Wayne Warren (born 12 June 1962) is a Welsh former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. He won the 2020 BDO World Darts Championship, becoming the last BDO World Champion. He is the oldest player to become a world champion.
Darts career BDO Warren qualified for the 2005 BDO World Darts Championship, where he was the only Welshman in the field. He lost 3–0 in the first round to third seed Mervyn King. Warren has come close to qualifying for Lakeside on two occasions, falling two games short of qualifying for the 2008 World Championship in a loss to Mike Veitch who eventually qualified, and then falling at the same hurdle again in the qualifiers for the 2009 World Championship, losing to Robbie Green. Warren fell two games short once more of qualifying for the 2010 World Championship, losing to Irishman Martin McCloskey who eventually qualified.
Warren's best TV performance came in the 2015 BDO World Trophy, where he reached the quarter-finals, beating Madars Razma 6–4 and 2015 World Champion Scott Mitchell with ease 7–2. He fell at the Last-8 stage, losing a close game with Jeff Smith 8–7.
Warren also qualified for the 2013 World Championship, but lost in the first round to Alan Norris.
In 2014, Warren won the BDO Gold Cup, beating Pip Blackwell in the final three sets to nil.
Warren reached the quarter-final of the 2018 World Championship, beating Wesley Harms 3–1 in an impressive showing in the 1st round; in the 2nd round, after a tough start, he defeated Willem Mandigers 4–2 to set up a quarter-final match against Mark McGeeney. Warren led McGeeney 4–3 in sets and led the eighth by a break of throw, but McGeeney took the set to a deciding leg, in which Warren hit a double-one attempting to hit a single 20 that would have given him one match dart. McGeeney won the set and ultimately the match 5–4.
At the 2020 World Championship, Warren improved on his best performance by reaching the final, and beat fellow Welshman Jim Williams 7–4 to win the BDO world title. At 57, Warren was the oldest winner of either version of the world championship. His prize winning fee of £23,000 was the lowest awarded to a world champion since 1989, as a result of the BDO's financial difficulties which led to it going into liquidation later in the year. Warren is therefore the last player to win the BDO version of the world championship, and became the World Darts Federation's number one ranked player as a result of his victory.
Style of play Fellow players and commentators have commented on Warren's smooth and relaxing throwing style.
Personal life Warren is an active player on the darts exhibition circuit.
Away from darts, Warren works as a roofer and lives in Tynewydd, Rhondda Cynon Taf. He is sponsored by Red Dragon Darts.
In 2001, Warren was involved in an incident in which he was splashed with boiling chip fat – suffering 20% upper body burns which gave him heavy scarring.
World Championship performances
BDO 2005: First round (lost to Mervyn King 0–3) 2013: First round (lost to Alan Norris 1–3) 2018: Quarter-finals (lost to Mark McGeeney 4–5) 2019: Second round (lost to Michael Unterbuchner 0–4) 2020: Winner (beat Jim Williams 7–4)
WDF 2022: Third round (lost to Cameron Menzies 0-3)
Career finals
BDO major finals: 1 (1 title) Legend World Championship (1–0) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score(l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets. Winner 1. 2020 World Darts Championship Jim Williams 7–4 (s)
Performance timeline BDO Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 DNQ 1RDNQ 1RDNQ QF 2R W BDO World TrophyNot heldDNQ QFDNQ 1R 2RNH Winmau World Masters 1RDNP 1RDNP 2RDNP 1R 3R 4R 2R 4R 2R 1R 1R 1R QFDNPNH DNPNHDNP QFNH PDC Tournament 2019 2020 RR RR WDF Tournament 2022 3R
References
External links Wayne Warren Profile, results and stats Profile on Mastercaller.com Wayne Warren Profile and stats Darts Database