Dimitri Van den Bergh explained

Dimitri Van den Bergh
Fullname:Dimitri Barbara Peter Van den Bergh[1]
Nickname:"The Dreammaker"
Birth Date:8 July 1994
Birth Place:Antwerp, Belgium
Hometown:Sint-Truiden, Belgium
Darts:23g Target Signature Gen 2
Laterality:Right-handed
Music:"Happy" by Pharrell Williams
Bdo:2012–2013
Pdc:2013–
(Tour Card: 2015-)
Pdc World:Semi Final: 2023
Matchplay:Winner (1): 2020
Grand Prix:Quarter Final: 2022
Grand Slam:Semi Final: 2020
Premier League:5th: 2021
European:Last 16: 2022
Uk Open:Winner (1): 2024
Pc Finals:Last 16: 2022, 2023
Masters:Semi Final: 2024
World Series Finals:Runner Up: 2021
Results:Players ChampionshipsWorld Series of DartsYouth events
Achievement:2016 Breaks into the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time
2018 Hits first televised nine-dart leg at 2018 Grand Slam of Darts against Stephen Bunting[2]
2020 Wins first ranked PDC premier title. Moves into top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time
2024 Hits second televised nine-dart leg at 2024 World Matchplay against Martin Schindler[3]

Dimitri Van den Bergh (born 8 July 1994) is a Belgian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked No. 10 in the world. Nicknamed "The Dreammaker", he is a two-time World Youth Champion, the 2020 World Matchplay champion, after beating Gary Anderson 18–10 in the final, in his first time competing in the Matchplay, and also the reigning UK Open Champion, after beating Luke Humphries 11–10 in the final.

Career

BDO

In 2013, Van den Bergh won the British Teenage Open by beating Billy Longshaw 3–0 in the final.[4] Two months later he claimed the 16th PDC Challenge Tour event of the year by whitewashing Exmouths Charlie Tate 4–0.[5]

PDC

2014

In 2014, he entered Q School in an attempt to earn a PDC tour card, but he couldn't advance beyond the last 64 in any of the four days. However, he was granted PDPA Associate Member status for participating which gave him entry into UK Open and European tour qualifiers.[6] Van den Bergh qualified for the first European Tour event, the German Darts Championship and lost 6–2 in the first round against Ronnie Baxter despite averaging 102.94.[7] Van den Bergh won three youth tour titles during the year and also reached the last 16 of the Under-21 World Championship, where he lost 6–3 to Robinson.[8] He finished top of the Youth Tour Order of Merit which earned him a two-year card for the main PDC tour by [9]

2015

Van den Bergh claimed two Development Tour titles in 2015.[10] He reached the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time at the third Players Championship event, but lost 6–5 to Mensur Suljović.[11] Van den Bergh was also knocked out in the second round of three European Tour events.[10] He qualified for the inaugural World Series of Darts Finals but was beaten 6–3 by Max Hopp in the first round in what was Van den Bergh's televised debut.[12] [13]

2016

He qualified for the 2016 World Championship through the European Pro Tour Order of Merit and danced on to the stage before his first round encounter with Ian White.[14] Van den Bergh missed four darts for the first set, but went on to win 3–1 taking out four ton-plus finishes during the match.[15] He lost 4–2 to Benito van de Pas in the following round.[16] Van den Bergh won the 14th Development Tour event by overcoming Steve Lennon 4–2.[17] At the 15th Players Championship tournament Van den Bergh reached the semi-finals of a main tour event for the first time with wins over Devon Petersen, Jan Dekker, Ronny Huybrechts, Chris Dobey and Cristo Reyes, but he lost 6–2 to Michael van Gerwen.[18] In the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship, Van den Bergh was beaten 6–3 by Corey Cadby.[19] He won a place at the Grand Slam by coming through the qualifying event and edged his first group match 5–4 over Gerwyn Price.[20] Van den Bergh was then beaten 5–4 by Robert Thornton, but after defeating Scott Waites 5–4 in the final group game it meant he was tied with Thornton on points and leg difference. This meant a nine-dart shoot-out was required to decide who would advance to the knock-out stage and Thornton won by 345 points to 340.[21]

2017

Van den Bergh's first round match at the 2017 World Championship went to a deciding set and was on throw, but he missed two darts at double eight to send it to a tie-break, allowing Cristo Reyes to step in and win 3–2.[22] At the end of the year, Van den Bergh became World Youth Champion by defeating Josh Payne 6–3 in the final. He would defend his title the following year by defeating Germany's Martin Schindler in the final.

