James Wade

James Wade – The Machine, (36) ranks 8th in the world and is currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). James reached the final of the British Classic when he was only 18, but his surge to darting prominence came in 2006, having switched to the PDC two years earlier. He put together a sensational run to the final of the World Matchplay, beating some established names along the way. He also hit an unprecedented three nine-dart finishes in that calendar year.

The left-hander went one better the following year as he returned to Blackpool to win the tournament. He beat Terry Jenkins in the final to claim £50000 in prize money and became the youngest ever player to win a PDC televised major. James went on to make it back to back major victories when he beat Jenkins again to win the 2007 World Grand Prix in Dublin. He went on to be crowned PDC Player of the Year for 2007.

In 2008, James became the first player to beat a dominant Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in the Premier League, before adding another major title to his growing collection. He beat Gary Mawson to win the UK Open. James, from Aldershot, went on to reach a third successive World Matchplay final and made it to the final of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, but was unable to overcome Taylor on either of those occasions.

It wasn’t long before James tasted televised glory again, this time winning the hugely popular Premier League in 2009 with a 13-8 victory over Mervyn King. The same year, he also reached the semi-finals of the World Championships, the European Championships and the Players Championship Finals.

The following year James won the World Grand Prix against Adrian Lewis and beat Phil Taylor in the Championship League. James was involved in what is regarded as one of the greatest finals of all time. The Machine was attempting to defend his Premier League crown and pushed Taylor all the way but was beaten 10-8 as it took two nine-darters from The Power to deny James another title. He also made the final of the US Open/WsoD and was Runner up in the 2010 Grand Slam.

James claimed another major success in June 2011, beating Wes Newton to win the UK Open for a second time. In 2012 and 2013, James reached the semi finals of the World Championships and in 2014, James won a European Tour event in Gibraltar and became the second player in history to hit a nine-darter in the World Grand Prix, which is famous for its double-start format. Incredibly, his opponent Robert Thornton went on to repeat the feat in the same match. The following month, James ended a three-year wait for his eighth major title when he followed up victories over Adrian Lewis and Taylor with an incredible final comeback against King to win The Masters. ‘The Machine’ trailed 9-2 in the decider but won nine of the last ten legs to seal the triumph, taking out a 135 finish in the last leg.

In 2015, James reached the final of the World Matchplay and the Perth Darts Masters reaching runner-up position against Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor respectively.

In the summer of 2017 during the World Series Darts in Australia, James reached the semi-finals in both the Perth and Auckland Darts Masters, adding further to his impressive record of achievements of 2016, when he was runner up in the final of the Grand Slam and semi-finalist at both the European Championship and the Champions League.

In 2018 James reached the finals of both the European Darts Grand Prix and the European Darts Trophy. James then went on to have back to back successes, winning the European Championship in Dortmund, Germany at the end of October beating Simon Whitlock 11-8. This was followed the following week by taking the trophy at the World Series of Darts Finals in Vienna, beating Michael Smith 11-10.

In 2019 James has continued to add to his impressive role of honour, reaching the semi-finals in five major tournaments during the year and at the 2019 Darts Masters in Milton Keynes, James went all the way to the final reaching runner-up position against Michael van Gerwen. 2019 also saw James win five matches in the Players Championships.

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