Leonard Gates (born November 26, 1970) is an American professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is 2023 WSDT Champion of Champions, 2023 World Seniors Darts Masters winner and the former PDC North American champion. He is also a former baseball player, playing for Abilene Prairie Dogs, Massachusetts Mad Dogs, Catskill Cougars and Nashua Pride.[5]

Career

Gates started to play in WDF in 2007, winning numerous American darts tournaments, including exhibition ones.[5] His first appearance in major BDO tournament was in 2017 World Masters, where he lost in the last 272 to Paul Coughlin.[6]

In 2022, Gates qualified as a seed for the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, but he lost in the second round to Steve Hine of England.[6]

In June, Gates took part in the 2022 US Darts Masters, where he was one of the eight North American qualifiers. He defeated Fallon Sherrock 6–2 in the first round before losing to Peter Wright 3–8 in the quarter-finals.[6] At the same time, he played in the 2022 PDC North American Championship, where he went on to defeat Jules van Dongen and David Cameron,[6] before beating Danny Baggish in the final and securing his first PDC title, which meant he qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship and 2022 Grand Slam of Darts as well.[7]

In September, Gates took a part in the 2022 World Series of Darts Finals, where he reached the second round, defeating Devon Petersen 6–4 in the first round,[6] then losing to James Wade 4–6 in the next one.[6]

In 2023, Gates and Jules van Dongen represented the United States on the World Cup of Darts, but they lost in the group stage.[6]

In 2024, Gates qualified for his first PDC major of 2024, qualifying for the UK Open.[8] In round 1, he narrowly beat Conan Whitehead in a close game, in the second round he faced Rhys Grffin whom he beat 6-3, in the third round he faced former World Championship finalist Jim Williams who Gates went on to beat 6-2 with an average of 92 per three darts, in the next round he faced a very experienced player in Martin Lukeman, it was a very long and competitive game but Gates was knocked out of the tournament with Lukeman beating him 10-5.[6]

Also apart from steeltip darts, Gates plays in darts tournaments of the World Soft Darts Association (WSDA) as well, being one of the most popular soft-tip contenders.[9]

World Championship results

[6]

WDF

PDC

WSDT

Performance timeline

[6]

Tournament 2022 2023 2024
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship DNQ 2R DNQ
UK Open DNP 4R
Grand Slam of Darts RR DNQ RR
PDC Non-ranked televised events
World Cup of Darts DNP RR DNP
WDF Ranked televised events
WDF World Championship 2R 3R DNP
WSDT Televised events
World Seniors Darts Championship DNP SF 1R
World Seniors Champion of Champions NH W QF
World Seniors Darts Masters DNP W DNP
World Seniors Darts Matchplay DNP W F
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 106 - 130

Nine-dart finishes

[6]

See also: Nine-dart finish
Leonard Gates televised nine-dart finishes
Date Opponent Tournament Method Prize
November 25, 2023  Martin Thomas MODUS Super Series 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 –

References

  1. ^ "Leonard Gates – Mastercaller".
  2. ^ "Leonard Gates – champdarts.com".
  3. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. February 18, 2025. Retrieved February 18, 2025.
  4. ^ "WDF Men's Rankings Table". WDF. February 17, 2025. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  5. ^ a b Gorton, Josh. "Former baseball star Gates aiming to strike at Alexandra Palace". PDC. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Leonard Gates". Dartsdatabase. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  7. ^ "Gutsy Gates wins 2022 bet365 North American Championship". PDC.tv. June 4, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  8. ^ Gorton, Josh. "Gates headlines latest Rileys Amateur Qualifiers for Ladbrokes UK Open". PDC. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  9. ^ "Feature Story – Leonard Gates -". WSDA. 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Gates
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