Richard Veenstra (born 10 July 1981) is a Dutch professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a Dutch Open champion, BDO World Trophy and Finder Darts Masters finalist and a medalist of the WDF World Cup and WDF Europe Cup.
| Richard Veenstra | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Veenstra in 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "Flyers" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 July 1981 Ossenzijl, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Ossenzijl, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Maria (I Like It Loud)" by Scooter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO | 2009–2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2023– (Tour Card: 2023-) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF | 2009–2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | 60  (21 April 2024)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Semi Final: 2016, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Masters | Last 16: 2015, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Trophy | Runner Up: 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Finder Masters | Runner Up: 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dutch Open | Winner (1): 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 32: 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Last 64: 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam | Group Stage: 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PC Finals | Last 32: 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Career edit
In October 2014, Veenstra won the Luxembourg Open beating Mark Oosterhuis in the Final 6–4.[2] He reached the semi-finals of the 2015 Denmark Masters and England Open.[3][4] In October 2015, he won WDF World Cup Pairs with Wesley Harms to beat Scott Mitchell and Mark McGeeney 6–3.[5] On his debut at the 2016 BDO World Darts Championship, Veenstra caused an upset beating compatriot and third seed Jeffrey de Graaf 3–2 in the first round, before beating English player Martin Atkins comfortably 4–0 in the second round. Veenstra then defeated defending champion Scott Mitchell 5–3 to reach the semi-finals, which he narrowly lost to Jeff Smith 6–5.
In September 2016, Veenstra won the WDF Europe Cup singles by beating Jim Williams in the final 7–5, averaging 93.18. In September 2018, he won both the BDO British Open and BDO British Classic in the same weekend.
Veenstra competed at the PDC European Q-School in 2020 but failed to gain a tour card.
At the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, Veenstra recorded the highest three dart average in the venue's history with 104.91, to defeat Luke Littler 3–0 in the last 16. In the quarter-final he almost achieved a nine-dart finish en route to a 4–2 victory against Brian Raman, but missed double 12. Veenstra was defeated in his semi-final match against Neil Duff, losing 5–2.
PDC edit
At 2023 European Q-School, Veenstra secured a PDC tour card for the 2023 and 2024 seasons by finishing second on the European Q-School Order of Merit.[6]
Veenstra enjoyed a run to the third round at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship in his tournament debut year. Having defeated Ben Robb[7] and the seeded Kim Huybrechts,[8] he fell to a 0–4 whitewash defeat to Dutch compatriot Michael van Gerwen.
World Championship results edit
BDO/WDF edit
- 2016: Semi-finals (lost to Jeff Smith 5–6)
- 2017: Second round (lost to Danny Noppert 0–4)
- 2018: Quarter-finals (lost to Michael Unterbuchner 4–5)
- 2019: Second round (lost to Scott Waites 1–4)
- 2020: Second round (lost to David Evans 2–4)
- 2022: Semi-finals (lost to Neil Duff 2–5)
PDC edit
- 2024: Third round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–4)
Career finals edit
BDO major finals: 2 (2 runner-up) edit
| Legend |
| Zuiderduin Masters (0–1) |
| BDO World Trophy (0–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2018 | Zuiderduin Masters |  Glen Durrant
|
3–5 (s) |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2019 | BDO World Trophy |  Jim Williams
|
6–8 (l) |
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
Performance timeline edit
| Tournament | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Darts Championship | BDO | WDF | DNQ | 3R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | BDO | WDF | 3R | 4R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam of Darts | DNP | RR | DNP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Players Championship Finals | DNQ | 2R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO/WDF Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO World Championship | DNQ | SF | 2R | QF | 2R | 2R | NH | SF | PDC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO World Trophy | DNQ | 1R | 1R | DNP | RU | NH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winmau World Masters | L80 | L16 | L32 | L32 | L16 | L32 | NH | L32 | PDC | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Zuiderduin Masters | RR | RR | RR | RR | RU | NH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | HDT 2R |
GDT DNQ | |||||||||||
| 2022 | IDO DNQ |
GDC DNP |
GDG DNP |
ADO DNP |
EDO DNP |
CDO DNP |
EDG DNP |
DDC DNP |
EDM DNP |
HDT DNP |
GDO DNP |
BDO DNP |
GDT DNP |
| 2023 | BSD 2R |
EDO DNQ |
IDO DNQ |
GDG DNQ |
ADO DNQ |
DDC DNQ |
BDO 1R |
CDO 1R |
EDG DNQ |
EDM DNQ |
GDO DNQ |
HDT 1R |
GDC DNQ |
| 2024 | BDO 2R |
GDG 2R |
IDO 3R |
EDG DNQ |
ADO |
BSD DNQ |
DDC |
EDO |
GDC |
FDT |
HDT |
SDT |
CDO |
PDC Players Championship
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | BAR 3R |
BAR QF |
BAR 4R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 4R |
HIL 2R |
HIL 2R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 2R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 3R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 4R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
HIL 2R |
HIL QF |
BAR 2R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 4R |
| 2024 | WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 2R |
LEI 3R |
HIL 2R |
HIL 3R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
HIL |
HIL |
HIL |
HIL |
MIL |
MIL |
MIL |
MIL |
MIL |
MIL |
MIL |
WIG |
WIG |
MIL |
MIL |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
LEI |
LEI |
| 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 | ||
References edit
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 21 April 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
- ^ 2014 Luxembourg Open Results. DartsDatabase
- ^ 2015 Denmark Masters Results. DartsDatabase
- ^ 2015 England Open Results. DartsDatabase
- ^ 2015 WDF World Cup Pairs Results. DartsDatabase
- ^ Phillips, Josh (15 January 2023). "Brown & Huybrechts headline Tour Card winners as 2023 Q Schools conclude". pdc.tv.
- ^ Gorton, Josh (20 December 2023). "Inspired Littler lights up Ally Pally on debut, as Wright exits". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ Gorton, Josh (23 December 2023). "Brilliant Bunting lays down a marker, as Evans dispatches Aspinall". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
External links edit
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