Gary Anderson

Gary James Grant Anderson (born 22 December 1970) is a Scottish professional darts player playing in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

Between 2000 and 2008, Anderson represented Scotland at three WDF World Cups, four WDF Europe Cups, and five Six Nations Cup.

Born in Musselburgh, Anderson began his career playing in British Darts Organisation events and won the second tournament he entered by claiming the 2001 Welsh Open with a defeat of John Walton.

The win ensured he qualified for the following year's World Championship for the first time, where he suffered a first round defeat to Sweden's Stefan Nagy, going down 3–0.

With Scotland, Anderson lifted successive Six Nations Cups in 2002 and 2003, as well as winning the WDF Europe Cup four-man and overall team titles in 2002.

In total, Anderson played thirty-two matches for Scotland, winning twenty-two of them.

The following year, in the 2003 BDO World Darts Championship Anderson reached the semi-final stage before bowing out to eventual runner-up Ritchie Davies.

Anderson would not win another match at the Lakeside Country Club until 2006, when he beat Gary Robson in the first round before again falling to the eventual finalist this time in Raymond van Barneveld in the second round.

His other career highlights include winning the International Darts League in 2007, the World Darts Trophy in 2007, the Zuiderduin Masters in 2007 and 2008, the Premier League in 2011 and 2015, the Players Championship Finals in 2014, the UK Open in 2018, World Matchplay in 2018, the Champions League of Darts in 2018 and the 2019 PDC World Cup of Darts.

He has also won 35 PDC Pro Tour events as of March 2024, putting him third on the all-time list behind Michael van Gerwen on 88 and Phil Taylor on 70.

In the following two years, Anderson was knocked out of the World Championship in the first round by Dutch players – in 2007, he lost to Albertino Essers, and in 2008, he was defeated by Fabian Roosenbrand.

Anderson won the first major tournaments of his career by claiming the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy back-to-back in 2007.

It was a significant achievement as he succeeded against fields comprising the top players and world champions from both the rival organisations: the Professional Darts Corporation and BDO.

In the two events, he had victories against Wayne Mardle, Roland Scholten, Mervyn King, James Wade, Adrian Lewis, Mark Webster, John Part, Peter Manley, Andy Hamilton and Phil Taylor.

Shortly after his WDT title, his success continued by clinching the BDO British Open to add to his 2007 Scottish Open success.

Anderson also won the Zuiderduin Masters two years in a row – the first of which was an unranked event, the second was the first championship since the tournament was elevated to the status of ranking major.

Anderson finished 2007 as the WDF world number 1, while he later ended 2008 as the WDF world number 2 behind Scott Waites In 2008, Anderson won the German Open, Welsh Open and BDO International Grand Prix titles.

He also won the Dutch Pentathlon in 2008, retaining the title in 2009, with a world record score of 502 points.

After months of speculation, Anderson joined the PDC in early 2009.

He made his PDC televised debut in an exhibition match at the Premier League Darts meeting in Cardiff, after Wayne Mardle had withdrawn with illness, and defeated John Part with a three-dart average of 107.

He then qualified for the 2009 UK Open at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton, losing in the second round 6–4 to Paul Nicholson.

On his PDC World Championship debut in 2010, Anderson defeated Jamie Caven 3–2 in the first round before losing 4–0 against Ronnie Baxter in the second round.

In June 2010, Anderson reached his first ever PDC major final at the UK Open.

He defeated Michael van Gerwen, Paul Nicholson, Mervyn King (who hit a nine-dart finish against Anderson), Andy Hamilton, and Tony Ayres before losing to Phil Taylor in the final 5–11.

At the 2010 World Matchplay he produced the first whitewash for six years with a 10–0 thumping of fellow Scot Robert Thornton during their first round encounter.

His second round encounter was against Jelle Klaasen, with Klaasen winning 14–12.

Anderson qualified for the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts, and went into the tournament as the number six seed.

Anderson defeated Mark Hylton, Mark Webster and Wayne Jones in the group stage to finish top of his group.

In the second round he defeated Colin Osborne 10–3 to again play Jones in the quarter finals.

Anderson led 15–12 before Jones took the last four legs to win the match 16–15.

Anderson represented Scotland along with Robert Thornton for the inaugural PDC World Cup of Darts in 2010 PDC World Cup of Darts.

They entered the tournament in the second round as 4th seeds and beat Russia, paired by Anastasia Dobromyslova and Roman Konchikov, 6–2 to advance to the group stage, where they lost their opening group game to Wales pairing Mark Webster and Barrie Bates.

Having recovered to secure victory against Bill Davis and Darin Young of the United States, Anderson and Thornton went out after defeat to Spain's Carlos Rodriguez and Antonio Alcinas.

Anderson qualified for the 2011 World Championship as the number 11 seed and in the first round played Japan's Morihiro Hashimoto.

Anderson won 3–0 in sets, taking all nine legs without reply, with an average of 103.23.

In the second round he faced two-time world champion Dennis Priestley, winning 4 sets to 2.

He then defeated Andy Smith in the third round (whilst setting his highest World Championship average of 108.39), Raymond van Barneveld in the quarter-finals, and Terry Jenkins in the semi-finals to ensure his place in the final against Adrian Lewis.

Nicknamed "The Flying Scotsman", after the famous steam train, he is a former BDO and WDF world number one, and a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2015 and 2016.

Anderson is renowned for his heavy scoring in the game and having one of the smoothest throws.

Anderson is a two-time back-to-back PDC World Champion, defeating Phil Taylor 7–6 in the 2015 final and Adrian Lewis 7–5 in 2016, while he was also a finalist in 2011, 2017 and 2021.