Jonny Clayton - Misplaced Pages

PDC World Cup of Darts (Team event)	2020, 2023
WDF Europe Cup Team	2014
Worthingtons Darts Champion of Champions	2016
Berlin Buddy Bear Trophy (PL Night 9 Berlin)	2023

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR)	2017, 2019
Players Championship (BOL)	2021
Players Championship (LEI)	2023
Players Championship (MK)	2021, 2024

European Tour Events

Austrian Darts Open

2018, 2023

World Series of Darts

New South Wales Darts Masters

2022

Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently the World No. 7.

Nicknamed The Ferret, he won the PDC World Cup of Darts for Wales in 2020 and the 2023 alongside Gerwyn Price. He won his first televised singles major title at the 2021 Masters, which would lead him to qualifying for the 2021 Premier League Darts, which he would also go on to win. He subsequently won his first ranked televised major title at the 2021 World Grand Prix.

Career

2015

Clayton joined the PDC Pro Tour in 2015 after winning a Tour Card on the final day of Qualifying School. His first quarter-final came at the sixth Players Championship event and he lost 6–1 to Benito van de Pas. Clayton qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts later that year, but despite winning his opening match against Terry Jenkins, he went on to finish bottom of his group.

2016

Clayton's first appearance at the UK Open came in the 2016 edition, but he was defeated 6–3 by James Wilson in the second round. Clayton recorded a quarter-final showing at the eighth Players Championship and reached his first semi-final at the 12th event, but was whitewashed 6–0 by Gary Anderson. A 2–0 victory over Tony Darlow saw Clayton claim the non-ranking Worthingtons Darts Champion of Champions title. He lost 6–3 to Darren Webster in round one of the Players Championship Finals.

2017

Clayton made his PDC World Championship debut in the 2017 event, and came from a set down to beat fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price 3–1 in the first round. He lost 4–1 to Ian White in the second round.

Clayton won his first PDC ranking title with Players Championship 22 after beating James Wilson 6–1 in the final.

Clayton got to his first PDC major final at the 2017 Players Championship Finals. He beat Jeffrey de Graaf, Price, Stephen Bunting, Steve Beaton and number 1 seed Rob Cross, before losing out to Michael van Gerwen.

2018

His run to the final saw him break into the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit, meaning that he was a seed at the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, where he was eliminated by fellow countryman Jamie Lewis.

He went on to win the 2018 Austrian Darts Open by defeating Gerwyn Price 8–5 in the final. This meant that he was the first welsh winner on the PDC European tour.

2019

Clayton won Players Championship 10 by defeating Gabriel Clemens 8–4 in the final. This was Jonny's 3rd ranking title.

2020: World Cup Champion

At this point a three-time PDC ranking title winner, Clayton was selected as a 'challenger' for the 2020 Premier League night in Cardiff, but lost 7–1 to an inspired Michael Smith.

Clayton kicked off his 2020 season by defeating world number one Michael van Gerwen 10–6 in the opening round of the 2020 Masters.

He went on to win the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts for Wales with Gerwyn Price as his teammate, defeating the English side of Rob Cross and Michael Smith 3–0.

2021: First individual title, Premier League and Grand Prix champion

At the Masters Clayton beat José de Sousa, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade and Peter Wright en route to the final where he faced Mervyn King. Clayton won the match 11–8 to win his first major individual televised title. In his match against Wade, he was successful in checking out 10 times out of 11 for a success rate of 91%, which the PDC claimed to be a possible world record.

He won two Players Championship events early in 2021.

Upon winning the Masters tournament, Clayton was invited to participate in the 2021 Premier League Darts, where on the third night of his debut season he hit a nine-dart finish on the way to beating José de Sousa.

After the fifth evening of league action Clayton was placed at the top of the league. He slipped to as low as 8th, before going into 4th position for night 16. He had to achieve at least a draw to secure his place in the playoffs. He managed to do so and won his game against Dimitri Van den Bergh winning 8–6.

In the playoffs he beat Michael van Gerwen 10–8 in their semi-final. He went on to defeat José de Sousa 11–5 in the final. In doing so he became the first Welsh winner of the Premier League and the first player to finish 4th in the league phase and win the title.

