Peter Wright (darts player)

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Peter Wright
Personal information
Nickname Snakebite
Born (1970-03-10) 10 March 1970 (age 54)
Livingston, Scotland
Home town Mendham, Suffolk
England
Darts information
Playing darts since 1995
Darts 20g Snakebite euro 11
Laterality Right-handed
Walk-on music Don't Stop the Party by Pitbull
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO 1995–2004
PDC 2004–2005, 2008–
Current world ranking 5
BDO majors - best performances
World Ch'ship Last 32: 1995
World Masters Last 64: 2001
PDC premier events - best performances
World Ch'ship Runner-up: 2014
World Matchplay Semi-finals: 2015
World Grand Prix Last 16: 2014
Grand Slam Last 16: 2014, 2015
Premier League 5th: 2014, 2016
Desert Classic Last 32: 2009
European Ch'ship Semi-finals: 2015
UK Open Runner-up: 2015, 2016
US Open/WSoD Last 64: 2009, 2010
Players Ch'ship Finals Quarter-finals: 2012
The Masters Quarter-finals: 2015, 2016
Other tournament wins
Killarney Pro Tour 2012

European Tour events

European Darts Open 2014

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2015, 2016
Players Championship (COV) 2015, 2015
Players Championship (CRA) 2013, 2014
Other achievements
2013 Breaks into the world's top 16 for the first time

2014 PDPA Player of the Year 2014 Reaches a career high ranking of world number four 2015 Throws first nine-dart finish of his career

2015 Sets his highest televised average of 108.13 at the World Matchplay

Peter Wright (born 10 March 1970 in Livingston) is a Scottish professional darts player who plays in PDC tournaments. Wright was the runner-up in the 2014 PDC World Darts Championship. He currently resides in Mendham, England, and although he was largely raised in England, he chooses to represent the country of his birth.

He is known for his mohawk hairstyle which changes colour each tournament and is made by his wife who is a hairdresser.[1][2] His nickname is derived from the name of his favourite drink, the Snakebite.[3]

BDO

Wright competed at the 1995 BDO World Darts Championship, where he was beaten by three sets to one by eventual champion Richie Burnett in the first round.[4] He spent the next ten years playing in local leagues in England. It took his wife Joanne to persuade Wright to restart his professional career after they had been watching the Grand Slam of Darts and Wright said that he had beaten some of the players that were playing in the event.[5]

PDC

Wright's first major in Professional Darts Corporation events came at the 2005 UK Open where he lost in the third round 5–4 to Dave Smith.[6] He did not play the full schedule of events until 2008 with little success as he earned just £1,200 in prize money during the year.[7]

2009 proved to be a much better year for Wright as he made his PDC televised debut at the 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic where he was defeated 6–3 by Colin Lloyd in the first round.[8] His good form on the PDC Pro Tour, helped by a semi-final showing in the Las Vegas Players Championship, earned him qualification for the 2009 World Matchplay.[9][10] Wright played Terry Jenkins in the first round and lost 10–4.[11] Further quarter-final and semi-final runs followed in Players Championship events to qualify for his first PDC World Championship, where he lost 3–1 in sets to Michael van Gerwen in the opening round.[12]

In 2010, Wright also made his debut in the Players Championship Finals and lost in the first round 6–2 against Wes Newton.[13] In April, he reached his first final on the PDC tour at the sixth UK Open Qualifier where he lost 6–2 to Phil Taylor.[14] Wright was knocked out in the third round of the UK Open 9–7 by William O'Connor.[15]

2011 season

Wright won a match at the World Championship for the first time in 2011 by beating Co Stompé 3–1 and then saw off Paul Nicholson to face defending champion Phil Taylor in the third round. Wright lost 4–1 and averaged a very respectable 96.56.[16] He enjoyed a good run at the UK Open which was ended in the last 16 by Mark Hylton and played in his second World Matchplay where Simon Whitlock beat him 10–7 in the first round.[17][18] Wright's first quarter-final appearance in a major event came at the European Championship with victories over John Part and Gary Anderson, before losing again to Whitlock this time 10–6.[19] His form continued by reaching the final of the 18th Players Championship of the year and a 6–2 loss to Anderson.[20] Wright defeated Denis Ovens 6–4 in the opening round of the Players Championship Finals but lost 8–6 to Wes Newton in the subsequent round.[21]

