Kirk Shepherd

Kirk Shepherd (born 5 October 1986) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He is the youngest player ever to reach the final of the World Professional Darts Championship in 2008.

Kirk Shepherd
Personal information
Nickname"Chaos"
Born (1986-10-05) 5 October 1986
Ramsgate, England
Home townSwindon, England
Darts information
Playing darts since1999
Darts21g Kirk Shepherd – Unicorn
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"20th Century Boy" by T-Rex
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2003–2006
PDC2006–
Current world ranking93 9 (3 January 2021)[1]
BDO majors – best performances
World MastersLast 64: 2005
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipRunner-up: 2008
Grand SlamLast 16: 2009
Ch'ship LeagueInitial groups, 6th, 2008
UK OpenLast 32: 2011, 2013, 2017
Other tournament wins
British Teenage Open 2004, 2006
Hampshire Open 2007
LPKD Day of Darts 2010
LPKD Red Lion Erdington 2010
LPKD The Pint Pot 2010
Newark Open 2010
PDC Challenge Tour (ENG) 2015
World Youth Masters 2003
Other achievements
Youngest player to reach World Darts final (either version)

Career

BDO

Shepherd won the Winmau World Youth Masters in 2003, the British Teenage Singles Champion in 2004 and 2006 and was twice voted British Darts Organisation Young Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006. At the age of just 18, he reached the final of the BDO Gold Cup in 2005. In 2006, he reached the quarter finals of the England Open, before switching from the BDO circuit to join the PDC in November 2006.

PDC

Shepherd's first 12 months in the PDC were not particularly successful – with just a couple of last 32 placings in the non-televised Pro Tour events and reached only 142 in the world rankings by the time of the qualifying rounds for the 2008 World Championship. Shepherd then qualified at the last chance PDPA qualifier to earn a place at the tournament proper at the Alexandra Palace.[2]

He then produced a series of major upsets at the 2008 World Championships, beating Terry Jenkins in the first round – then Mick McGowan and Barrie Bates and three-times former finalist Peter Manley to reach the semi-finals. Jenkins missed seven darts to beat him, McGowan missed four darts and Manley missed two darts to end his run, but he continued to progress. He then defeated Wayne Mardle 6–4 in the semi-final and met John Part in the final of the World Championship on New Year's Day. He failed to produce the form he had shown in the tournament and scored the lowest average by a finalist in the PDC World Championship during his 2–7 loss. He collected the runners-up cheque for £50,000 – his previous career earnings had been £16,970. Shepherd qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts in 2008 and his world ranking jumped from 173 at the start of 2007 to 22nd at the start of 2008. After the match, he quit his job where he had worked in a factory.

However, Shepherd was unable to continue his form throughout 2008, losing out in the last 64 in the UK Open and failing to qualify for the Las Vegas Desert Classic and the 2008 World Matchplay championship. Shepherd did play in the 2008 Grand Slam in November but lost all three of his group games, losing 5–1 to Raymond van Barneveld and 5–0 to Gary Mawson before narrowly losing 5–4 to Robert Thornton.

Shepherd entered the 2009 World Championship as the number 23 seed and faced Jan van der Rassel in the first round, losing 3–2 in a tie-break.[3]

In August 2009, Shepherd showed signs of his old form, reaching the quarter finals in the US Open for the very first time. This was followed up in November 2009 by winning 2 of his 3 group games in the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts to reach the second round, where he lost 5–10 to Kevin Painter.

In March 2010, Shepherd reached the quarter finals of the PDPA Players Championship 7 Wigan at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan. He lost 0–6 to Colin Lloyd.

In September 2011, Shepherd reached the quarter finals of the PDPA Players Championships 18 Derby at the Moorways Centre in Derby. He lost 1–6 to Paul Nicholson.

In February 2013, he was ranked seven of the nine Tour Card winners from the Q School Order of Merit.[4]

In 2015, Shepherd competed in the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour who is open to all PDPA Associate Members who failed to win a Tour Card at Qualifying School. He reached two finals, winning 5–3 against Jack Tweddel in March and losing 2–5 against Martin Lukeman in September.

In 2017, Shepherd entered qualifying school and got a tour card on day 4. His best result on the Pro Tour was a quarter final in the 13th players championship event.

Shepherd did have some good performances on the euro tour, noticeably when he hit a brilliant 170 checkout against Simon Whitlock, but wasn’t winning the tight matches hence he lost his tour card at the end of 2018 and returned to Q school in the 2019 edition, where on the first day he made it to the final but was beat by Jamie Hughes 5–2. On the second day he failed to win a match. On the third day he won one game giving him a hard task on the final day needing at least a last sixteen run to be in contention for a card. Despite that he went on and won the fourth and final day by beating Kevin Painter 5–2 to retain his tour card for the 2019–2020 seasons. This also means he is guaranteed a spot for the next two stagings of the UK Open.

Personal life

Shepherd became a father to a son, Callum, in early 2009. In June 2011, Shepherd became a father for the second time to son Jack, a daughter Charlotte in July 2015, and another son, Alfie, in February 2017.

Shepherd is a Second Dan black belt at karate, thus providing two of his nicknames, "The Karate Kid" and "The Martial Dartist".

World Championship results

PDC

Career finals

PDC premier event finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Runner-up 1. 2008 PDC World Darts Championship John Part 2–7 (s)
  1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline

Tournament2004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
PDC World Championship Non-PDC DNQ F 1R 3R 1R Did not qualify
UK Open Did not play 2R 3R 2R 3R 4R DNQ 4R Did not qualify 4R 3R 3R
Grand Slam of Darts Did not qulaify RR 2R Did not qualify
World Masters 2R 3R 2R Not BDO member
Performance timeline legend
DNP Did not play in the event #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

References

  1. "PDC Order of Merit". PDC.tv. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  2. "Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship PDPA Qualifiers". PDC. 12 November 2007. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  3. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/sport/shepherd-crashes-out-of-darts-ch-a48160/
  4. "PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC.tv. Professional Darts Corporation. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
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