Clayton participated in the World Grand Prix in which he reached the final after beating Callan Rydz, José de Sousa, Krzysztof Ratajski and Danny Noppert along the way. In the final Clayton prevailed over World No. 1 Gerwyn Price with a 5–1 victory winning him his third major tournament of the year. Three weeks later, Clayton picked up his fourth TV title of the year with an 11–6 victory over Dimitri Van den Bergh in the final of the World Series of Darts Finals.

2022

At the 2022 World Championship, Clayton defeated Keane Barry and Gabriel Clemens before losing to eventual finalist Michael Smith 4–3.

2023

At the 2023 World Championship, Clayton whitewashed Danny van Trijp 3–0 in his second round tie, then defeated Brendan Dolan 4–1 in the third round before beating Josh Rock 4–3 to reach the quarter finals for the first time in his career. He lost his quarter-final to Dimitri Van den Bergh 5–3.

2024

At the 2024 World Championship, Clayton won his second-round match 3–1 against Steve Lennon, then defeated Krzysztof Ratajski 4–2 in the third round before being whitewashed 4–0 by Rob Cross in the fourth round.

World Championship performances

PDC

2017: Second round (lost to Ian White 1–4)
2018: First round (lost to Jamie Lewis 0–3)
2019: Second round (lost to Dimitri Van den Bergh 1–3)
2020: Third round (lost to Stephen Bunting 0–4)
2021: Third round (lost to Joe Cullen 3–4)
2022: Fourth round (lost to Michael Smith 3–4)
2023: Quarter-finals (lost to Dimitri Van den Bergh 3–5)
2024: Fourth round (lost to Rob Cross 0–4)
2025: Ongoing

Career finals

PDC major finals: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2017	Players Championship Finals	Michael van Gerwen	2–11 (l)
Winner	1.	2021	The Masters	Mervyn King	11–8 (l)
Winner	2.	2021	Premier League	José de Sousa	11–5 (l)
Winner	3.	2021	World Grand Prix	Gerwyn Price	5–1 (s)
Winner	4.	2021	World Series of Darts Finals	Dimitri Van den Bergh	11–6 (l)
Runner-up	2.	2023	World Matchplay	Nathan Aspinall	6–18 (l)

PDC team finals: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Country	Teammate	Opponents in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2020	World Cup of Darts	Wales	Gerwyn Price	England – Michael Smith and Rob Cross	3–0 (m)
Runner-up	1.	2022	World Cup of Darts	Wales	Gerwyn Price	Australia – Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock	1–3 (m)
Winner	2.	2023	World Cup of Darts	Wales	Gerwyn Price	Scotland – Peter Wright and Gary Anderson	10–2 (l)

PDC World Series finals: 1 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend
World Series of Darts (1–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2022	New South Wales Darts Masters	James Wade	8–1 (l)
Runner-up	1.	2022	New Zealand Darts Masters	Gerwyn Price	4–8 (l)

Career statistics

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	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	NYF	Not yet founded

Performance timeline

Tournament	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNQ		2R	1R	2R	3R	3R	4R	QF	4R
UK Open	1R	2R	3R	4R	5R	SF	6R	6R	6R	6R
World Matchplay	DNQ			1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	F	2R
World Grand Prix	DNQ			1R	1R	2R	W	2R	1R	QF
European Championship	DNQ		2R	1R	2R	SF	DNQ	2R	1R	2R
Grand Slam of Darts	RR	DNQ		QF	DNQ	2R	QF	2R	RR	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNQ	1R	F	QF	1R	2R	SF	SF	2R	1R
Non-ranked televised events
The Masters	DNQ				1R	QF	W	SF	QF	1R
Premier League Darts	DNP					C	W	SF	SF	DNP
World Cup of Darts	DNP			QF	1R	W	SF	F	W	2R
World Series of Darts Finals	DNQ		1R	DNQ	QF	DNQ	W	SF	2R	1R
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	74	60	31	15	16	17	8	7	9

