Devon Petersen

Devon Petersen
Petersen in 2022
Personal information
Nickname	"The African Warrior"
Born	(1986-06-04) 4 June 1986 Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, South Africa
Home town	Bradford, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	2004
Darts	22 Gram Shot Darts Signature
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" by Shakira ft. Freshlyground
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2009–2024
WDF major events – best performances
World Masters	Preliminary Round: 2010
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 16: 2014, 2019, 2021
World Matchplay	Last 32: 2021
World Grand Prix	Last 16: 2020
UK Open	Quarter Final: 2015, 2021
Grand Slam	Last 16: 2020
European Ch'ship	Semi Final: 2020
PC Finals	Last 64: 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021
Masters	Last 24: 2022
World Series Finals	Last 24: 2015, 2022
Other tournament wins
PDC World South Africa Qualifying 2010, 2011, 2013 PDC World Africa Qualifying 2018, 2019 Darts At Home week 1 2020 South African Masters 2011 European Tour Events German Darts Championship 2020

Devon Petersen (born 4 June 1986) is a former South African professional darts player and pundit for Sky Sports. He qualified for the PDC World Championship on seven occasions with his best result coming in 2014, 2019 and 2021 when he reached the last 16. Petersen become popular for dancing on to the stage to Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" before his matches.

Career

He qualified for the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship as the South African champion. He beat Guyana's Norman Madhoo 4–3 in the preliminary round with big checkouts including a 136 and a 146. In beating Madhoo, he earned a place in the first round proper, where he would play Jamie Caven. Despite winning the first set, Petersen lost by 3 sets to 1.

He qualified for the 2011 PDC Pro Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the second day of the Pro Tour's Q School. Since turning professional, Petersen has left South Africa to live in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, and signed a sponsorship deal with leading darts manufacturer Unicorn.

Petersen retained the South African Open in 2011 to qualify for the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, where he edged out José Oliveira de Sousa 4–3 (legs) in the preliminary round to reach the last 64 for the second successive year. Petersen played Steve Brown in the first round and recovered from 2–1 down in sets to win 3–2, also recovering from 2–0 down in legs in the deciding set and surviving one match dart. Petersen said after the win that it was a "dream come true" and that he was sure he had more in him. He played Gary Anderson in the second round and played the best he has in front of the television cameras. However, the class of his opponent came through and he lost 4–2, with Anderson stating after the match that "Devon became very tough for me". Petersen himself said that he would "work hard and come back a better player".

He represented South Africa with Shawn Hogan in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they defeated Spain 5–2 in the first round before causing a shock by knocking out number 4 seeds Scotland in the second round in a sudden death leg. They played Wales in the quarter finals and were beaten in the deciding doubles match. Petersen prematurely celebrated as he thought he had taken his country to the semi-finals by hitting double 16. However, he had miscounted and they were out of the tournament moments later when Richie Burnett secured the winning double. Petersen reached the last 64 of the 2012 UK Open by defeating Andrew Gilding 4–0, but then lost to Ronnie Baxter 9–6. In June, he qualified for the European Tour Event 3 after defeating Darren Webster and Gareth Cousins in the UK qualifier. Petersen again lost to Baxter this time 6–2 in the first round in Düsseldorf.

Petersen took a year away from darts in 2013 to recuperate from an arm injury. In September he won the South African Masters by defeating Graham Filby 9–3 in the final and in doing so earned a place in his third World Championship for the 2014 edition, where he saw off Mohd Latif Sapup 4–1 in the preliminary round. Petersen danced onto the stage for his first round match against Steve Beaton which immediately got the crowd on his side as he defeated the 1996 BDO world champion 3–1 in sets. Petersen was 2–1 ahead against Justin Pipe in the next round and in the deciding leg of the fourth set he took out a crucial 130 finish with Pipe on 36, before wrapping up a 4–1 win. In the third round his run came to an end when he lost 4–0 to James Wade. Petersen partnered Filby in the World Cup of Darts and they came past Germany 5–3 in the first round, before Petersen beat Paul Lim 4–0 in his singles match in the second round. Filby lost his to Harith Lim, meaning a doubles match was needed to settle the tie which South Africa edged 4–3. In the quarter-finals they faced the number one seeds of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis, with Petersen and Filby both losing their singles matches to exit the tournament. Petersen was defeated in the final of the South African Qualifier for the 2015 World Championship 9–5 by Nolan Arendse.

