Scott Mitchell (darts player)

Scott Mitchell (born 5 June 1970) is an English darts player who plays in British Darts Organisation events and also acts as a regular commentator for televised BDO coverage. He is the reigning BDO World Champion having won the 2015 tournament.

Career

Early career

Before he made his mark in the BDO, Mitchell qualified for the 2007 UK Open Darts, winning his first round match 8-4 against Brian Cathcart before losing out in the second round to 2006 Lakeside World champion Jelle Klaasen.

Mitchell won the England Classic and Swiss Open in 2009 which helped him qualify for the 2010 BDO World Darts Championship as the 14th seed. However, he lost in the first round 3-2 to Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney.

Mitchell retained his Swiss Open title in 2010 and also won the Center Parcs Masters, and qualified for 2011 BDO World Darts Championship as the 15th seed. He was beaten in the first round 3-0 by Dutch qualifier Jan Dekker.

Mitchell was once again beaten in the first round at Lakeside in 2012, losing to defending champion Martin Adams who proved his form in taking the match 3-0. A year later, Mitchell was drawn to played Mark Barilli in a match that guaranteed the winner would reach the second round at the fourth time of asking while the loser would have lost their first four matches at the world championship. After trailing 2-1 and surviving darts in the fourth set that would have seen Barilli throw for the match, Mitchell won 3-2 and was visibly emotional on stage afterwards. In the next round, Mitchell was beaten by Robbie Green 4-1.

2014 - break through year

Mitchell started 2014 at Lakeside again reaching the second round for the second year running by beating Paul Hogan 3-2 in the first round. He was beaten by second seed James Wilson 4-2.

2014 became hugely successful for Mitchell. He won a host of tournaments including several that were televised on Eurosport namely Top of Ghent in Belgium and the Jersey Open. As well as being part of the England team that won the WDF Europe Cup - where Mitchell won the decisive leg in the final - Mitchell won the prestigious British Open. As well as reaching the quarter-finals of the Winmau World Masters. After missing four match darts he lost 3-2 to Glen Durrant (to whom Mitchell beat in the Jersey Open final)

2015 - world champion

Mitchell's 2014 form saw him enter the world's top four and eventually culminated in him winning the 2015 World Championship.^[1] He defeated Tony O'Shea in a sudden death leg after going 2 sets each and 5-5 in legs .Mitchell then met Geert de Vos from Begium in the last 16, it was a close faught match in the first 4 sets being 2 each with Mitchell taking the 5th set. 2-1 in legs in the sixth set De Vos missed double 5 to stay alive in the match and Mitchell hit double 20 to edge out de Vos 4-2 and progress through to the last 8. Brian Dawson was Mitchell's opponent in the quarter-finals, "Scotty Dog" took the first set 3-0 , followed by a 142 checkout to take the second set 3-1. Dawson took the third set, but Mitchell took the fourth. Dawson would bring it back to 3-2. Mitchell went on to take the sixth and seventh sets to win 5-2. But the game would be remembered for Mitchells numerous 100+ checkouts.(2x142,126,121,132,129). Jeff Smith would be Mitchell's opponent in the semi-final which on paper looked like a 6-0 white wash, but each set painted a fairer picture (3-2, 3-0, 3-1, 3-1, 3-2, 3-0). In the final Mitchell played three-time winner Martin Adams, and won 7-6 hitting a crucial 158 checkout to break throw in the deciding set. As a result of winning the tournament Mitchell reached number one in the BDO Men's ranking.

World Championship Performances

BDO

• 2010: 1st Round (lost to Daryl Gurney 2–3)
• 2011: 1st Round (lost to Jan Dekker 0–3)
• 2012: 1st Round (lost to Martin Adams 0–3)
• 2013: 2nd Round (lost to Robbie Green 1–4)
• 2014: 2nd Round (lost to James Wilson 2–4)
• 2015: Winner (beat Martin Adams 7–6)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score[N 1]
Winner	1.	2015	World Darts Championship	Martin Adams	7–6 (s)

Personal life

Mitchell still works full-time on the family farm in rural Dorset and as a freelance landscape gardener. He has been married to Sharon (born 1969) since 1991 and together they have two children, daughter Katie (born 1993) and son Samuel (born 1997). He is also a fan of speedway team, Poole Pirates and has their logo on his left sleeve.

Outside darts

Although Mitchell has played darts competitively from a young age, Scott has had other sporting interests that fitted in with his dart life. He has represented his secondary school in both basketball and football. On reaching 18 years old Scott applied for his Amateur MotorCycling Assosiation racing license and raced motocross competitively for the Christchurch and district A.M.C.A. club from 1988-1995. On retiring for motocross Scott went back to football, playing for his local teams Burley FC but mostly for the "Badgers" Bransgore FC from 1995-2006, winning most improved player 2002 and later becoming the teams manager. It was after then that Scotts darts career started to take off and football had to take a "back seat".

References

External links

• Player profile on Scott Mitchell from Dartsdatabase