PDC European Tour

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

Nine-dart finishes

Jonny Clayton's televised nine-dart finishes
Date	Opponent	Tournament	Method
7 March 2020	Chris Dobey	UK Open	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12
7 April 2021	José de Sousa	Premier League	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12

References

^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

"PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
"PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC.tv. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
"Mighty Mike Defies Wade For Title". PDC. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
"SINGHA Beer Grand Slam - Monday". PDC.tv. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
"2016 Coral UK Open Day One". PDC. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
"Anderson Takes Title In Barnsley". PDC. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
"2016 Worthingtons Darts Champion of Champions Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
"2016 Players Championship Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
"William Hill World Championship Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 16 December 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
"2017 PDC World Championship Fixtures". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
"Clinical Clayton's Maiden Title". Professional Darts Corporation. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
Allen, Dave (26 October 2017). "Minehead Treble For Unbeatable Van Gerwen". PDC. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
Allen, Dave (27 November 2017). "William Hill World Darts Championship Draw". PDC. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
"Challengers confirmed for 2020 Unibet Premier League". PDC. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
"Jonny Clayton: Welshman ends Michael van Gerwen's Masters reign". BBC Sport. 1 February 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
BEST EVER FINISHING?!| Jonny Clayton with 91% checkout success rate at the 2021 Ladbrokes Masters!. Professional Darts Corporation – via YouTube.
Banks, Jamie (28 April 2021). "Clayton caps amazing debut season with Unibet Premier League glory". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
"Clinical Clayton claims BoyleSports World Grand Prix glory". Professional Darts Corporation. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
Phillips, Josh (31 October 2021). "Clayton lands fourth TV title of 2021 at Jack's World Series Finals". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
Allen, Dave (26 November 2017). "Minehead Treble For Unbeatable Van Gerwen". PDC. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
Phillips, Josh (31 January 2021). "Clayton wins Ladbrokes Masters and final Premier League place". PDC. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
Banks, Jamie (28 May 2021). "Clayton caps amazing debut season with Unibet Premier League glory". PDC. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
Allen, Dave (9 October 2021). "Clinical Clayton claims BoyleSports World Grand Prix glory". PDC. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
Phillips, Josh. "Clayton lands fourth TV title of 2021 at Jack's World Series Finals". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 1 November 2021.

External links

Media related to Jonny Clayton at Wikimedia Commons
Jonny Clayton player profile at Darts Orakel

v t e PDC Roll of Honour
Premier tournament winners	Phil Taylor (79) Michael van Gerwen (47) James Wade (11) Gary Anderson (8) Peter Wright (8) Gerwyn Price (7) Raymond van Barneveld (6) Luke Humphries (6) Jonny Clayton (4) Rob Cross (4) Adrian Lewis (4) Luke Littler (3) John Part (3) Nathan Aspinall (2) Daryl Gurney (2) Rod Harrington (2) Colin Lloyd (2) Michael Smith (2) Robert Thornton (2) Dimitri Van den Bergh (2) Stephen Bunting Larry Butler Joe Cullen Mike De Decker Chris Dobey Glen Durrant Ritchie Edhouse Peter Evison Andrew Gilding Peter Manley Paul Nicholson Danny Noppert Colin Osborne Kevin Painter Dennis Priestley Roland Scholten Ross Smith José de Sousa Mensur Suljović Scott Waites Alan Warriner-Little Simon Whitlock
World Series event winners	Michael van Gerwen (16) Phil Taylor (8) Gary Anderson (6) Rob Cross (4) Peter Wright (4) Gerwyn Price (3) Michael Smith (3) Luke Littler (2) Dimitri Van den Bergh (2) Kyle Anderson Nathan Aspinall Jonny Clayton Damon Heta Luke Humphries Adrian Lewis Mensur Suljović
World Cup winners	Raymond van Barneveld (4) Adrian Lewis (4) Phil Taylor (4) Michael van Gerwen (3) Jonny Clayton (2) Gerwyn Price (2) Peter Wright (2) Gary Anderson John Henderson Damon Heta Luke Humphries Michael Smith Co Stompé Simon Whitlock

Top 20 PDC darts players in Order of Merit

Rankings as of 24 November 2024 with movement in rank since 17 November 2024 indicated.

Categories: