Simon Stevenson

Simon Stevenson (born 18 February 1972) is an English darts player who has competed on both the BDO and PDC circuits. In 2014, Stevenson competed at the UK Open drawing notoriety from pundits and fellow players to make it through to the last 32 of the competition at his first attempt. Stevenson will now be competing in the 2015 Challenge Tour in order to gain more experience to progress in the game.

Career

On 23 February 2014, Stevenson won through a quality field of over 100 competitors at Riley's Plymouth^[2] to earn his place at the UK Open 2014, during which he first rose to prominence from relatively nowhere, earning plaudits from fellow players and pundits with a run to the Last 32 of the competition. On day one, Stevenson started in the Preliminary Round beating Ian Jones 5-3 and then saw off Jason Lovett by the same scoreline before booking his place in the money stages with a victory over the experienced Scot, Mark Barilli, also by 5 legs to 3.^[3] In the evening session, Belgian Rocco Maes awaited but Stevenson swept him aside in cool fashion, prevailing 9-6 to reach the Last 32 of the competition on the Saturday.^[4] This however was one stage too far and despite putting in an impressive display, Stevenson went down 9-5 to Welshman Jamie Lewis.^[5]

In June 2014, Stevenson returned to the BDO circuit and reached the Last 32 of the England Open.^[6]

On 1 March 2015, Stevenson entered the Rileys qualifiers again, competing at the final qualifying event and won through another top class field to book his return to Butlin's Minehead for the UK Open 2015.^[7] Stevenson was drawn in the Preliminary Round again and faced Durham's Dave Prins but was edged out 5-2.^[8]

References