Bob Anderson (darts player)

Robert Charles Anderson (born 7 November 1947) is an English former professional darts player who won the 1988 BDO World Darts Championship. Nicknamed The Limestone Cowboy, He was the World No. 1 player for over three years in the late 1980s. "In supporting the Limestone  hills of Wiltshire Anderson also worked in a quarry for a number of years. Making him the only Limestone Cowboy in the South of the UK"

Bob Anderson
Anderson at the 1985 World Masters Quarterfinal v John Lowe
Personal information
Full name	Robert Charles Anderson[1]
Nickname	"The Limestone Cowboy"
Born	(1947-11-07) 7 November 1947 (age 77) Winchester, England
Home town	Clevedon, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1973
Darts	24 gram Unicorn Signature (previously 18 gram)
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1979–1993
PDC	1993–2008 (Founding Member)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner (1) 1988
World Masters	Winner (3) 1986, 1987, 1988
World Trophy	Last 56: 2007
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Semi Final: 2004, 2005
World Matchplay	3rd Place: 1996
World Grand Prix	Quarter Final: 2006
UK Open	Last 16: 2006
Desert Classic	Last 24 Group: 2003
WSDT major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 24: 2022
World Matchplay	Last 16: 2022
World Masters	Last 16: 2022
Other tournament wins
Antwerp Open 1996 British Gold Cup 1983, 1986 British Matchplay 1988,1989 British Open 1987 Canadian Open 1990, 1992 Denmark Open 1986 Dry Blackthorn Cider Masters 1989 Jersey Festival of Darts 1986 League of Legends 2008 League of Legends Event 2009 MFI World Pairs 1986 North American Open 1993 Pacific Masters 1987, 1988, 1989 PDC Samson Darts Classic 1993 PDC World Pairs 1996 Swedish Open 1986 WDF Europe Cup Pairs 1990 World Champions Challenge 1990

Bob Anderson v John Lowe at the Winmau World Masters 1985 Quarter Final

Before darts

Anderson threw his first darts maximum (180) at the age of just seven, with brass darts with feather flights.^[2] He became as a champion athlete during his teenage years, and was selected as a javelin thrower for the British Olympic team of 1968, however, broke his arm before the team left for Mexico, an injury which ended his javelin-throwing career.^[2] He then turned his attention to football – playing to a moderately high standard for Lincoln United, Guildford City, Woking and Farnborough Town. During this time, he had continued to play darts socially and decided to take up the game more seriously when his injury jinx struck again – this time a broken leg in 1970 ended his football career.^[2]

Darts success

Anderson's career peaked in 1988 when winning the World Professional Championship. He took on John Lowe in the final and won 6-4 in sets, posting a 92.7 average, and winning £16,000.^[2]

He won the Winmau World Masters in 1986, 1987 and 1988 – the first man to win the Masters in three successive years.^[3][2]

Two years after his world title success, Anderson underwent surgery to fix a back problem that threatened his darts career. He returned to the game professionally but never reached the same heights he had achieved in the late 80's. However, in 1992, he was chosen as the captain of England, which was one of his proudest moments in darts.^[2]

Anderson was amongst the players who formed the Professional Darts Corporation – an organisation (originally known as the World Darts Council) which separated from the existing governing body, the British Darts Organisation in 1992–93. Anderson reached the final of the first WDC event, the Lada UK Masters, in November 1993 – losing to Mike Gregory.^[3]

In 1996, Anderson won the WDC World Pairs event alongside Phil Taylor.^[2] Anderson and Taylor defeated Chris Mason and Steve Raw in the final.^[3]

His world ranking stayed sufficiently high to earn automatic qualification for most major PDC tournaments, and he went on to reach the semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship in 2004 and 2005.^[3]

Anderson was also the driving force behind the Bob Anderson Classic, a major darts tournament held every October. The tournament started in 2002 and ran until 2005.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Anderson took part in the BetFred League of Legends which was shown live on Setanta Sports, to play along with the likes of Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, John Lowe, Cliff Lazarenko, and Dave Whitcombe. Anderson went on the capture the League of Legends title in 2008, beating Keith Deller in the final.^[2]

