Devon Petersen

Devon Petersen (born 4 June 1986) is a South African professional darts player.

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 famous 4–1 win.^[14] In the third round his run came to an end when he lost 4–0 to James Wade.^[15]

Darts

Petersen used to use darts given to him by Phil Taylor at the 2009 South African Masters.^[16]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2011: First round (lost to Jamie Caven 1–3)
• 2012: Second round (lost to Gary Anderson 2–4)
• 2014: Third round (lost to James Wade 0–4)

References

External links

• Player profile on Devon Petersen from Dartsdatabase