Owen Bates (born 12 December 2002) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a PDC Tour Card holder, having gained a Tour Card through his placement on the 2023 PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit ranking. He has won three PDC Development Tour titles and one PDC Challenge Tour title. Ahead of his PDC World Championship debut at the 2024 event, he garnered mainstream media attention for his former nickname, "the Master", which he was barred from using.
Career 2021–2023 Bates began playing on the PDC Development Tour in 2021. His results started to improve in the 2022 season as he reached the final of event 15, losing 5–3 to Keane Barry.
After an unsuccessful campaign at 2023 PDC Q-School, Bates competed on the 2023 PDC Challenge Tour. He won his first Challenge Tour title at the 19th event by defeating Wesley Plaisier 5–4 in the final. At the end of the season, he reached back-to-back finals in the last two events, events 23 and 24. A 5–4 win against Mike Warburton in the latter event, in which he came back from 4–1 down and survived multiple missed match darts from Warburton, resulted in Bates finishing second place on the 2023 Challenge Tour Order of Merit ranking ahead of John Henderson. This secured him a PDC Tour Card for the next two years and qualification for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.
Bates reached the quarter-finals of the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship, where he lost 6–2 to Wessel Nijman. Outside of PDC darts, he competed in the MODUS Super Series, a weekly 12-player tournament for non-Tour Card holders. He won a weekly title in February 2023, defeating Leonard Gates 4–3 for the £5,000 top prize.
2024–present Bates made his PDC World Championship debut at the 2024 event. Ahead of the tournament, he garnered mainstream media attention for his nickname at the time, "the Master", due to its sexual innuendo and the fact the PDC had barred him from using it going forward. Bates faced Steve Lennon in the first round of the tournament and took a two-set lead, but would ultimately lose 3–2 in sets.
In his first year on the PDC Pro Tour, Bates made his European Tour debut at the 2024 International Darts Open, where he narrowly lost 6–5 to Nathan Aspinall in the first round. He reached the third round of the 2024 European Darts Open following wins over Joe Cullen and Danny Noppert, before being eliminated by Stephen Bunting. He competed on the 2025 Development Tour in addition to the Pro Tour, winning two titles and finishing third on the Order of Merit ranking, ensuring a second PDC World Championship appearance at the 2026 event and another two-year Tour Card.
World Championship results PDC 2024: First round (lost to Steve Lennon 2–3) 2026: First round (lost to Ryan Joyce 0–3)
Performance timeline PDC Tournament 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026PDC Ranked televised events World ChampionshipDNQ 1RDNQ 1R World MastersDid not qualify Prel. Prel. UK OpenDNQ 2R 2R 3RPDC Non-ranked televised events RR QF RR 2R 4RCareer statisticsPDC Season-end ranking–10912584
European Tour Tournament 2024 2025 2026International Open1RDid not qualifyDutch Championship1RDNQEuropean Open3RDid not qualifyBelgian OpenDNQ1RDNQSwiss TrophyDNQ1RDNQSlovak OpenNH1R
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 2023 Not a Tour card holderBARDNPBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RHIL1RHIL3RWIG1RWIG1RLEI1RLEI2RHIL1RHIL1RLEI4RLEI2RHIL1RHIL3RBAR4RBAR3RBAR1RBAR2RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR3RBAR2RBAR3R 2024WIG1RWIG1RLEI2RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RLEI2RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RHIL1RHIL1RMIL3RMIL1RMIL1RMIL1RMIL2RMIL1RMIL1RWIG1RWIG1RLEI1RLEI1RWIG1RWIG2RWIG1RWIG2RWIG1RLEI1RLEI1R 2025WIG2RWIG1RROS3RROS3RLEI2RLEI3RHIL1RHIL1RLEI3RLEI1RLEI1RLEI3RROS1RROS1RHIL2RHIL1RLEI1RLEI2RLEI3RLEI4RLEI2RHIL3RHIL4RMIL1RMIL1RHIL1RHIL2RLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG2RWIG3R 2026HIL2RHIL3RWIG2RWIG1RLEI2RLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RWIG2RWIG3RMIL2RMIL1RHIL1RHIL2RLEI2RLEI1RLEI1RLEI2RMIL1RMIL2RWIG1RWIG1RLEI1RLEI4RHIL1RHIL1RLEI2RLEIQFROS1RROS2RROSROSLEILEI
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