Richard Mark Burnett (born 7 February 1967), nicknamedPrince of Wales, is a Welsh professionaldarts player who competes inProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. He was formerly rankedBDO world number one. Burnett is a formerBDO World Champion, having won the1995 Embassy World Darts Championship. He is also a formerWinmau World Masters champion, having won the1994 event.

He is known for his fiery personality, fighting withAdrian Lewis on stage during the2012 Players Championship Finals.

Burnett was born inCwmparc,Treorchy,Rhondda Cynon Taff, and first came to prominence shortly after thesplit in the game, after thePDC and theBDO players went their separate ways. Burnett began to win many titles in the BDO in 1994, which included the Dutch Open,^[1] Welsh Open,^[2] British Matchplay and the Denmark Open.^[3][4] He then added one of the two BDO major titles, theWinmau World Masters beatingSteve Beaton in the final.^[5]

Although the1995 BDO World Darts Championship was his debut, he had risen in the rankings to become number two seed. After defeatingPeter Wright,Russell Stewart,Paul Hogan andAndy Fordham, he went on to win the title, beatingRaymond van Barneveld 6–3 (sets) in the final.^[6]

Burnett would also reach the final of the BDO World Championship on two more occasions, losing in 1996 toSteve Beaton, and in 1998 toRaymond van Barneveld. His 1996 final defeat was his first match loss atLakeside and ended a run of nine consecutive match wins.^[7] The 1998 final went into the 11th and deciding set, and into a tiebreak. Burnett had had an out-shot for the title, but narrowly missed his second dart at treble-14 which would have left him on double 20, and did not get another opportunity to win the match.

In the two years after winning the 1994 Winmau World Masters title, Burnett suffered upset losses in the Winmau World Masters finals of 1995 and 1996, losing toErik Clarys andColin Monk respectively.

After a first-round defeat in the1999 BDO World Championship toRonnie Baxter, Burnett switched to compete on thePDC circuit. However, Burnett continued playing at the Winmau World Masters until 2001, reaching the semi-finals in 2001, where he lost to his old rival, Raymond van Barneveld.

Burnett had first competed in the PDC in April 1997, at the Antwerp Open. In June 1997, Burnett played in a challenge match against the PDC World Champion,Phil Taylor, which was the main event at the Battle of the Champions card at theCircus Tavern, broadcast onSky Sports. Although Burnett was in good form, Taylor was in top form and won the match 4-1 in sets. A few weeks later, Burnett reached the semi-finals of the1997 World Matchplay, losing toAlan Warriner.

Burnett played in theWorld Matchplay again in 1999, losing in the first round to eventual finalist,Peter Manley, and again in 2000, when he reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1997, this time losing to eventual champion, Phil Taylor. Burnett's best televised performance to date in the PDC was in reaching the final of the2001 World Matchplay, where he again lost to Taylor.

At thePDC World Championships, Burnett was never able to achieve the same kind of results that he had in the BDO or at the PDC World Matchplay. His best results at the PDC World Championship were to twice reach the quarter-finals (2002 and 2003), but his world ranking steadily fell afterwards, and by the end of 2005 he had almost slipped out of the top 50. As a result, he had to qualify for all the major PDC tournaments and failed to qualify for the World Championships for the first time in 2006.

This led to many years of poor form and falling world rankings, with his only television appearances between 2005 and 2010 coming at theUK Open, apart from his run in the qualifying rounds for the2007 PDC World Darts Championship when he won four matches to make it to the television stages. However, he lost in the first round toAlex Roy. He was also reported to be suffering fromdartitis at this time, which was visible at the2008 UK Open, where he lost in the first round toJamie Harvey.