2018

At the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh reached the quarter-finals for the first time, where he lost 5–4 to eventual champion Rob Cross in a tight match.Van den Bergh's debut in the World Series of Darts came with a stellar performance in the 2018 German Darts Masters where he lost in the final to Mensur Suljović 2–8 after defeating Michael van Gerwen 8–3 in the quarter-final and Gary Anderson 8–7 in the semi-final.[23]

2019

At the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh lost 4–1 to Luke Humphries in the third round.Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Van den Bergh was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He would play a one-off match against James Wade on night eight in Rotterdam, recording a 6–6 draw. Van den Bergh reached two Players Championship Finals, but lost in both to Glen Durrant and Krzysztof Ratajski respectively. Later in the year, he would qualify for the World Grand Prix for the first time, but he let a 1–0 lead slip and eventually lost 2–1 to Mervyn King. In the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh scored high averages in defeating Josh Payne, Luke Woodhouse and Adrian Lewis, before losing to Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals.

2020

At the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh reached the quarter-finals for the second time, there he lost to Nathan Aspinall 5–3.In March he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Open before succumbing to Gerwyn Price. Then, after spending the whole first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK, staying at Peter Wright's house, Van den Bergh pulled off the biggest achievement of his career by winning the 2020 World Matchplay on his debut, after defeating Nathan Aspinall, Joe Cullen, Adrian Lewis, Glen Durrant and Gary Anderson to win the £115,000 top prize, and move him into the Top 10 in the world for the first time.

2021

At the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh lost 4–2 in the fourth round to Dave Chisnall.In defence of his World Matchplay title, he reached the final, before losing 18–9 to Peter Wright

Van den Bergh qualified for the 2021 Nordic Darts Masters where he defeated Sweden's Johan Engström 6-4 in the first round, and defeated Gary Anderson 10-8 in the quarter finals before he lost to Fallon Sherrock 11-10 in the semi-finals.

2022

At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, Van den Bergh suffered a shock second round defeat to Florian Hempel.[24] At the Masters he reached the second round, defeating Ian White 6-1 in round 1 with a 105.31 average, but then losing 10-9 to Jonny Clayton in round 2. [25] [26] In June 2022, Van den Bergh won the 2022 Nordic Darts Masters, defeating Benjamin Drue Reus, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith en route to a final against Gary Anderson which the Belgian won 11–4.[27]

2023

At the 2023 PDC World Championship, Van den Bergh reached the quarterfinals for the third time and was finally able to progress further, seeing off Jonny Clayton 5–3, and as a result became the first Belgian player to reach the semi-finals of a PDC World Championship.[28] before succumbing to a 6–0 defeat to Michael van Gerwen.[29] In the same year, he and Kim Huybrechts represented Belgium on the World Cup of Darts. However, the two darters seemed to ignore each other during their first game. According to several media, the two players were having an unknown conflict, which they did not solve before the match started. Van den Bergh and Huybrechts did not really explain their behaviour after the game.[30]

2024

At the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship Van den Bergh was defeated in the second round by Florian Hempel 2–3, despite winning the first two sets, Van den Bergh missed 3 match darts. The match was a repeat of the 2022 second-round tie, which Hempel also won.[31]

Van den Bergh won his second major title at the 2024 UK Open, beating World Champion Luke Humphries in a deciding leg in the final.[32]

World Championship performances

PDC

Career finals

PDC major finals: 4 (2 title, 2 runner-up)

Legend
World Matchplay (1–1)
UK Open (1–0)
World Series of Darts Finals (0–1)
OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScore
Winner1.2020World Matchplay Gary Anderson18–10 (l)
Runner-up1.2021World Matchplay Peter Wright9–18 (l)
Runner-up2.2021World Series of Darts Finals Jonny Clayton6–11 (l)
Winner2.2024UK Open11–10 (l)

PDC world series finals: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-up)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScore
Runner-up1.2018German Darts Masters Mensur Suljović2–8 (l)
Winner1.2022Nordic Darts Masters Gary Anderson11–5 (l)
Winner2.2022Dutch Darts Masters Dirk van Duijvenbode8–2 (l)
Runner-up2.2023Poland Darts Masters Michael van Gerwen3–8 (l)

