Owen Bates (born 12 December 2002) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a current PDC Tour Card holder, having gained a Tour Card through his placement on the 2023 Challenge Tour Order of Merit ranking.[2] This also qualified Bates for the 2024 PDC World Championship, where he was banned from using his former nickname "The Master",[3] garnering significant mainstream media attention.[4]
In his youth career, Bates has won a title on the 2025 PDC Development Tour.
Career
2021–2022
Bates began playing on the PDC Development Tour in 2021. His results improved in the 2022 season as he reached the final of event 15, finishing as runner-up to Keane Barry. In April 2022 he signed a sponsorship deal with manufacturer Loxley Darts.[5]
2023–2024
Bates entered PDC Qualifying School in 2023 but failed to win a PDC Tour Card. However, this enabled him to play on the 2023 PDC Challenge Tour.
In February, he won MODUS Super Series 3, Week 2, defeating Leonard Gates 4–3 in the week’s final.[6] earning him £5,000 and qualification to Champions week.[7] Bates finished the season in second place on the 2023 Challenge Tour Order of Merit ranking after finishing as the runner-up at four events, and winning event nineteen, defeating Wesley Plaisier on 13 August 2023, for his first PDC title.[8] This earned him qualification to the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship and two-year Tour Card, enabling him to compete on the PDC Pro Tour.
In his PDC World Championship debut, at the 2024 event, Bates was defeated by Steve Lennon 3–2 in sets in the first round. Bates made his UK Open debut, at the 2024 edition, and won his first round match against Andy Boulton 6–5, before losing to Graham Usher 6–5 in the second round.
World Championship results
PDC
- 2024: First round (lost to Steve Lennon 2–3)
Performance timeline
PDC
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | |||||||||||||
| World Championship | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | ||||||||||
| UK Open | DNQ | 2R | |||||||||||
| PDC Non-ranked televised events | |||||||||||||
| World Youth Championship | RR | QF | RR | ||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||
| PDC Season-end ranking | – | 109 | 125 | ||||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | BDO DNQ |
GDG DNQ |
IDO 1R |
EDG DNQ |
ADO DNQ |
BSD DNQ |
DDC 1R |
EDO 3R |
GDC DNQ |
FDT DNQ |
HDT DNQ |
SDT DNQ |
CDO DNQ | |
| 2025 | BDO |
GDO DNQ |
IDO DNQ |
GDG DNQ |
ADO |
EDG |
DDC |
EDO |
BSD |
FDT |
CDO |
HDT |
SDT |
GDC |
PDC 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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 [nb 1] |
DNP | BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 3R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
LEI 4R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 3R |
BAR 4R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 3R | ||||||
| 2024 | WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 2R |
LEI 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
LEI 2R |
LEI 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
MIL 3R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R | ||||
| 2025 | WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
ROS 3R |
ROS 3R |
LEI |
LEI |
HIL |
HIL |
LEI |
LEI |
LEI |
LEI |
ROS |
ROS |
HIL |
HIL |
LEI |
LEI |
LEI |
HIL |
HIL |
MIL |
MIL |
MIL |
HIL |
HIL |
LEI |
LEI |
LEI |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
- ^ Not a Tour card holder
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. |
Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round |
DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded | ||
References
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 18 February 2025. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
- ^ "Challenge Tour Order of Merit 2023". dart1.de (in German).
- ^ Wood, Kieran (20 December 2023). "Owen Bates must say goodbye to sexually charged nickname after qualifying for World Darts Championship". Darts News.
- ^ Andrews, Connor (7 November 2023). "PDC bans Owen Bates from using rude nickname at World Championship". TalkSPORT.
- ^ "Owen Bates". Loxley Darts. 20 June 2022.
- ^ Gill, Samuel (21 February 2023). "Owen 'The Master' Bates agrees new long-term deal with Loxley Darts after recent MODUS Super Series and Challenge Tour success". Darts News.
- ^ "MODUS Super Series".
- ^ "PDC Challenge Tour 2023 CT 19 Milton Keynes - Mastercaller".