Dirk van Duijvenbode
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Dirk van Duijvenbode (born 30 June 1992) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where is ranked world number twenty-seven; he reached a peak ranking of world number ten in 2023. A PDC Tour Card holder since 2016, Van Duijvenbode has won six Players Championship titles. He was the runner-up at the 2020 World Grand Prix and 2022 World Series of Darts Finals, losing to Gerwyn Price in the final on both occasions. He has also finished as runner-up in three events on the PDC European Tour.
He is known for his energetic walk-on, combined with hardstyle music. He has been nicknamed "Aubergenius" due to him working on an aubergine farm.
Career
Early career: 2011–2017
In 2011, van Duijvenbode reached the final of a German PDC Youth Tour event, losing 2–4 against Paul Barham. In 2013, he won through to the final of two Challenge Tour events but was beaten 1–4 by Rowby-John Rodriguez and 3–4 by Jan Dekker.
Van Duijvenbode began playing in main PDC events in 2014 and qualified for the German Darts Championship, where he beat Brian Woods 6–3 before losing 5–6 to Wes Newton, having been 5–3 ahead. He reached the quarter-finals of a PDC event for the first time at the fourth UK Open Qualifier by defeating Robert Thornton 6–4, but then lost by a reverse of this scoreline to Brendan Dolan. At the UK Open itself he beat John Bowles 5–1 and, despite at one time holding a 7–4 lead over Joe Murnan in third round, was then edged out 8–9. Van Duijvenbode progressed to the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship, but lost 2–6 against Keegan Brown. He was defeated 1–5 by Colin Fowler in the final of the penultimate Challenge Tour event of the year.
In 2015, van Duijvenbode hit his first nine-dart finish during the third Development Tour event after he wired double 12 for a perfect leg in his previous match. His first quarter-final of the year on the main tour came at the 12th Players Championship where he lost 2–6 to Michael Smith. Van Duijvenbode made his debut at the European Championship, but was knocked out 2–6 by Justin Pipe in the first round.
Van Duijvenbode made his first appearance in the PDC World Championship in the 2016 event and lost the first set against compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in the first round. The next went to a deciding leg, but when van Duijvenbode was on 180 he hit three treble 20s to bust his score and could not win another leg in a 3-0 loss. At the UK Open he enjoyed wins over Michael McFall, Peter Hudson and Robbie Green to play in the fourth round and was defeated 4–9 by Mark Webster. During the rest of the season, the best van Duijvenbode could do was reach the last 32 of three Players Championship events.
2018–2020
After winning his Tour Card back at the start of 2018 only to lose it after his two-year spell, van Duijvenbode won a Tour Card for the third time at 2020 European Q-School. On 9 February 2020, he made his first ever PDC semi-final, losing to Gerwyn Price 7–4 at Players Championship 2. He also reached the semi-final of the 2020 Belgian Darts Championship. Van Duijvenbode's strong start to the 2020 PDC Pro Tour helped him qualify for the 2020 World Grand Prix, where despite being a debutant and the lowest-ranked qualifier on the Order of Merit, he defeated top 16 players Mensur Suljović, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Gary Anderson & Simon Whitlock to reach his first televised final, where he was defeated by Gerwyn Price. His strong performances on the 2020 PDC Pro Tour were enough to earn him a spot at the World Championship for the first time in 5 years.
2021
At the 2021 World Championship, van Duijvenbode came back from 2 sets behind to beat Bradley Brooks 3–2 in the first round, and then beat the fifth seed Rob Cross in the second. In the third round he whitewashed Adam Hunt 4-0, to set up a tie with Glen Durrant in the last 16. Although he lost the first 2 sets to Durrant, he won the match 4–3 to progress to the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by Gary Anderson 5–1, ending his run. However, this performance was enough to see him reach the world's top 32 for the first time in his career. van Duijvenbode picked up his first PDC ranking title by winning Players Championship 2, beating fellow Dutchman Martijn Kleermaker in the final.
2022
Van Duijvenbode qualified for the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship as the 17th seed, and therefore entered the tournament at the second round stage. He defeated Boris Koltsov in the second round 3–2 in sets. In the third round Dirk played against Ross Smith and came back from 3–0 down to win the match 4–3. He was defeated in the fourth round by Gerwyn Price.
On the 2022 PDC Pro Tour, van Duijvenbode won two Players Championship events. Van Duijvenbode made his second appearance at the World Matchplay and entered the event as the 14th seed based on his then-ranking on the PDC Order of Merit. At the 2022 World Matchplay, he defeated Ryan Searle and world number 3 Michael Smith before losing to his 2022 PDC World Cup teammate Danny Noppert 16–11 in the quarter-final stage. According to the statistical website Darts Orakel, van Duijvenbode usurped José de Sousa as the most prolific 180 hitter on the PDC circuit, averaging one maximum every 0.378 legs of darts in the calendar year up to August 2022.
2023–2024
Van Duijvenbode qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship as the 14th seed and defeated Karel Sedláček in the second round 3–2 to set up a rematch with Ross Smith, defeating him in the third round of the World Championship 4–3 for the second year running. The match had 31 180s, a record for a best of 7 sets match. Van Duijvenbode lost to Michael van Gerwen 4–1 in the fourth round.
