| Leighton Bennett | |
| Nickname: | Boom Boom |
| Birth Date: | 2005 12, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Lincoln, England |
| Father: | Gordon Bennett |
| Hometown: | Lincoln, Lincolnshire |
| Homecountry: | England |
| Since: | 2014 |
| Darts: | 18g Target Darts |
| Laterality: | Right-handed |
| Music: | "Boom Boom Boom" by The Outhere Brothers |
| Bdo: | 2019–2020 |
| Pdc: | 2021– (Tour Card: 2024-) |
| Bdo World: | Last 32: 2020 |
| Uk Open: | Last 160: 2024 |
Leighton Bennett (born 31 December 2005 in Lincoln, England) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. He won the final of the 2019 BDO World Youth Darts Championship.
In August 2018, Bennett won the Cambridgeshire Open, aged 12; in the semi-final, he beat Ricky Evans, before seeing off Rhys Hayden in the final.[1] In October 2018, he booked his place in the final of the 2019 BDO World Youth Darts Championship. He beat Nathan Girvan 3–0 in the Final to become 2019 BDO World Youth Champion. In 2019, Bennett started competing on the men's BDO tour. He reached the Final of the Luxembourg Open and was also a Semi-finalist in the Welsh Open, French Open, German Open, Antwerp Open and Polish Open. Bennett qualified for the 2020 BDO World Darts Championship, becoming the youngest player ever to compete in the Men's tournament. He also became the first player to compete in the Men's tournament and Youth final in the same year.
In 2024, Bennett entered the UK Q-School. He made it to stage 2 after making a quarter-final on the third day of stage one. He would go on to automatically win a tour card after beating Thomas Cromwell 6–3 in the final on the third day of stage 2, securing his card for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.[2]
As he had gained a Tour card, Bennett made his debut at the 2024 PDC Players Championship series in 2024. At Players Championship 1, Bennett won his first round match against Brett Claydon 6–3. In his second round match against Lukas Wenig in the Players Championships, Bennett hit a nine-dart finish en route to a 6–5 victory. In the third round he was defeated 6–5 by Cameron Menzies.At PC2, Bennett beat Boris Krčmar 6–2 before losing to Jonny Clayton 6–4 in the second round. At PC3, he shocked Dave Chisnall with a 6–1 first round win, then defeated Pascal Rupprecht 6–5 and Arron Monk 6–1 before being defeated in the last 16 by Peter Wright 6–1. At PC4, Bennett played Wright again, but lost 6–5 in the first round.
In August 2024, Bennett was suspended from all DRA events, including PDC events, for allegedly suspicious betting patterns, which breach betting and integrity rules.[3]
| Tournament | 2024 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | |||||||||||||||
| UK Open | 1R | ||||||||||||||
PDC Players Championships