Glen Durrant

Glen Durrant (born 24 November 1970 in Middlesbrough) is an English darts player who currently plays within the British Darts Organisation and is the reigning 2017 BDO World Darts Champion. He is also a 2 time World Masters and Zuiderduin Masters champion. He is currently ranked first on the BDO World rankings.

Darts career

Early career

Although he began playing in 1985, Durrant's first major appearance was in the 2004 Winmau World Masters, where he lost out in the early stages to Dietmar Burger. He would have more success the following year however. Two consecutive 3-0 wins put him in the last 32 and this was followed by a 3-1 win over Anthony Miera, to set up a last 16 match against Martin Adams. Durrant almost pulled off a famous victory but lost out 2-3.

Durrant has appeared in the PDC's UK Open on three occasions. In 2005 he won his opening match against Darren Moulsley before losing a deciding leg against Ray Cornibert in the last 64. In 2009 Durrant defeated Graham Usher and John McGuirk before losing out to Terry Jenkins 1-9. Durrant also qualified for the PDC's UK Open in 2012 by winning the Riley's qualifier in Middlesbrough. He drew a fellow Riley's qualifier in Stephen Bunting and lost 0-4 in the preliminary round.

2011-2013

In 2011 he made his third appearance in the Winmau World Masters. Four consecutive wins and dropping only 3 legs put him into the televised stages of the tournament, where he defeated Craig Baxter 3-2 in sets in the last 24. In the last 16 he faced 2000 world champion John Walton. A 3-1 win in sets saw an emotional Durrant set up a rematch against Martin Adams, where Adams won 3-1.

Durrant came within one match of qualifying for the World Championship in 2012, but was beaten in the final round by Alan Norris who went on to reach the quarter-finals.

Durrant is a dominant force locally in his own Teesside area and has won the Teesside darts championship 3 times in the last 4 years.

he recorded his first competitive 9 dart finish in the England Darts Organisations Grosvenor Casino Tyneside Classic. This was part of a dramatic comeback from 0-4, to win 5-4, against England team-mate Garry Thompson in the last 16.

The first major International open tournament win for Durrant came in September 2012, when he recorded victories against Martin Adams, Robbie Green and Martin Atkins, amongst others, before defeating Scott Waites in the final to win the 2012 EDO England Classic and the £3000 first prize. At the same tournament he "did the double" by winning the pairs competition with his playing partner Tony Eccles and also was runner up in the inaugural EDO England Matchplay. After adding the 2012 Jersey Open, Durrant retained the England Classic in 2013.

2014

Durrant made his debut at the World Championship in 2014 as a seeded player. He defeated qualifier Mike Day 3-0 in the first round before losing 4-1 to Norris.

Durrant reached the semi-finals of the Masters in 2014. He survived six match darts en route including four against Scott Mitchell in the quarter-finals (the other two were against Brian Dawson in a previous round), before losing in a deciding leg against eventual champion Martin Phillips having missed one match dart at the bullseye. Durrant then lost to Mitchell in the final of the Jersey Open, televised on Eurosport, having led 5-3 in a race to six and missed three match darts.

2015

Durrant's reached the last four of the 2015 World Championship, maintaining a 90+ average in each of his first three wins over Karel Sedlacek, Jamie Hughes and Darryl Fitton. In the semi-final, Martin Adams defeated Durrant 6-5, despite Durrant having led 5-4 and missing one match dart to win 6-4, and then leading the deciding set 2-0 in legs and missing two further match darts. The match was lauded as one of the best in the history of the tournament as Durrant averaged 99.57 to Adams` 97.92 and both hits 12 ton+ finishes between them. After the world championships Glen aporoached renowned sports mind coach Stephen McKibben from Northern Ireland, who was accredited with leading Scott Mitchell to world glory. He has worked with Stephen ever since and it has enabled him to win his majors and dominate the BDO world tour.

Durrant has had a fine 2015 on the BDO Circuit and has picked up the English Classic, English Matchplay, Welsh Open, Denmark Open and Isle of Man classic titles, and was finalist in the Scottish Open, Isle of Man Open, English Open and British Classic. He also helped his country to win the WDF World Cup team title.

Durrant won his first major title when he won the 2015 World Masters title, after showing superb form throughout the tournament. He defeated the former World Matchplay champion, Larry Butler, 7-3 in the final. Glen mentioned about how much working with Stephen has changed him from a nearly man to a major winner.

His second major BDO title came in December when he won the 2015 Zuiderduin Masters beating Martin Adams 5-2 in sets in the final. Durrant averaged 100.69.

2016

Durrant entered the 2016 World Championship as the favourite to win the tournament, and won his first two matches without dropping a set, defeating Dean Reynolds and Larry Butler. In the quarter final, the 2013 world champion, Scott Waites, defeated Durrant 5-4, despite Durrant leading 3-1 and 4-2 in sets and being 2-0 up in legs during the seventh set.

2017

Durrant entered the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship as the number 1 seed and won the tournament for the first time, beating Danny Noppert in the final 7-3. Glen had a pressure filled tournament and contacting his mind coach Stephen McKibben after a near miss against Paul Hogan and in his next match looked like a reformed player. From then he never looked back and excelled in the rest of the tournament dominating his remaining games.

World Championship results

BDO

• 2014: 2nd Round (lost to Alan Norris 1–4)
• 2015: Semi Finals (lost to Martin Adams 5–6)
• 2016: Quarter Finals (lost to Scott Waites 4–5)
• 2017: Winner (beat Danny Noppert 7–3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 5 (5 titles)