Darren Michael Webster (born 10 June 1968) is an Englishdarts player who formerly competed inProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. NicknamedDemolition Man, he is a two-time quarter-finalists at both thePDC World Championship andWorld Matchplay. Webster reached his only PDC major semi-final at the2016 Players Championship Finals.

Webster won the 2005 Open Oust Nederland, beatingCo Stompé in the final.^[1]

Originally nicknamedThe Sniper, Webster reached the quarter-finals of the2007 PDC World Darts Championship, where he beat former championBob Anderson,Adrian Gray and South AfricanWynand Havenga, before being beaten 5–1 byPhil Taylor.^[2]

Webster reached the last 16 at the2007 UK Open. He beatAndy Hamilton andJames Wade, before losing to Alan Green.^[3]

In December 2013, Webster lost toJames Wade in the first round of the2014 World Championship, despite leading 2 sets to 1 (first to 3). He missed six darts to win the match, to which Wade responded in three straight legs, thus winning the match.^[4] He played in theWorld Matchplay for the first time since 2005 and was beaten 10–4 by Taylor in the first round.^[5] Webster's resurgence of form also saw him play in his firstWorld Grand Prix andGrand Slam of Darts, but he lost in the opening round of the former and was defeated in all three of his group games in the latter.^[6][7] A final appearance in a major event of the year came at thePlayers Championship Finals where he missed two match darts in the deciding leg of the first round againstRobert Thornton to lose 6–5.^[8]

Webster atoned for his misses against Wade a year earlier when he facedSimon Whitlock in the2015 edition of the World Championship. From 1–1 in sets he only allowed the world number seven one more leg as he beat him 3–1.^[9] He won a trio of sets in deciding legs to leadDean Winstanley 3–2 in the second round. However, Webster lost two sets in a row to be beaten 4–3.^[10] Webster twice reached the quarter-final stage ofPlayers Championship events in 2015.^[11]

Webster saw offJohn Henderson 3–1 in the opening round of the2016 World Championship, butMichael van Gerwen averaged 109.23 in their second round clash as Webster could only win one leg in a 4–0 defeat.^[12][13] A 9–8 win overRicky Evans saw him reach the fifth round of theUK Open for the second time in his career and he lost 9–5 toPeter Wright.^[14] Webster's first semi-final in over two and a half years came at the ninthPlayers Championship and he was beaten 6–1 byBenito van de Pas.^[15] Another came at the 17th event, but he was whitewashed 6–0 by Van Gerwen.^[16] Webster was already eliminated from theGrand Slam of Darts before his third group game withPhil Taylor after losing his opening two matches, but nevertheless thrashed the 16-time world champion 5–0. Webster stated that the result would give him a confidence boost for the remainder of the year.^[17] He was right, because at thePlayers Championship Finals he saw offJonny Clayton andSimon Whitlock both 6–3,Alan Norris 10–5 andChristian Kist 10–6 to reach the semi-finals of a PDC major for the first time. Webster stormed in to a 6–0 lead over Van Gerwen, but missed a dart to be 7–2 ahead as Van Gerwen closed to 6–6. Webster did take a one leg lead on two further occasions, but would ultimately be defeated 11–8.^[18]

Webster survived seven match darts fromStephen Bunting in the first round of the2017 World Championship to progress with a 3–2 win. Webster had finishes of 157, 147 and 140 during the match.^[19] He described his second round 4–0 victory overSimon Whitlock as the moment of his career as Webster averaged 104.64 and closed the match with a 140 finish.^[20] He missed two darts to take the opening set in the third round against Van Gerwen and went 3–0 behind. He pulled a set back, but would be ousted 4–1.^[21]

Webster hit his first career nine-dart finish on 11 February 2017 in the 5th UK Open qualifier during a 6–5 win overBenito van de Pas. In July, he won his first players Championship title, defeatingDaryl Gurney 6–1 in the final inBarnsley.

In the 2019 World Championship he suffered a surprise defeat and whitewash toVincent van der Voort losing 3–0 in the Second Round.

Webster lost his Tour card following the2022 PDC World Darts Championship but regained it on the second day of the 2022 Q-School Final stage.

Unable to find his previous form, Webster struggled throughout seasons 2022 and 2023. However, he won PDC Tour card holders qualification for2024 PDC World Darts Championship, returning to the World Championship for the first time since 2020 and stating it will be his last tournament in career. He playedNiels Zonneveld in the First round, had several chances to take the clash to a final set but missed every single time and lost 1–3, which meant he also lost his Tour card.^[22]

• 2006: First round (lost to Erwin Extercatte 2–3)
• 2007: Quarter-finals (lost toPhil Taylor 1–5)
• 2013: First round (lost toMark Walsh 1–3)
• 2014: First round (lost toJames Wade 2–3)
• 2015: Second round (lost toDean Winstanley 3–4)
• 2016: Second round (lost toMichael van Gerwen 0–4)
• 2017: Third round (lost toMichael van Gerwen 1–4)
• 2018: Quarter-finals (lost toJamie Lewis 0–5)
• 2019: Second round (lost toVincent van der Voort 0–3)
• 2020: Third round (lost toAdrian Lewis 3–4)
• 2024: First round (lost toNiels Zonneveld 1–3)

PDC European Tour

PDC Players Championships

• Darren Webster's Official Website
• Darren Webster player profile at Darts Orakel

• 1968 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Norwich
• English darts players
• Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders
• PDC ranking title winners
• 21st-century English sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from January 2025
• Use British English from October 2013
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Short description is different from Wikidata