Performance timeline

Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Ranked televised events
PDC World ChampionshipDNQ2R1RQF3RQF4R2RSF2R
UK OpenDid not qualify1R6RQF4R5RSFW
World MatchplayDid not qualifyWFSF
World Grand PrixDid not qualify1R2R1RQF1R
European ChampionshipDNQ1RDNQ1RDNQ2R
Grand Slam of DartsDNQRRDNQQFRRSFWDDNQ
DNQ2RDNQ1R1R1R2R3R3R
Non-ranked televised events
Premier League DartsDid not playDNP5thDNP6thDNP
The MastersDid not qualify1R2R1RSF
PDC World Cup of DartsDid not playSFQFSF2RQFSFSF
World Series of Darts FinalsDNQ1RDNQQF1RDNQ1RF2RQF
3R1RSFWWDid not play
Career statistics
Year-end rankingNR5951393329991114

PDC European Tour

Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2014GDC
1R
DDM
2R
GDM
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
GDT
2R
EDO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
EDT
2R
2015GDC
DNQ
GDT
2R
GDM
DNQ
DDM
1R
IDO
DNQ
EDO
2R
EDT
DNQ
EDM
2R
EDG
DNQ
2016DDM
1R
GDM
1R
GDT
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
ADO
2R
EDO
2R
IDO
DNQ
EDT
2R
EDG
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
2017GDC
2R
GDM
DNQ
GDO
3R
EDG
2R
GDT
3R
EDM
DNQ
ADO
1R
EDO
3R
DDM
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
IDO
1R
EDT
1R
2018EDO
1R
GDG
DNQ
GDO
2R
ADO
3R
EDG
1R
DDM
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
DDO
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
EDT
DNQ
2019EDO
3R
GDC
2R
GDG
DNQ
GDO
2R
ADO
DNQ
EDG
2R
DDM
DNQ
DDO
DNQ
CDO
DNQ
ADC
2R
EDM
DNQ
IDO
2R
GDT
2R
2020BDC
2R
GDC
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
2021HDT
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
2022IDO
QF
GDC
SF
GDG
2R
ADO
2R
EDO
F
CDO
3R
EDG
2R
DDC
2R
EDM
3R
HDT
2R
GDO
F
BDO
2R
GDT
2R
2023BSD
3R
EDO
3R
IDO
2R
GDG
2R
ADO
DNQ
DDC
2R
BDO
2R
CDO
3R
EDG
2R
EDM
3R
GDO
DNQ
HDT
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
2024BDO
1R
GDG
2R
IDO
2R
EDG
WD
ADO
2R
BSD
1R
DDC
3R
EDO
2R
GDC
FDT
HDT
SDT
CDO

Nine-dart finishes

See also: Nine-dart finish.

Dimitri Van den Bergh televised nine-dart finishes! Date! Opponent! Tournament! Method! Prize
14 November 2018 Stephen BuntingGrand Slam of Darts3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12£25,000
14 July 2024 Martin SchindlerWorld Matchplay3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12-