In January 2015, Petersen played in Q School and earned a two-year tour card on the second day by defeating Chris Hartrey 5–1 in the final round. Petersen did not base himself in Britain for 2015 and estimated he would make 20 trips back and forth from South Africa during the year. He entered the UK Open in the second round stage and beat Mark Cox 5–4, Mark Barilli 9–8, Jamie Caven 9–6 and Eddie Dootson 9–3 to reach the quarter-finals of a major PDC event for the first time. Petersen led world number one Michael van Gerwen 3–2 at the first break but had had darts to win every leg and went on to lose 10–5. He became the first South African to throw a nine-dart finish on the PDC tour at the sixth Players Championship and went on to reach the quarter-finals where Van Gerwen whitewashed him 6–0. At the World Cup, Petersen and Filby survived a match dart from Finland to win 5–4 before losing both of their singles matches against Van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld of the Netherlands in the second round. Petersen was invited to participate in the first World Series of Darts Finals, where he was eliminated 6–3 by Robert Thornton in the first round.

Petersen saw off Ricky Evans 6–5 and Kim Huybrechts 6–2 at the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters and then lost 6–2 to Mervyn King in the third round. He qualified for six other European Tour events and, even though he didn't reach the third round again, he had done enough to make his debut in the European Championship, but was defeated 6–4 by King in the opening round. Petersen and Graham Filby missed 14 darts at doubles as they were beaten 5–1 by Singapore in the first round of the World Cup. Petersen lost in the first round of the European Championship (6–4 to Mervyn King) and the Players Championship Finals (6–3 to Robbie Green).

Petersen struggled in the first round of the 2017 World Championship as he could only average 79.29 in a 3–1 defeat to Steve Beaton.

Petersen returned to form in the 2019 World Championship reaching the Last 16 his best run since 2014 beating Wayne Jones, Ian White, and Steve West before narrowly losing to Nathan Aspinall.

Again he qualified via the PDC World Africa Qualifying Event for the 2020 World Championship. He played Luke Humphries in the first round and lost 1–3. Petersen remained in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit and kept his tour card for 2020.

On 22 February 2020, Petersen reached his first ever PDC semi-final, at Players Championship 5, beating high quality players such as Stephen Bunting and Rob Cross (the World Number Four at the time) along the way, before losing to eventual winner Peter Wright 7–5.

On 27 September 2020, Petersen won his first ranking title beating Johnny Clayton 8–3 at the German Darts Championship. He followed this by a Second Round loss to Gerwyn Price in the 2020 European Darts Grand Prix, hence finished 4th with £27,000 on the European Tour order of merit, which cemented his place as a top seed in the 2020 PDc European Championship. In this tournament, Petersen eliminated Andy Hamilton, Martin Kleermaker and Ian White to reach his first major televised Semi Final, but lost narrowly 10–11 to James Wade. This run equaled a cheque of £32,000.

Further televised exposure followed in the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, where he was partnered by Carl Gabriel in a 5-1 First Round humiliation to Poland with Krzysztof Ratajski & Krzysztof Kciuk.

Despite some inconsistency in form at the 2020 PDC Winter Series, Petersen showed rejuvenation in the 2020 PDC Grand Slam of Darts, where he reached the Last 16 on his debut. In the course of doing so, he won all three of his group stage games against Ian White, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Peter Wright, topping the group and receiving the group winner's bonus of £3,500. Australian rising star Damon Heta proved too big of an obstacle and denied Petersen a place in his third major televised Quarter Final in a 10–7 victory over the South African.