Burnett stopped playing darts for a few months in 2009, and it was reported in September that year that he had financial difficulties and was on the dole.^[8]

He showed an improvement in his form in October 2010, by reaching the semi-finals of the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic, losing in a last-leg decider toGary Anderson. A week later, he reached two successivePDC Pro Tour finals inBad Nauheim, Germany – losing 4–6 to fellow WelshmanMark Webster on Saturday,^[9] and then by the same scoreline toSimon Whitlock on Sunday.^[10] His improved form earned him qualification for the2011 World Championships and the2011 Players Championship Finals (February). The improvement continued throughout 2011 reaching the semi-finals of theWorld Grand Prix, where he lost to Phil Taylor, which was Burnett's best result at a television event for 10 years. Burnett also claimed his first-everPDC Pro Tour title in September, beatingDave Chisnall in the final.

Burnett secured the first shock of the2012 World Championships by defeating fellow countryman and number six seed,Mark Webster, 3–2 in the first round.^[11] He lost nine out of the first ten legs in his second round match toJohn Part and, although he did win a set, was beaten 1–4.^[12] He then teamed up with Webster for theWorld Cup and together they reached the semi-finals with wins over Croatia and South Africa. They could not reach the final however, as the English pair ofPhil Taylor andAdrian Lewis won 1–3.^[13] In March he hit anine-dart finish in the fourthUK Open Qualifier during a first round match against Michael Barnard. Burnett was later knocked out in the fourth round of the event byDennis Priestley.^[14] He then made it to the quarter-finals of theAustrian Darts Open where he lost 3–6 toRaymond van Barneveld.^[15] Burnett lost 4–9 in the last 32 of theUK Open toPeter Wright.^[16] In the first round of theEuropean Darts Open Burnett produced a stunning 121 average during a 6–2 win overAndy Jenkins,^[17] and went on to reach the semi-finals where he lost 4–6 toRaymond van Barneveld.^[18] At theWorld Matchplay, Burnett suffered a 5–10 defeat toJames Wade in the first round.^[19] After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Burnett was 22nd on the Order of Merit, comfortably inside the top 32 who qualified for thePlayers Championship Finals.^[20] He was defeated byAdrian Lewis 3–6 in the first round.^[21]

In the first round of the2013 World Championship, Burnett came through a deciding set againstJames Hubbard and a partisan crowd to set up a clash withAndy Hamilton.^[22] Burnett won the first set, but then missed five darts to go 2–0 up and went on to lose 1–4.^[23] He played in his secondWorld Cup of Darts withMark Webster and they reached the semi-finals where they faced the number one seeds ofPhil Taylor andAdrian Lewis. Webster lost to Taylor, but Burnett defeated Lewis 4–3 meaning a doubles match was needed to settle the tie. Burnett missed one dart at double ten to complete a 140 finish for the match and Wales would lose 4–3.^[24] Burnett beat Webster 9–2 in the third round of theUK Open,^[25] but then lost 9–6 toSteve West in the subsequent round.^[26] At theGerman Darts Championship Burnett came through final leg deciders againstJames Richardson andRobert Thornton and then averaged almost 102 in beatingSteve Brown 6–2.^[27] His best run of the year continued with a 6–4 quarter-final success overJamie Caven before missing one match dart in the semis againstPeter Wright to lose 6–5.^[28]Burnett toppedGroup 7 of theChampionship League and then beatKim Huybrechts 6–3 in the semi-finals and survived five match darts in the final againstGary Anderson to win 6–5.^[29] In theWinners Group he won four of his seven games to finish third in the table and advance to the play-offs where he was defeated 6–2 byMichael van Gerwen.^[30]

Burnett beatDean Winstanley 3–1 in the opening round of the2014 World Championship and then saw offAndy Hamilton 4–1 to advance to the third round for the first time since 2005.^[31] He ledIan White 3–1 but could only win two of the next eleven legs to lose 4–3.^[32] Burnett andWebster advanced to the quarter-finals of theWorld Cup of Darts, where their match against the Australian pairing ofSimon Whitlock andPaul Nicholson went into a deciding doubles match which Wales lost 4–0.^[33] Burnett was involved in two one-sided contests at theWorld Matchplay as he defeatedBrendan Dolan 10–4 in the first round and then lost 13–2 toJames Wade in the second.^[34] In September he reached his first final on the PDC tour in almost three years at the 13thPlayers Championship, beating world number oneMichael van Gerwen along the way, and ledGary Anderson 3–1 and 5–3, but would lose 6–5.^[35] He missed 11 starting doubles in the deciding leg of his first round match againstSimon Whitlock at theWorld Grand Prix, but still managed to win the match with a 121 finish. Burnett stated afterwards that he felt the only thing keeping from being a top eight ranked player was consistency.^[36] His run continued with a 3–1 win overTerry Jenkins, before losing by a reverse of this scoreline toStephen Bunting in the quarter-finals.^[37]

