Peter Evison
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Peter Evison (born May 27, 1964 in Chiswick) is a darts player who has enjoyed a long career in the game. His greatest achievements were to win the 1988 Winmau World Masters and the 1996 World Matchplay. The greatest prize in darts, the World Championship has always eluded him.
Evison burst on the darts scene in 1986 with a surprise victory over John Lowe in the British Professional Championship, a major televised tournament in that era.
He made his World Championship debut in 1988 and went on to reach the quarter-finals before losing to Bob Anderson. He returned to the same stage the following year only to be defeated by Eric Bristow.
He avenged that defeat in the final of the prestigious Winmau World Masters later in 1989 to take the title.
There was a dip in form between 1990 and 1992, when he won just one match the World Championship - a first round win over John Lowe in 1991.
Having failed to qualify for the 1993 World Championship, he followed the top players who left the British Darts Organisation to form the WDC (now the Professional Darts Corporation, PDC). He reached the semi-final of the inaugural 1994 PDC World Darts Championship losing to eventual champion, Dennis Priestley.
Rod Harrington halted him in the semi-final of the 1995 PDC World Darts Championship. A quarter-final defeat followed in 1996, before he reached (and lost) his third semi-final in the 1997 PDC World Darts Championship. There was a third-placed play-off in that year and he beat Eric Bristow to finish third.
He failed to pass the first round of the 1998 and 1999 World Championships, but reached the quarter-finals again in 2000 - losing this time to Peter Manley. For the next four years Evison lost in the first round as his career began to fade. He managed one early round win in 2005 at Purfleet which was his last appearance in the tournament.
His best performance in the PDC came in the 1996 World Matchplay. He beat Phil Taylor 8-1 in the second round and beat Dennis Priestley 16-14 in the final to clinch the title. The defence of his title ended with a quarter-final loss to Richie Burnett. He had further quarter-final appearances in 1999 and 2003, but he also suffered a humiliating 10-0 whitewash in the 2004 World Matchplay to Ronnie Baxter which was his last appearance in Blackpool.
He also reached the semi-final of the World Grand Prix in 2002 but lost 0-6 to Phil Taylor.
Now that his world ranking has fallen, he is forced to qualify for all the PDC darts tournaments, which he has failed to do for the World Championship in 2006 and 2007.
