Dirk van Duijvenbode
Dirk van Duijvenbode
Main page
511554

Dirk van Duijvenbode

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Dirk van Duijvenbode

Dirk van Duijvenbode (born 30 June 1992) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he reached a peak ranking of world number ten in 2023. A PDC Tour Card holder since 2016, Van Duijvenbode has won six PDC ranking titles in Players Championship events. 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. Nicknamed "the Titan" or the "Aubergenius", he is known for his energetic walk-on, combined with hardstyle music.

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.

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.

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.

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.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.