Notes and References

  1. 1384528943609491459. DanDartsDawson. Evidence. The man top of the @unibet.... 20 April 2021.
  2. Web site: Dimitri Van den Bergh hits a nine-darter at Grand Slam of Darts. 15 November 2018. SKY Sports. 19 November 2018.
  3. Web site: World Matchplay Darts: Dimitri Van den Bergh hits nine-darter as Rob Cross survives scare and Peter Wright goes out. 14 July 2024. SKY Sports. 15 July 2024.
  4. Web site: 2013 British Teenage Open Results . Darts Database . 27 June 2014 . 29 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140729032639/http://dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=4303 . dead .
  5. Web site: 2013 PDC Challenge Tour England Results . Darts Database . 27 June 2014 . 29 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140729044809/http://dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=4403 . dead .
  6. Web site: 2014 PDC Qualifying School Day Four . . 27 June 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140119195834/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1cylsh2jxcmq81ixg9ej30u8f7/title/2014-pdc-qualifying-school-day-four . 19 January 2014 .
  7. Web site: German Darts Championship Round One . . 27 June 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141101230855/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1v4w4uyt37bjw1uka5kefbeyuu/title/german-darts-championship-round-one . 1 November 2014 .
  8. Web site: 2014 PDC Under 21 World Championship Results . Darts Database . 27 June 2014 . 14 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140714151134/http://dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=5516 . dead .
  9. Web site: Brown & Reynolds Earn Youth Wins . . 1 November 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141101230848/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/18tpzsf1auoan1577iobvs82a2/title/pdc-unicorn-youth-tour-latest . 1 November 2014 .
  10. Web site: Dimitri van den Bergh 2015. Darts Database. 28 November 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151129012811/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?PlayerKey=11656. 29 November 2015.
  11. Web site: 2015 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results . Darts Database . 29 November 2015 . 2 July 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170702233331/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=6018 . dead .
  12. Web site: 2015 World Series Of Darts Finals Qualifier Results . Darts Database . 29 November 2015 . 3 July 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170703030824/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=7406 . dead .
  13. Web site: 2015 World Series Of Darts Finals Results . Darts Database . 29 November 2015 . 11 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181211095607/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=6241 . dead .
  14. Web site: 2016 PDC World Championship Qualifiers . Darts Database . 3 December 2015 . 28 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171228233838/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/QualifyingList.aspx?EventKey=6236 . dead .
  15. Web site: William Hill World Championship Day Three . . 19 December 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151221013614/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1vebpt3a9xfld1hxrg80qzwoqy/title/william-hill-world-darts-championship-day-three . 21 December 2015 .
  16. Web site: William Hill World Championship Day Nine . . 29 December 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151228180816/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1lhqnn15n84ar1c1koutu6jt1n/title/william-hill-world-darts-championship-day-nine . 28 December 2015 .
  17. Web site: Dean & Dimitri's Development Tour Wins. PDC. 19 November 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161120150148/http://www.pdc.tv/development-tour/article/xfunlqv13bzn13yiio5egqel7/title/pdc-unicorn-development-tour-13-14. 20 November 2016.
  18. Web site: Nine-Dart van Gerwen's Barnsley Double. PDC. 19 November 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161120150150/http://www.pdc.tv/pro-tour-q-school/article/f2q302brs94v18nacliljhf9j/title/players-championship-15---watch-live. 20 November 2016.
  19. Web site: 2016 PDC Youth World Championship Results. Darts Database. 19 November 2016. 7 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180807094400/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=7545. dead.
  20. Web site: SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Day One. PDC. 19 November 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161120084913/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1mmq68dj6lrua17vj734ckoxnm/title/singha-beer-grand-slam-day-one. 20 November 2016. dead.
  21. Web site: SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Day Four. PDC. 19 November 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161125181551/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/15whidqcyiqoo1lygjwdkuowec/title/singha-beer-grand-slam-day-four. 25 November 2016. dead.
  22. Web site: William Hill World Championship Day Three. PDC. 17 December 2016.
  23. Web site: Super Suljovic's German Darts Masters Glory.
  24. Web site: Cazoo World Darts Championship.
  25. Web site: Van den Bergh & Whitlock shine on Ladbrokes Masters Day One.
  26. Web site: Whitlock KO's Wright to reach Ladbrokes Masters quarter-finals.
  27. Web site: Van den Bergh dominates in Denmark to claim Nordic Darts Masters glory. www.pdc.tv. 11 June 2022. 12 June 2022.
  28. Web site: Van den Bergh hoping to make his dream 'a reality' at Ally Pally. www.pdc.tv. 2 January 2023. 3 January 2023.
  29. Web site: Van Gerwen and Smith to collide in blockbuster World Championship final. www.pdc.tv. 2 January 2023. 3 January 2023.
  30. Web site: sportredactie . Door onze . 16 June 2023 . Belgische teamgenoten negeren elkaar compleet bij zege op World Cup of Darts . 17 June 2023 . NU . nl.
  31. Web site: Gill . Samuel . 22 December 2023 . Fabulous Florian Hempel produced astonishing great escape to defeat Dimitri Van den Bergh again at World Darts Championship . 16 March 2024 . Darts News . en.
  32. Web site: Gorton . Josh . 3 March 2024 . Van den Bergh topples Humphries to claim UK Open glory . 3 March 2024 . PDC . en.