Arron Monk

Arron Monk (born 15 April 1990) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the son of fellow former professional darts player and the 1996 Winmau World Masters winner Colin Monk.^[1]

Arron Monk
Personal information
Full name	Arron Monk
Nickname	"Mad Monk”
Born	(1990-04-15) 15 April 1990 (age 34) Andover, Hampshire, England
Home town	Andover, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1995
Darts	22g Red Dragon
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"(Theme From) The Monkees" by The Monkees
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2006
PDC	2007–2020, 2023– (Tour Card: 2011–2015, 2018–2019, 2023–2024)
WDF	2006, 2021–2022
PDC premier events – best performances
World Championship	Last 64: 2012, 2013, 2014
UK Open	Last 32: 2012
Grand Slam	Last 16: 2012
PC Finals	Last 64: 2019
Other tournament wins
British Internationals 2022 PDPA Qualifier 2012 PDC Q-School 2023 Youth events PDC World Youth Ch'ship 2011 PDC Development Tour 2012 (x6) Colin Monk Classic 2011 Eastbourne Open 2010 Hampshire Open 2010 Mill Rythe Darts Festival 2009 New Kids on the Oche 2008
Other achievements
First Youth World Darts Champion 2011

Career

Monk came to prominence with a group of young darts players at the 2010 UK Open which included Joe Cullen, William O'Connor and Reece Robinson. He defeated Nick Fullwell in the second round, whilst being cheered on by his father. In the third round, however he was defeated by the in-form Denis Ovens, who went on to reach the semi-final.

Monk also competed on the PDC Pro Tour and won the New Kids on the Oche event – Nuts TV's last televised darts tournament – in 2008.

On 3 January 2011, he won the final of the PDC Under-21 World Championship against Michael van Gerwen, played before the final of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship. As a result of reaching the final, he qualified for the 2011 Grand Slam of Darts.

2012 season

Monk qualified for his first PDC World Championship in 2012 by beating Joe Cullen in the PDPA Qualifier.^[2] He was perhaps unlucky with the draw for the first round as he played the winner of the previous weeks Players Championship Finals, Kevin Painter, and was beaten 3–1.^[3] In April, he earned a place in the Austrian Darts Open in Vienna by defeating Paul Barham and Daniel Day in the UK qualifier.^[4] He played Raymond van Barneveld in the first round and lost 6–4.^[5] At the UK Open Monk enjoyed a 9–8 victory over Painter, before losing to Paul Nicholson 9–3 in the last 32.^[6] He also qualified for the third European Darts Open with wins over Jack Hill and Chris Mason,^[7] but lost to Steve Brown 6–2 in the first round in Düsseldorf.^[8] In October, Monk reached the semi-finals of a PDC event for the first time at the 13th Players Championship of the year. He defeated the likes of Dennis Priestley, Roland Scholten and Mark Webster, all of whom have won major titles in the past, before losing 6–1 to Michael van Gerwen.^[9] Monk then saw off John Part, Vincent van der Voort and Andy Hamilton, to make the quarter finals of the firth European Tour Event of the year, the Dutch Darts Masters.^[10] Monk faced Paul Nicholson and lost 6–1 with an average of just 69.39.^[11] Monk qualified for the 2012 Grand Slam of Darts by finishing top of the PDC Unicorn Youth Tour Order of Merit.^[12] He won two of his three group games to finish second in the table and qualify for the last 16 of a major tournament for the first time.^[13] He played Dean Winstanley and was beaten 10–5.^[14]

2013 season

Monk reached his second World Championship by finishing 35th on the 2012 ProTour Order of Merit,^[15] claiming the fifth of sixteen spots that were awarded to non-qualified players.^[16] He lost 3–0 to Peter Wright in the first round.^[17] Monk was ranked world number 45 after the event.^[18] At the UK Masters he defeated Ian White and Mark Walsh both 6–4, before missing one match dart in the third round against Robert Thornton to lose 6–5.^[19][20] He was beaten 6–4 by Ricky Evans in the semi-finals of the Under-21 World Championship,^[21] and lost 5–2 to Gaz Cousins in the second round of the UK Open.^[22] In total he reached the last 16 stage four times during the year but could not advance beyond this stage.^[23]

2014 season

Monk was beaten 3–0 by Justin Pipe in the first round of the 2014 World Championship as he lost each set by three legs to one with an average of just 78.64.^[24] He lost 5–4 to Karl Merchant in the second round of the UK Open.^[25] Monk had a disappointing year as he couldn't get beyond the last 32 of any event.^[26] The only European Tour event he could qualify for was the Austrian Darts Open and he was beaten 6–1 by Stephen Bunting in the first round.^[27]

2015 season

Monk received a ban from the DRA for reckless throwing of darts and did not play in an event until September 2015 and only won two matches in the nine tournaments he entered.^[28][29] He dropped to 145 in the world at the end of the year and could not win his place back on tour via Q School.^[30][31]

2016 season

Monk qualified for the 2016 UK Open and defeated Stewart Rattray 6−3 and Robert Thornton 6−4, before losing 9−5 to Phil Taylor in round three.^[32] He was knocked out in the semi-finals of the 13th Challenge Tour event by Michael Barnard, but went one better later in the day at the 14th event by reaching the final where he lost 5−1 to Richie Burnett.^[33][34]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2012: First round (lost to Kevin Painter 1–3)
• 2013: First round (lost to Peter Wright 0–3)
• 2014: First round (lost to Justin Pipe 0–3)
• 2020: First round (lost to José Justicia 0–3)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNQ		1R	1R	1R	DNQ					1R	DNQ
UK Open	3R	2R	4R	2R	2R	DNQ	3R	DNQ		4R	DNQ			2R	2R
Grand Slam of Darts	RR	RR	2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNQ									1R	DNQ
PDC Non-ranked events
PDC World Youth Championship	NH	W	1R	SF	DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	81	75	53	39	48	93	130	-	113	72	-	-	-	113

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2012	ADO 1R	GDC DNQ	EDO 1R	GDM 2R	DDM QF
2013	UKM 3R	EDT 2R	EDO 2R	ADO 1R	GDT 1R	GDC 2R	GDM 1R	DDM 1R
2014	GDC DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDM DNQ	ADO 1R	GDT DNQ	EDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	EDT DNQ
2015	GDC DNP	GDT DNP	GDM DNP	DDM DNP	IDO DNP	EDO DNP	EDT DNP	EDM DNP	EDG DNQ
2016	DDM DNQ	GDM DNP	GDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ	EDG WD	GDC DNQ
2017	Did not play
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG 2R	DDM DNQ	GDT DNQ	DDO DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDC DNQ	DDC 2R	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2019	EDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	GDG 1R	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM DNQ	DDO DNQ	CDO DNQ	ADC DNQ	EDM DNQ	IDO 1R	GDT DNQ
2020	Did not play
2021	HDT DNQ	GDT DNQ
2022	Did not play
2023	BSD 2R	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	ADO DNQ	DDC 1R	BDO DNQ	CDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDO DNQ	HDT DNQ	GDC 2R
2024	BDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	ADO 1R	BSD DNQ	DDC	EDO	GDC	FDT	HDT	SDT	CDO

Performance Table Legend
DNP	Did not play at the event	DNQ	Did not qualify for the event	NYF	Not yet founded	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF	lost in the quarter-finals	SF	lost in the semi-finals	F	lost in the final	W	won the tournament