2012 season

Wright was unable to repeat his 2011 run in the 2012 edition of the World Championship, as he lost 3–1 to Jelle Klaasen in the first round. Wright missed 11 consecutive darts at doubles in the first two sets of the match.[22] Wright represented Scotland with Gary Anderson in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they were beaten by South Africa in the second round, losing in a sudden-death leg.[23] Wright defeated Andy Brown and former world champions John Part and Richie Burnett to reach the last 16 of the UK Open where he played Raymond van Barneveld.[24] Wright led 8–6 and was on a 138 finish on his throw to advance to the quarter-finals and beat the Dutchman for the first time. He hit treble 20 with his first dart and then single 18 to leave 60, meaning single 20 with his last dart would have left double top for the win when he returned to the board. However, Wright incredibly hit another treble 20 to bust his score and went on to lose the match 9–8.[25]

Wright won his first PDC ranking title in October 2012, at the 15th Players Championship of the year in Killarney, Ireland, where he beat Robert Thornton 6–1 in the final with a 107 average.[26] After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Wright was 17th on the Order of Merit, comfortably inside the top 32 who qualified for the Players Championship Finals.[27] He beat Colin Lloyd and Wayne Jones, before losing to Kim Huybrechts 10–6 in the quarter-finals.[28]

2013 season

At the 2013 World Championship Wright saw off Arron Monk 3–0 in the first round to set up a meeting with the second favourite for the tournament, Michael van Gerwen, who Wright described as "not good enough" before the match.[29][30] Wright won the first two sets, but van Gerwen won 12 of the next 14 legs to triumph 4–2.[31] In the eight UK Open Qualifiers during the early part of 2013, Wright was a losing quarter-finalist twice and a losing semi-finalist three times to be placed fourth on the Order of Merit.[32] It was at the UK Open where Wright reached his first major PDC semi-final. He had impressive victories over Gaz Cousins (9–4), BDO number one Stephen Bunting (9–2), Steve West (9–4) and Adrian Lewis (10–6).[33] He played Phil Taylor in the semis and was beaten 5–10, with Wright stating afterwards that he had played the player instead of the dart board and was tensing up and snatching darts. He set himself a goal of reaching the top 16 in the world rankings by the end of the year. [34] Later in the month, Wright won his second career ranking title at the fifth Players Championship. He averaged an incredible 118.66 in beating Gary Anderson 6–0 in ten minutes in the quarter-finals and then saw off Kevin Painter 6–3 in the semis and Wes Newton 6–1 in the final.[35] He lost 6–4 to Colin Lloyd in the first round of the European Championship and 13–3 to Michael van Gerwen in the second round of the World Matchplay.[36][37] Wright reached the final of the German Darts Championship, but lost 6–2 to Dave Chisnall.[38] He also lost to Chisnall in the final of the next event the seventh Players Championship, having beaten van Gerwen 6–2 in the semi-finals.[39] He picked up another appearance in a final at the tenth event but lost 6–3 to Raymond van Barneveld.[40] At the World Grand Prix he lost 2–0 in sets to Wes Newton in the first round, but after the event he moved into the world's top 16 for the first time.[41] This earned him a spot in the first staging of the Masters, a tournament exclusively for the top 16 on the Order of Merit, where he was defeated 6–2 by Van Gerwen in the opening round.[42]

