Brendan Dolan

Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is an Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was the first player to hit a nine-dart finish in a "double-to-start" event (where a player must hit a double to begin play), which he achieved at the 2011 World Grand Prix, giving him the nickname the History Maker. He also reached the final of this tournament, where he lost to Phil Taylor.

On the PDC Pro Tour, Dolan lost his first seven finals before winning his maiden ranking title in 2013. He has since won nine more events on the Pro Tour, most recently in 2024. He is noted for his 180 celebration where he twirls his finger in a helicopter style motion.

After two early exits in the 2003 and 2004 UK Open, Dolan's first major run came in the 2004 World Grand Prix where he earned his place through the All-Ireland qualifiers, winning one of four places. He defeated fellow qualifier Mark Wilton in the first round but lost 3–1 in the second to Kevin Painter. However, he did not yet play in full complement of PDC events as he only took part in a total of four tournaments in 2005 and 2006. Dolan reached the last 32 of the 2007 UK Open, beating Bob Anderson and Darren Johnson before losing to Dennis Priestley.

In March 2008, Dolan reached his first PDC Pro Tour final, doing so in the UK Open Midlands Regional Final. He scored wins over Vincent van der Voort, Roland Scholten, Wes Newton, Colin Lloyd and Colin Osborne before losing to Phil Taylor. The result though earned Dolan £3,000, which helped him finish 16th in the UK Open rankings and enter the tournament in the third round. He defeated fellow countryman John MaGowan in the third round and then beat Adrian Lewis to reach the last 16 where he lost to Chris Thompson. Dolan won the non-ranking 2008 Ulster Open, beating Ronnie Baxter in the final. He qualified for the 2008 World Grand Prix as the highest ranked player from Northern Ireland in the PDC Order of Merit and was beaten in the first round by Jacko Barry.

Dolan qualified for the 2009 World Championship by winning one of eight places at the qualifiers in Telford. He was beaten 3–0 by number three seed James Wade in the first round. In October, he reached his second PDC Pro Tour final in Nuland, where Wade fought back from 2–0 down to defeat Dolan 6–2.

Dolan qualified for the 2010 World Championship via the Players Championship Order of Merit and won his first game at the event by defeating Tony Eccles 3–1 in the first round, but lost 4–0 in the second to Raymond van Barneveld, who hit a nine-dart finish in the match. He qualified for the Players Championship Finals for the first time but lost 6–5 to Adrian Lewis in the first round.

At the 2011 World Championship, Dolan defeated Kevin Painter 3–0 in the first round before losing 0–4 to Wes Newton in the second round.

At the World Grand Prix, Dolan defeated Wayne Jones, John Part and John Henderson to qualify for the semi-finals of the event. In his semi-final against James Wade, Dolan became the first darts player to hit a nine-dart finish with the double-start rule on television. He hit 160 to start, followed by a 180, then followed this up with treble 20, treble 17, and then the bullseye. Dolan eventually won the match 5–2 to reach the final, where his run ended with a 6–3 loss to Phil Taylor.