Dirk started the 2023 PDC Pro Tour season well, reaching the final of the 2023 European Darts Open and winning 3 of the first 10 Players Championship events. As a result of his tournament wins and perdormances, van Duijvenbode reached career–high rankings of 2nd on the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and 10th in the overall PDC Order of Merit.
However Van Duijvenbode suffered with injury after falling over during his walk–on before his match against Dylan Slevin at the 2023 Dutch Darts Championship and only reached one more quarter-final in Players Championship events. He reached quarter-finals on the European Tour at the 2023 Belgian Darts Open and 2023 German Darts Open and was runner–up at the 2023 European Darts Matchplay, losing the final 8–7 to Luke Humphries in a deciding leg.
Van Duijvenbode reached the second round at the 2023 World Matchplay but failed to win a match at the World Grand Prix, European Championship, Players Championship Finals, World Championship and the 2024 UK Open. Van Duijvenbode finished third in his group at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, losing to Gary Anderson 5–4 in a deciding leg in his opening match followed by a 5–2 win over Steve Lennon and a 5–1 loss to Luke Humphries. Van Duijvenbode failed to average over 86 in any of his three group matches.
As a result of his early exits at tournaments Van Duijvenbode's ranking suffered and he failed to qualify for the 2024 World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts. Van Duijvenbode did reach a quarter-final on the European Tour at the 2024 Flanders Darts Trophy, helping him qualify for the European Championship where he reached the quarter-finals. At the 2024 PDC Players Championship series Van Duijvenbode reached the quarter-finals at Players Championship 4, the final at PC6, losing to Dave Chisnall 8–6 in the final, and semi–finals at Players Championships 11 and 28.
This qualified Van Duijvenbode for the 2024 Players Championship Finals as the 23rd seed. He defeated 42nd seed Callan Rydz in the first round 6–1. Van Duijvenbode then defeated Florian Hempel, 6–3, and Jermaine Wattimena, 10–5, to reach the quarter-finals. Van Duijvenbode defeated Connor Scutt 10–9 in a deciding leg to reach his first semi-final at the Players Championship Finals.
World Championship results
PDC
- 2016: First round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 0–3)
- 2021: Quarter-finals (lost to Gary Anderson 1–5)
- 2022: Fourth round (lost to Gerwyn Price 1–4)
- 2023: Fourth round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 1–4)
- 2024: Second round (lost to Boris Krčmar 1–3)
- 2025: Second round (lost to Madars Razma 1–3)
- 2026: Second round (lost to James Hurrell 2–3)
Career finals
PDC major finals: 2
| Legend |
|---|
| World Grand Prix (0–1) |
| World Series of Darts Finals (0–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2020 | World Grand Prix | WalesGerwyn Price | 2–5 (s) |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2022 | World Series of Darts Finals | WalesGerwyn Price | 10–11 (l) |
PDC world series finals: 1
| Legend |
|---|
| World Series of Darts (0–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2022 | Dutch Darts Masters | BelgiumDimitri Van den Bergh | 2–8 (l) |
Performance timeline
Source:
| Tournament | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | Did not qualify | 1R | Did not qualify | QF | 4R | 4R | 2R | 2R | 2R | |||||||
| PDC World Masters | Did not qualify | 1R | QF | 2R | Prel. | Prel. | ||||||||||
| UK Open | Did not qualify | 3R | 1R | 4R | 4R | 4R | 3R | 5R | 5R | 6R | 5R | 4R | 4R | 4R | ||
| World Matchplay | Did not qualify | 1R | QF | 2R | DNQ | 2R | ||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Did not qualify | F | 1R | 1R | 1R | DNQ | QF | |||||||||
| European Championship | Did not qualify | 1R | Did not qualify | QF | DNQ | SF | 1R | QF | 1R | |||||||
| Grand Slam of Darts | Did not qualify | RR | DNQ | 2R | RR | DNQ | ||||||||||
| Players Championship Finals | Did not qualify | QF | 1R | QF | 1R | SF | 1R | |||||||||
| PDC Non-ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | Did not participate | QF | SF | 2R | DNQ | |||||||||||
| World Series of Darts Finals | Not held | Did not qualify | 2R | F | 1R | 1R | DNQ | |||||||||
| PDC World Youth Championship | 2R | 3R | 3R | SF | 1R | 1R | Did not participate | |||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | - | - | - | 86 | 47 | 77 | 72 | 99 | 92 | 43 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 30 |
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | GDC 2R | DNQ | ADO 1R | DNQ | EDT 1R | ||||||||||
| 2015 | GDC DNQ | GDT 1R | DNQ | EDO 2R | EDT 1R | EDM 1R | EDG DNQ | ||||||||
| 2016 | DDM 1R | GDM DNQ | GDT 1R | Did not qualify | |||||||||||
