Mervyn King (darts Player) - BDO Career

BDO Career

King made his professional debut as a 29-year-old in the 1994 World Masters where he lost in the last 32 to Andy Fordham. His first title in the BDO came in the 1996 French Open where he beat Leo Laurens in the final. King has won several Open titles since he came onto the darts scene in 1995, including the Dutch Open in 1997. He made his debut at BDO World Darts Championship in 1997 as a 30 year old. He reached the semi final of the event beating Ronnie Baxter and Roland Scholten before losing to eventual champion Les Wallace. He won £8,700 for his performance.

King reached eight major finals whilst playing in the BDO and converted only two of them into tournament victories. It wasn't until 2004 that he claimed his first BDO major title when he won the World Masters in Bridlington, defeating Tony O'Shea 6–5 in the final having trailed 3–5. His two other major victories to date have both taken place in Holland. The first of these was the 2005 International Darts League, where he defeated O'Shea again in the final, this time by 13–11 in legs. Later the same year he added the Dutch Grand Masters beating Martin Adams 5–4 in the final.

His first major final came in the 2000 World Masters where he beat such players as Peter Manley and Colin Monk before eventually narrowly falling to John Walton 2 sets to 3. King went into the 2002 BDO World Darts Championship as number 4 in the event seedings and reached the final, losing to Australian Tony David. King beat Raymond van Barneveld in the quarter-finals 5–3 whilst averaging 101.67 before beating Colin Monk in the semi-finals to reach his first World Championship final. As well as winning £24,000 for reaching the final, he also earned a further £2,000 for a 170 finish, the highest checkout in the tournament.

2003 proved to be a good year for King as he reached two major finals and the semi-final of the World Championships. He began the year with the 2003 BDO World Darts Championship and was seeded third for the tournament. He whitewashed Colin Monk 5 sets to 0 in the quarter-finals before losing out to Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals, denying him a second consecutive World Championship final appearance He went on to reach the finals of the 2003 International Darts League and World Darts Trophy losing out to Raymond van Barneveld on both occasions.

In 2004, King had another successful year as he reached two semi-finals and two finals, winning one, in the four BDO majors. He began the year ranked third in the seedings for the second consecutive year. In the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship, he narrowly beat Ritchie Davies 5 sets to 4 in the quarter finals before convincingly beating Tony O'Shea in the semi-finals 5–1. Despite this he lost in the final for the second time in three years losing to Andy Fordham 3 sets to 6. After his good World Championship form he went on to reach the semi-finals of the 2004 International Darts League and World Darts Trophy narrowly losing to Tony David and Martin Adams 8–9 and 4–5 respectively. He ended the year winning his first BDO Major in the World Masters as he beat Tony David in the semi-finals 6–2 before winning the tournament prevailing against Tony O'Shea in a tight encounter which ended 7–6 in favour of King handing him his first major title after his sixth final.

In 2005, he had his worst World Championship performance in four years, as he made only the quarter-finals, losing out to André Brantjes 2 sets to 3. King spoke of his poor form and prior to the 2005 BDO World Darts Championship. King's next tournament that year was the International Darts League. He beat Ted Hankey, Co Stompé and Simon Whitlock before facing Tony O'Shea for the second time in a major final, and won 13–11 to secure his second major BDO title. Also in 2005, King made the final of the World Darts Trophy for the second time and on this occasion he was beaten again losing 4–6 against Gary Robson. This was to be King's last major final before his controversial switch to the Professional Darts Corporation.

In 2006, King's form declined and his best result came in the 2006 World Darts Trophy where he made the quarter-finals narrowly losing to Michael van Gerwen 4–5. He also made only the second round in the 2006 BDO World Darts Championship whitewashing Brian Woods 3 sets to 0 before losing to eventual champion Jelle Klaasen 2–4. His last tournament as a BDO affiliated player came in the 2007 BDO World Darts Championship where he made the semi-finals before losing 4–5 against eventual champion Martin Adams. King was surrounded by controversy during this tournament following speculation about his future and a possible switch to the PDC. This would prove to be his last tournament as a BDO player.