Burnett was due to play at the2015 World Championship as the 26th seed, but was removed from the field the day before the first round draw was made for personal reasons.^[38] In January 2015, it was announced that Burnett did not renew his PDC Tour Card for the 2015 season.^[39] In October 2015, it was confirmed by UK Anti-Doping that Burnett had tested positive for cocaine at the Grand Slam of Darts Qualifier in November 2014. He was banned for 18 months.^[40]

Burnett returned to competitive darts in May 2016 and he won twoChallenge Tour tournaments.^[41] He tried to get his Tour Card status back at Q School in January 2017 and succeeded on the third day by beatingPaul Nicholson 5–3 in the final round.^[42] His best result on the 2017 Pro Tour was when he reached the last 32, which he achieved twice. He failed to qualify for any of the European tour events. He also didn't qualify for the 2018 World Championship.

In March 2023, Burnett reached the Quarter-Finals stage of the2023 UK Open, a first appearance at this stage of a ranked televised tournament since 2014. He most notably defeated world ranked number twoPeter Wright in the Sixth round before falling to a 10–2 defeat toDimitri van den Bergh.^[43]

• 1995:Winner (beatRaymond van Barneveld 6–3) (sets)
• 1996: Runner-up (lost toSteve Beaton 3–6)
• 1997: Second round (lost toLeo Laurens 0–3)
• 1998: Runner-up (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 5–6)
• 1999: First round (lost toRonnie Baxter 0–3)

• 2001: Second round (lost toKeith Deller 2–3)
• 2002: Quarter-finals (lost toColin Lloyd 4–6)
• 2003: Quarter-finals (lost toKevin Painter 2–5)
• 2004: Third round (lost to Simon Whatley 3–4)
• 2005: Third round (lost toMark Dudbridge 3–4)
• 2007: First round (lost toAlex Roy 0–3)
• 2011: First round (lost toAlan Tabern 2–3)
• 2012: Second round (lost toJohn Part 1–4)
• 2013: Second round (lost toAndy Hamilton 1–4)
• 2014: Third round (lost toIan White 3–4)
• 2023: First round (lost toAdam Gawlas 2–3)

• 2024: Second round (lost toColin McGarry 1–3)
• 2025: Quarter-finals (lost toSteve Beaton 0–3)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score[N 1]
Winner	1.	1994	British Matchplay	Ronnie Baxter	5–4 (s)
Winner	2.	1994	Winmau World Masters	Steve Beaton	3–2 (s)
Winner	3.	1995	World Championship	Raymond van Barneveld	6–3 (s)
Runner-up	1.	1995	Winmau World Masters	Erik Clarys	0–3 (s)
Runner-up	2.	1996	World Championship	Steve Beaton	3–6 (s)
Runner-up	3.	1996	Winmau World Masters	Colin Monk	2–3 (s)
Runner-up	4.	1998	BDO World Darts Championship	Raymond van Barneveld	5–6 (s)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score[N 1]
Runner-up	1.	2001	World Matchplay	Phil Taylor	10–18 (l)

BDO

PDC

PDC European Tour

• Player profile for Richie Burnett from Dartsdatabase

• Welsh darts players
• BDO world darts champions
• 1967 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Treorchy
• British Darts Organisation players
• Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders
• Darts players with dartitis
• PDC ranking title winners
• PDC World Cup of Darts Welsh team
• Doping cases in darts
• Welsh sportspeople in doping cases
• 20th-century Welsh sportsmen
• 21st-century Welsh sportsmen

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