Outside darts

Bob married Sally Attwater on 8 April 2004.^[4] he chose former World Champion dart player Eric Bristow as his best man. Anderson has two children, Jennie and David. He lists his hobbies as golf,^[2] and fishing.^[2] Anderson lives in the Somerset sea-side resort town of Clevedon.^[4]

World Championship results

BDO

^[3]

• 1984: 1st Round (lost to Stefan Lord 0–2)
• 1985: 2nd Round (lost to Dave Whitcombe 1–3)
• 1986: Semi-Finals (lost to Dave Whitcombe 4–5)
• 1987: Quarter-Finals (lost to Alan Evans 3–4)
• 1988: Winner (beat John Lowe 6–4)
• 1989: Semi-Finals (lost to Jocky Wilson 4–5)
• 1990: 1st Round (lost to Jann Hoffmann 2–3)
• 1991: Semi-Finals (lost to Dennis Priestley 2–5)
• 1992: 2nd Round (lost to Graham Miller 2–3)
• 1993: Quarter-Finals (lost to Steve Beaton 1–4)

PDC

^[3]

• 1994: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 2–4)
• 1995: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 1–4)
• 1996: Group Stage (beat Gerald Verrier 3–1) & (lost to Jamie Harvey 2–3)
• 1997: Group Stage (lost to Eric Bristow 1–3) & (beat Gary Mawson 3–1)
• 1998: Group Stage (lost to Shayne Burgess 0–3) & (beat Gerald Verrier 3–1)
• 1999: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 0–4)
• 2000: 1st Round (lost to Peter Manley 0–3)
• 2001: 1st Round (lost to Rod Harrington 1–3)
• 2002: 1st Round (lost to Steve Beaton 3–4)
• 2003: 2nd Round (lost to Colin Lloyd 3–4)
• 2004: Semi-Finals (lost to Kevin Painter 0–6)
• 2005: Semi-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 2–6)
• 2006: 1st Round (lost to Andy Hamilton 2–3)
• 2007: 1st Round (lost to Darren Webster 1–3)
• 2008: 1st Round (lost to Jason Clark 2–3)

WSDT

^[3]

• 2022: 1st Round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–3)
• 2023: 1st Round (lost to Andy Jenkins 0–3)

Performance timeline

^[3]

Tournament	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
BDO World Championship	Did not participate					1R	2R	SF	QF	W	SF	1R	SF	2R	QF	No longer a BDO Member
Winmau World Masters	3R	DNQ	2R	DNQ	QF	4R	SF	W	W	W	4R	2R	SF	2R	No longer a BDO Member
British Professional	Not held		DNQ		2R	QF	1R	QF	1R	SF	Not held
MFI World Matchplay	Not held					SF	F	1R	W	1R	Not held
World Darts Trophy	Not held																							Did not participate					RR	NH
PDC World Championship	Not yet founded															QF	QF	RR	RR	RR	QF	1R	1R	1R	2R	SF	SF	1R	1R	1R
World Matchplay	Not yet founded															QF	1R	SF	QF	QF	2R	2R	1R	QF	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	DNQ
World Grand Prix	Not yet founded																			1R	RR	DNQ			1R	1R	1R	QF	DNQ
Las Vegas Desert Classic	Not yet founded																							DNQ	RR	1R	DNQ	1R	DNQ
UK Open	Not held																								DNQ	4R	5R	5R	3R	DNQ

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

References

1. Anderson's full name/wedding certificate Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Team Unicorn - Bob Anderson". unicorn-darts.com. 28 August 2017. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017.
3. "Bob Anderson Results and Statistics". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
4. "Where did 40 years go ! 1983 Gold Cup singles winner ! — with Bob "The Limestone Cowboy" Anderson fans page and Bob Anderson Darts". Sally Anderson at facebook.com. 9 December 2023.

External links

• Bob Anderson at IMDb
• Bob Anderson's Official Website
• Team Unicorn biography page