Aden Kirk
| Aden Kirk | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||
| Nickname | "Captain"[1] | ||||
| Born | 3 March 1992 Nottingham, England | ||||
| Home town | Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England | ||||
| Darts information | |||||
| Playing darts since | 2006 | ||||
| Darts | 23g Winmau Signature | ||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||
| Walk-on music | "You Make My Dreams" by Daryl Hall & John Oates | ||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||
| PDC | 2010–present | ||||
| Current world ranking | (PDC) 156 30 (17 June 2026)[2] | ||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||
| World Championship | Last 96: 2019 | ||||
| UK Open | Last 16: 2014 | ||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||
| |||||
Aden Kirk (born 3 March 1992) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is also a published children's book author with Austin Macauley Publishers.[3] Kirk is most known for his third round victory over Phil Taylor at the 2014 UK Open, regarded as one of the biggest shocks in darts history.[4][5]
Career
In 2014, Kirk reached the last 64 in two of the six UK Open qualifiers to enter the event in the first round stage.[6] He beat Conan Whitehead 5–4 and Gerwyn Price 5–2 to face 16-time world champion Phil Taylor in the third round.[7] In Kirk's first televised match, he caused a big upset by beating Taylor 9–7.[8][9] He then played Peter Wright, who had been the World Championship runner-up at the beginning of the year, and continued his amazing run by taking out two ton-plus finishes and coming back from 5–3 down to triumph 9–5.[10] In the fifth round Kirk and Brendan Dolan shared the first 14 legs, before the Northern Irishman won the match with two 13 dart legs. Kirk earned £5,000 for his run in the tournament, by far the biggest of his career to date.[11] In July, Kirk reached the final of the 12th Challenge Tour event of the year where he was edged out 5–4 by Brett Claydon.[12]
In April 2015, Kirk won the third Development Tour event of the year. He saw off Jamie Lewis 4–3 in the semi-finals and Benito van de Pas 4–1 in the final.[13] Kirk reached the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time since his UK Open exploits at the 15th Players Championship with victories over William O'Connor, Justin Pipe and Ronny Huybrechts, before he lost 6–1 to Peter Wright.[14]
Kirk won 2016's 11th Development Tour event by beating Keegan Brown 4−3 in the final.[15] He also reached the final of the 16th event and lost 4−1 to Dean Reynolds.[16] He finished third on the Order of Merit, but won a two-year Tour Card after first placed Reynolds decided to remain in the BDO.[17]
World Championship results
PDC
- 2019: 1st round (lost to Gabriel Clemens 0–3)
Performance timeline
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Did not participate | WIG 2R |
WIG DNP |
WIG 2R |
CRA 1R |
CRA 2R |
COV DNP |
COV 1R |
CRA 2R |
CRA 1R |
DUB 2R |
DUB 3R |
CRA 1R |
CRA 1R |
COV DNP | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Did not participate | CRA 1R |
CRA 3R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
WIG DNP |
BAR 4R |
BAR 2R |
Did not participate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Did not participate | BAR 1R |
Did not participate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | BAR 3R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 1R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 2R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 2R |
DUB 1R |
DUB 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 2R | ||||||||||||
| 2018 | BAR 1R |
BAR DNP |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 2R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 2R |
WIG 3R |
WIG 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
DUB 2R |
DUB 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R | ||||||||||||
| 2024 | WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
HIL DNP |
LEI 1R |
LEI 2R |
DNP | MIL 1R |
MIL DNP |
MIL 2R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
DNP | LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
Did not participate | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | WIG DNP |
ROS 2R |
ROS 2R |
Did not participate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | DNP | WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 1R |
Did not participate | MIL 2R |
MIL 1R |
WIG 2R |
WIG 1R |
LEI |
LEI |
HIL |
HIL |
LEI |
LEI |
ROS |
ROS |
ROS |
ROS |
LEI |
LEI | ||||||||||||
References
- ^ "Dart Profis - Aden Kirk - "Captain"". Dartn.de (in German). Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- ^ "Ranking Tables". PDPA. 17 June 2026. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
- ^ "Rusty the Old Bicycle | Austin Macauley Publishers". www.austinmacauley.com.
- ^ Wood, Kieran (21 January 2024). "Aden Kirk takes Challenge Tour 5 title". Dartsnews.com. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
Kirk is best known for his participation in the 2014 UK Open.
- ^ Gorton, Josh (23 July 2018). "Five of the biggest shocks in darts history". Sky Sports News. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- ^ "Coral UK Open Field Confirmed". PDC. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ "2014 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ "Coral UK Open: Phil Taylor shocked by television debutant Aden Kirk in Minehead". Sky Sports. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- ^ Smyth, Rob (13 March 2014). "Is Phil Taylor in terminal decline?". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- ^ "Coral UK Open - Saturday Afternoon". PDC. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ "Coral UK Open - Saturday Evening". PDC. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ "Challenge Tour Wins For Frost & Claydon". PDC. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ "Development Delight For Kirk & Van Peer". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "2015 PDPA Players Championship Barnsley Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "2016 PDC Development Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "2016 PDC Development Tour England Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "2017 PDC Qualifying School Entries". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
External links
- Player profile for Aden Kirk from Dartsdatabase