2014 season

Wright advanced to the third round of the 2014 World Championship, where he faced Michael Smith who had knocked out Phil Taylor in the previous round. Wright produced his then highest televised averaged of 105.07 but at one point was 3–2 behind, before winning six of the next seven legs to reach the quarter-finals of the event for the first time in his career.[43] He trailed 2–0 early on against Wes Newton but rallied to level with the match eventually going into a deciding set. Wright missed four match darts at two legs to none up but eventually edged the contest with a 121 finish on the bull to face Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals.[44] He outplayed Whitlock from the start and maintained his high level by averaging over 100 for the second time in the event and win 6–2.[45] Wright lost 12 of the first 14 legs in the final against number two seed Michael van Gerwen, before winning two unanswered sets and then missed one dart to trail just 4–3. He went on to be 6–2 behind and again won two sets in a row, but missed two chances to extend the match into a 12th set as he was beaten 7–4.[46] The runner-up's cheque of £100,000 is the highest of his career and he rose to world number seven.[47] He was named the Most Improved Player and PDPA Player of the Year at the PDC's Annual Awards in January.[48]

Wright's exploits earned him a place in the Premier League for the first time and he started the campaign very strongly with victories over the likes of Taylor (7–4), Adrian Lewis (7–1) and Whitlock (7–3) to be top of the table between weeks four and six.[49] Despite three defeats in a row in the middle of the season, Wright was in the play-off places until week 13 and he then battled to a 6–6 draw with Taylor to ensure he would have a chance of progressing in the final round of league matches.[50][51] However, after other results had not gone his way he was guaranteed to finish fifth in the table before he had played and he ended the season with a 7–5 defeat against Van Gerwen.[52] Wright won his third title carrying ranking points of his career at the ninth Players Championship by beating Justin Pipe 6–2.[53] At the Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters, Wright eliminated Taylor 10–5 and Dave Chisnall 11–8 to reach the final, where Van Gerwen was once again the victor as he defeated Wright 11–7.[54] Wright played in his second World Cup of Darts this year and first with Robert Thornton and they progressed to the quarter-finals where they played Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan and Michael Mansell. Wright lost his singles match 4–2 to Dolan, but Thornton saw off Mansell to send the tie into a deciding doubles game which Scotland lost 4–1.[55] At the European Darts Open, Wright averaged 111.29 whilst beating Michael Smith 6–1 in the second round and he went on to reach the final where he won his first European Tour title by defeating Simon Whitlock 6–2.[56] He also advanced to the final of the last Players Championship of the year, but lost 6–5 to Gary Anderson.[57]

2015 season

Wright had a largely trouble free passage into the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Championship as he dropped just one set in his opening three games. However, he was second best against Gary Anderson in a 5–1 defeat.[58] A 9–1 victory over Raymond van Barneveld at the UK Open marked Wright's first ever win over the Dutchman with Wright going on to meet Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals.[59] Wright won 10–6 after producing a match defining run to go from 5–4 behind to 9–5 ahead and broke down in tears in the post match interview.[60] He recomposed himself to thrash Stephen Bunting 10–0 with an average of 105.10, over 20 points higher than his opponent's. However, a victory over a fifth world champion in the tournament proved a step too far as he couldn't quite reach the same heights in the final against Michael van Gerwen in an 11–5 defeat.[61] A week later, Wright lost 6–5 to James Wade in the final of the second Players Championship event.[62] On his return to Scotland, Wright recovered from 5–1 down to steal a point against Stephen Bunting in the Premier League, stretching his run to five matches unbeaten.[63] However, four of those games were draws and Wright went into the ninth week of fixtures needing a win over Adrian Lewis to avoid being relegated from the competition, but he was beaten 7–4.[64] Wright threw the first nine-dart finish of his career during his run to the final of the seventh Players Championship and won the title by defeating Wade 6–5 with an average of 110.14.[65] He also won the 12th event by overcoming Jelle Klaasen 6–1 in the final.[66] Wright and Anderson beat the Dutch duo of Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld in a doubles match in the semi-finals of the World Cup to ensure Scotland would reach their first final in the event. They played England's Taylor and Lewis and it went to the final singles game in which the winner of Wright against Lewis would win the title, with Lewis triumphing 4–1.[67] In the inaugural Japan Darts Masters, Wright advanced to the final by edging past Van Gerwen 8–7 with a 141 finish. He was 7–2 down to Taylor, but then produced three ton-plus finishes during a five leg burst to level the match. However, Taylor was first to a double in the deciding leg to inflict Wright's fourth defeat in a televised final.[68]

