Mark Dudbridge

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Mark Dudbridge

Personal information
Full name	Mark Dudbridge
Nickname	Flash
Date of birth	January 11, 1973 (1973-01-11) (age 35)
Place of birth	Bristol, England
Home town	Bristol, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1986 (2002 made TV debut)
Darts	21g Harrows Flash Series
Walk-on music	Flash Gordon, by Queen
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	circa 2002
PDC	2002-current
Current World Ranking	21 (February 2008)
BDO Grand Slam Events - Best Performances
World Masters	Won 2002
PDC Majors - Best Performances
World Ch'ship	Runner-up 2005
World Matchplay	Runner-up 2004
World Grand Prix	QF 2005
Other Televised PDC events - Best Performances
Premier League	5th 2005
US Open	QF 2007

Mark Dudbridge (born 11 January 1973 in Bristol, England) is an English professional darts player. He 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 by winning the Winmau World Masters 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.

In 2003, he won a regional final of the UK Open and also the Ireland Open Classic and knocked out John Part, 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. He would meet Taylor again at the 2005 PDC World Darts Championship in the final - possibly Dudbridge's best achievement to date. This achievement saw him qualify for the inaugural Premier League and he also took the decision to become a full-time professional player.

Since 2005, his ranking has slipped and he hasn't made the major impact on the game that his earlier results might have suggested. He started 2007 ranked 20 in the world rankings and his best result of the year to date was reaching the quarter finals of the new US Open in May.