost to Kim Huybrechts 0–3)
• 2018: Second round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–4)
• 2019: Second round (lost to William O'Connor 2–3)
• 2020: First round (lost to Nico Kurz 1–3)