Wright reset his highest televised average to 108.13 whilst eliminating Kim Huybrechts 10–5 in the opening round of the World Matchplay.[69] A pair of straight forward wins over Andrew Gilding and Gerwyn Price saw him reach the semi-finals of the event for the first time, but he lost 17–12 to Van Gerwen.[70] Terry Jenkins defeated Wright 6–4 in the final of the 15th Players Championship.[71] He led Kim Huybrechts 5–2 in the final of the European Darts Grand Prix, before losing four successive legs to be defeated 6–5, missing one championship dart in the process.[72] Wright won his third Players Championship title of the year by edging Benito van de Pas 6–5 with all 11 legs going with the throw.[73] He lost each of the first five legs to Van Gerwen in the semi-finals of the European Championship, but then pulled it back to 8–7 behind. However, Wright missed two darts at a single number to set up a double to level and went on to lose 11–7.[74] The pair would meet once more in the final of the first World Series of Darts Finals and this time Wright lost the game's opening four legs, before moving 5–4 up. At 10–9 ahead and one leg away from the title, Wright hit a 180 to leave 90 only for Van Gerwen to take out 129 on the bull and, after Wright was unable to checkout 121 in the final leg, Van Gerwen finished 50 to complete an 11 dart leg and deny Wright his first televised title.[75]

2016 season

Wright did not drop a set in reaching the third round of the 2016 World Championship and survived one match dart from Dave Chisnall to win 4–3.[76] He missed one dart against Adrian Lewis to reduce his deficit to 4–3 in the quarter-finals, but missed it and lost 5–2.[77] Wright reached the final of the UK Open for the second year in a row and just like 12 months previously he faced Michael van Gerwen. He stayed with Van Gerwen early on by only trailing 5–3 and missed a dart for a nine-dart finish, but Wright would ultimately lose 11–4.[78] A week later Wright won the first Players Championship of 2016 by recovering from 5–3 down to Lewis to triumph 6–5.[79] At the end of March Wright reached the final of the German Darts Masters losing 4-6 to Michael van Gerwen.

Style and stage persona

Wright has become known for his colourful mohawk hairstyle and extravagant clothing which change between every round of his tournaments.[80] His hair takes two hours to complete and is done by his hairdresser wife Joanne and inspired by their daughter. He usually has a snake painted on to the side of his head in reference to his favourite drink, the snakebite, which is also Wright's nickname. Wright equates his look to applying war paint before going in to battle, as he is naturally shy away from the oche.[3][81] In the past he has used specially designed darts which changed colour depending on the light. Wright is known to regularly try different sets of darts as he tweaks the weight, flights and stems. He did so between every round when he reached the 2014 World Championship final.[82]

Wright performs a sidestep dance across the whole stage to Pitbull's Don't Stop the Party at the beginning of his matches.[83] He regularly pauses on the third dart of leg winning doubles and moves away from the oche to encourage the crowd to make more noise upon his return. In a Premier League match he bent his knees to lower his height by about a foot to throw an exhibition dart. Such acts of showmanship have created negative reactions among his fellow professionals with world champions Adrian Lewis and Michael van Gerwen calling it disrespectful. Wright has stated that his job is to entertain spectators and would continue playing in the same manner.[84][85]

Career finals

PDC premier event finals: 3 (3 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)
UK Open (0–2)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2014 World Darts Championship Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 4–7 (s)
Runner-up 2. 2015 UK Open Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 5–11 (l)
Runner-up 3. 2016 UK Open Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 4–11 (l)

Other PDC TV finals: 3 (3 runners-up)

Legend
World Series of Darts (0-3)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2014 Dubai Darts Masters Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 7-11 (l)
Runner-up 2. 2015 Japan Darts Masters England Phil Taylor 7-8 (l)
Runner-up 3. 2015 World Series of Darts Finals Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 10-11 (l)

World Championship performances

BDO

PDC

References

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External links

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