Petersen entered the Top 32 in the world before the commencement of the 2020 PDC Players Championship Finals, but lost 3–6 to Luke Humphries, averaging 101.46 against Humphries' 99.65.

Petersen returned to the Alexandra Palace in London for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship and started as a seeded player in Round 2 (Last 64) for the first time in his career. He overcame Steve Lennon and Jason Lowe to reach the fourth round, where he lost 4–0 to Gary Anderson.

In 2023, Petersen once again represented South Africa on the World Cup of Darts, forming a team with Vernon Bouwers. They made it to the second round, where they lost to the French team of Thibault Tricole and Jacques Labre.

Darts used

Petersen previously used darts given to him by Phil Taylor at the 2009 South African Masters.

World Championship results

PDC

• 2011: First round (lost to Jamie Caven 1–3)
• 2012: Second round (lost to Gary Anderson 2–4)
• 2014: Third round (lost to James Wade 0–4)
• 2017: First round (lost to Steve Beaton 1–3)
• 2018: First round (lost to Darren Webster 2–3)
• 2019: Fourth round (lost to Nathan Aspinall 3–4)
• 2020: First round (lost to Luke Humphries 1–3)
• 2021: Fourth round (lost to Gary Anderson 0–4)
• 2022: Second round (lost to Raymond Smith 0–3)

Performance timeline

BDO

Tournament	2010	2011
BDO World Championship	DNP	DNQ
Winmau World Masters	PR	DNP

PDC

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
PDC World Championship	DNQ	1R	2R	DNQ	3R	DNQ		1R	1R	4R	1R	4R	2R	DNQ
UK Open	DNP	2R	3R	DNQ		QF	DNQ	2R	DNQ	3R	3R	QF	5R	3R	DNP
World Matchplay	DNQ											1R	DNQ
World Grand Prix	DNQ										2R	DNQ
European Championship	DNP	DNQ					1R	DNQ			SF	DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts	DNQ										2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNP	DNQ					1R	DNQ		1R	1R	1R	DNQ
Non-major televised events
The Masters	NH			DNQ									1R	DNQ
PDC World Cup of Darts	DNP	NH	QF	DNP	QF	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R
World Series of Darts Finals	NH					1R	DNQ						1R	DNQ
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	95	61	63	62	77	60	50	51	60	60	29	26	58	110

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2012	ADO DNQ	GDC DNQ	EDO 1R	GDM DNQ	DDM DNQ
2013	Did not play
2014	Did not play
2015	GDC 1R	GDT 2R	GDM DNQ	DDM DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDO 3R	EDT DNP	EDM DNP	EDG 1R
2016	DDM 3R	GDM 2R	GDT DNQ	EDM 1R	ADO DNQ	EDO 2R	IDO 2R	EDT 2R	EDG 1R	GDC DNQ
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM DNQ	GDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDO 3R	DDM DNQ	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDT DNQ	DDO DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDC DNQ	DDC DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2019	EDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	GDG DNQ	GDO DNQ	ADO 1R	EDG DNQ	DDM DNQ	DDO DNQ	CDO 1R	ADC DNQ	EDM DNQ	IDO DNQ	GDT DNQ
2020	BDC DNQ	GDC W	EDG 2R	IDO DNQ
2021	HDT 2R	GDT 2R
2022	IDO 2R	GDC 2R	GDG DNQ	ADO 1R	EDO 2R	CDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDC DNQ	EDM DNQ	HDT DNQ	GDO DNQ	BDO DNQ	GDT DNQ
2023	BSD DNQ	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	ADO DNQ	DDC DNQ	BDO DNQ	CDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDO DNP	HDT DNP	GDC DNQ

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR L#	Lost in # round Round-robin Last # stage	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

External links

• Devon Petersen player profile at Darts Orakel