Richard Veenstra

Richard Veenstra (born 10 July 1981) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Veenstra previously played in British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments, where he won the 2019 Dutch Open, and was the runner-up at the 2019 BDO World Trophy and 2018 Finder Darts Masters.

Richard Veenstra
Veenstra in 2018
Personal information
Nickname	"Flyers"
Born	(1981-07-10) 10 July 1981 (age 43) Ossenzijl, Netherlands
Home town	Ossenzijl, Netherlands
Darts information
Playing darts since	2006
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Maria (I Like It Loud)" by Scooter
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2009–2020
PDC	2023– (Tour Card: 2023–)
WDF	2009–2022
Current world ranking	(PDC) 50 (21 April 2025)[1]
WDF major events – best performances
World Championship	Semi Final: 2016, 2022
World Masters	Last 16: 2015, 2018
World Trophy	Runner Up: 2019
Finder Masters	Runner Up: 2018
Dutch Open	Winner (1): 2019
PDC premier events – best performances
World Championship	Last 32: 2024
UK Open	Last 64: 2024
Grand Slam	Group Stage: 2019
PC Finals	Last 32: 2023
Other tournament wins
British Classic 2018 British Open 2018 Denmark Masters 2021 German Masters 2017 Isle of Man Classic 2019 Italian Grand Masters 2021 Luxembourg Masters 2019 Luxembourg Open 2014 Scottish Open 2018
Medal record Men's Darts Representing  Netherlands WDF World Cup 2015 Antalya Men's pairs WDF Europe Cup 2016 Egmond aan Zee Men's singles 2016 Egmond aan Zee Men's pairs 2016 Egmond aan Zee Men's overall 2016 Egmond aan Zee Men's team 2018 Budapest Men's team

Veenstra obtained a PDC Tour Card in 2023, and reached the last 32 in his PDC World Championship debut in 2024. He has reached four quarter-finals in the PDC's ranking Players Championship events.

He was also a two-time world championship semi-finalist at Lakeside, reaching the last four at the 2018 BDO World Championship and the 2022 WDF World Championship.

Career

BDO/WDF

In October 2014, Veenstra won the Luxembourg Open beating Mark Oosterhuis in the Final 6–4.^[2] He reached the semi-finals of the 2015 Denmark Masters and England Open.^[3][4] In October 2015, he won WDF World Cup Pairs with Wesley Harms to beat Scott Mitchell and Mark McGeeney 6–3.^[5] On his debut at the 2016 BDO World Darts Championship, Veenstra caused an upset beating compatriot and third seed Jeffrey de Graaf 3–2 in the first round, before beating English player Martin Atkins comfortably 4–0 in the second round. Veenstra then defeated defending champion Scott Mitchell 5–3 to reach the semi-finals, which he narrowly lost to Jeff Smith 6–5.

In September 2016, Veenstra won the WDF Europe Cup singles by beating Jim Williams in the final 7–5, averaging 93.18. In September 2018, he won both the BDO British Open and BDO British Classic in the same weekend.

At the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, Veenstra recorded the highest three dart average in the venue's history with 104.91, to defeat Luke Littler 3–0 in the last 16. In the quarter-final he almost achieved a nine-dart finish en route to a 4–2 victory against Brian Raman, but missed double 12. Veenstra was defeated in his semi-final match against Neil Duff, losing 5–2.

PDC

At 2023 European Q-School, Veenstra secured a PDC tour card for the 2023 and 2024 seasons by finishing second on the European Q-School Order of Merit.^[6]

Veenstra enjoyed a run to the third round at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship in his tournament debut year. Having defeated Ben Robb^[7] and the seeded Kim Huybrechts,^[8] he fell to a 0–4 whitewash defeat to Dutch compatriot Michael van Gerwen.

World Championship results

BDO

• 2016: Semi-finals (lost to Jeff Smith 5–6)
• 2017: Second round (lost to Danny Noppert 0–4)
• 2018: Quarter-finals (lost to Michael Unterbuchner 4–5)
• 2019: Second round (lost to Scott Waites 1–4)
• 2020: Second round (lost to David Evans 2–4)

WDF

• 2022: Semi-finals (lost to Neil Duff 2–5)

PDC

• 2024: Third round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–4)
• 2025: First round (lost to Alexis Toylo 0–3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 2 (2 runner-up)

Legend
Zuiderduin Masters (0–1)
BDO World Trophy (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score[N 1]
Runner-up	1.	2018	Zuiderduin Masters	Glen Durrant	3–5 (s)
Runner-up	2.	2019	BDO World Trophy	Jim Williams	6–8 (l)

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

Performance timeline

BDO

Tournament	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
BDO Ranked televised events
World Championship	DNQ		SF	2R	QF	2R	2R
World Trophy	DNQ		1R	1R	DNP	F	NH
World Masters	L80	L16	L32	L32	L16	L32	NH
Zuiderduin Masters	RR	RR	RR	RR	F	NH

WDF

Tournament	2022
WDF Ranked televised events
World Championship	SF
World Masters	L32

PDC

Tournament	2019	2023	2024	2025
PDC Ranked televised events
World Championship	BDO	DNQ	3R	1R
World Masters	DNQ			Prel.
UK Open	DNQ	3R	4R	3R
Grand Slam	RR	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNQ	2R	1R
Career statistics
Season-end ranking (PDC)	NR	71	47

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2021	HDT 2R	GDT DNQ
2023	BSD 2R	Did not qualify					BDO 1R	CDO 1R	Did not qualify			HDT 1R	GDC DNQ
2024	BDO 2R	GDG 2R	IDO 3R	EDG DNQ	ADO 2R	Did not qualify				FDT 1R	HDT DNQ	SDT 2R	CDO DNQ

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
2021[nb 1]	DNP																											BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R
2023	BAR 3R	BAR QF	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 3R	HIL 1R	HIL 4R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	HIL 2R	HIL QF	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 3R	HIL 2R	HIL 3R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	HIL 4R	HIL 3R	HIL 1R	HIL QF	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	LEI 3R	LEI 2R
2025	WIG QF	WIG 1R	ROS 2R	ROS 1R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	HIL 3R	HIL	LEI	LEI	LEI	LEI	ROS	ROS	HIL	HIL	LEI	LEI	LEI	HIL	HIL	MIL	MIL	MIL	HIL	HIL	LEI	LEI	LEI	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG

1. Not a Tour card holder

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			NYF	Not yet founded