Simon
Whitlock was born on March 3rd 1969 in North Sydney, Australia under the Star
Sign of Pisces, his height is 186 cm, and he is married.Simon
Whitlock “The Wizard”
Simon
Whitlock was born on March 3rd 1969 in North Sydney, Australia under the Star
Sign of Pisces, his height is 186 cm, and he is married.
He worked with his father at his trade
which was that of a bricklayer. His father also taught him to play darts and
they played regularly until his death, then Simon concentrated more on his
darts.
Simon turned professional in January 2005,
but he started playing darts 15 years ago. His coach is Noel Potter who is also
his Father in law. Whitlock has waist-length hair pulled into a ponytail bunched
at intervals by black elastic bands which gave rise to the nickname of “The
Wizard of Oz”. After accepting the name he decided to grow the beard and
moustache to improve the overall effect giving him a very memorable appearance.
Once seen, he is never forgotten.
Whitlock had a spell playing in the Professional Darts Corporation where he
reached the last 16 of the 2003 PDC World Darts Championship, but now he
regularly plays in the B.D.O. tournaments.
He has had some success before in the BDO World Darts Championship because in
2005 he reached the semi-finals, but then lost 5-0 to Martin “Wolfie” Adams.
In
2007, the PDC set up an Australian Grand Prix which involves a series of
tournaments. The eventual winner of the A.G.P. will receive automatic
qualification for the 2008 PDC World Darts Championship and the Wizard was on
track as he won the first two events. However, Whitlock remains a WDF/BDO player
and chose to compete in the BDO World Championship.
The Wizard has won many Australian
competitions and more than a few elsewhere including a number in Britain where
he plays regularly.
Whitlock hit excellent form this year to
reach the final of the 2008 BDO World Darts Championship where he was only just
beaten by number one seed Mark Webster 7-5. He was the first Australian to the
reach the final since Tony David won the tournament in 2002. David was knocked
out in the first round this year. After Webster had won he said of Whitlock,
“that he had awesome counting.” Simon often went for shots that others
wouldn’t think of.
In an interview Whitlock vowed to return and go one better.
“I will be back next year - to win it,” he said.