| 2017 | GDC DNQ | GDM 1R | GDO 1R | EDG 2R | GDT DNQ | EDM 2R | ADO 1R | DNQ | GDG 1R | DNQ | |||||
| 2018 | Did not qualify | EDM 1R | DNQ | IDO 1R | EDT DNQ | ||||||||||
| 2019 | DNQ | ADO 1R | Did not qualify | EDM 2R | DNQ | ||||||||||
| 2020 | BDC SF | DNQ | IDO WD | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | HDT 2R | GDT 2R | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | IDO 3R | GDC 3R | GDG 3R | ADO QF | EDO QF | CDO 3R | EDG 2R | DDC QF | EDM 2R | HDT 3R | GDO 2R | BDO 3R | GDT 3R | ||
| 2023 | BSD QF | EDO F | IDO SF | GDG 3R | ADO 3R | DDC 3R | BDO QF | CDO 3R | EDG 2R | EDM F | GDO QF | HDT 2R | GDC 2R | ||
| 2024 | BDO 2R | GDG 2R | IDO 2R | EDG 2R | ADO 2R | BSD 2R | DDC 2R | EDO 3R | GDC 2R | FDT QF | HDT 1R | SDT 1R | CDO DNQ | ||
| 2025 | BDO 3R | EDT 1R | IDO 2R | GDG 2R | ADO QF | EDG SF | DDC 3R | EDO 1R | BSD 2R | FDT 2R | CDO 2R | HDT 1R | SDT 2R | GDC F | |
| 2026 | PDO 1R | EDT QF | BDO 2R | GDG 3R | EDG | ADO | IDO | BSD | SDO | EDO | HDT | CDO | FDT | SDT | DDC |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Did not participate | NUL 1R | NUL 1R | Did not participate | NUL 1R | NUL 1R | DNP | GLA 2R | GLA 1R | Did not participate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | COV 1R | COV 3R | COV 4R | CRA 4R | CRA 1R | BAR 2R | BAR QF | WIG 2R | WIG QF | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | DUB 2R | DUB 2R | COV 1R | COV 1R | ||||||||||||||
| 2016 | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR DNP | COV 1R | COV 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | DUB 3R | DUB 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | |||||||||||||||
| 2017 | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R | BAR QF | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | MIL DNP | WIG 1R | WIG 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | DUB 1R | DUB 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | |||||||||||||
| 2018 | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | WIG QF | WIG 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | DUB 1R | DUB 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | ||||||||||||
| 2019 | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | WIG 3R | WIG 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | HIL 2R | HIL 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | DUB 2R | DUB 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | ||||
| 2020 | BAR 3R | BAR SF | WIG 4R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | MIL 1R | MIL 3R | MIL 2R | MIL 2R | MIL 4R | NIE 2R | NIE 1R | NIE 3R | NIE 1R | NIE 3R | COV 3R | COV 4R | COV 2R | COV 4R | COV 4R | |||||||||||
| 2021 | BOL 3R | BOL 4R | BOL 3R | BOL QF | MIL QF | MIL QF | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | NIE 1R | NIE 2R | NIE W | NIE F | MIL QF | MIL 3R | MIL 1R | MIL SF | COV 3R | COV 1R | COV 2R | COV 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR SF | BAR QF | BAR 4R | BAR 4R | BAR 2R | BAR 4R | ||||
| 2022 | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 3R | BAR QF | BAR 3R | NIE QF | NIE 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR W | BAR 2R | WIG 1R | WIG QF | NIE F | NIE QF | BAR W | BAR DNP | BAR 1R | BAR 4R | BAR 4R | BAR 3R | BAR F | BAR 4R | BAR QF | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | ||||||
| 2023 | BAR QF | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR W | BAR QF | BAR W | HIL QF | HIL 1R | WIG 4R | WIG W | LEI 2R | LEI 1R | HIL 2R | HIL 2R | LEI 3R | LEI QF | DNP | BAR 2R | BAR 4R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 4R | Did not participate | |||||||||||
| 2024 | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | LEI 4R | LEI QF | HIL 2R | HIL F | LEI 2R | LEI 2R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | HIL SF | HIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 4R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 3R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | WIG 3R | WIG 4R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG SF | LEI 4R | LEI 2R | ||||
| 2025 | WIG 3R | WIG 3R | ROS 2R | ROS 1R | LEI 3R | LEI 3R | HIL SF | HIL 2R | LEI 4R | LEI 2R | LEI 3R | LEI 3R | ROS 4R | ROS QF | HIL 3R | HIL QF | LEI F | LEI 1R | LEI 1R | LEI 3R | LEI 2R | HIL DNP | MIL QF | MIL 3R | HIL 3R | HIL 1R | LEI 3R | LEI 4R | LEI 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 3R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | |
| 2026 | HIL 3R | HIL 3R | WIG 3R | WIG 1R | LEI 2R | LEI 3R | LEI 2R | LEI 3R | WIG | WIG | MIL | MIL | HIL | HIL | LEI | LEI | LEI | LEI | MIL | MIL | WIG | WIG | LEI | LEI | HIL | HIL | LEI | LEI | ROS | ROS | ROS | ROS | LEI | LEI |
PDC World Series of Darts
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded |