Click here t TITLES:  In the short amount of time that Montgomery has been a professional darts player, he has risen very quickly through the ranks, ending the 2008 season as the 6th ranked player in the world and the 7th ranked British Darts Organization player.

His 2007 season began slowly with a last 32 showing at the International Darts League series. It picked up as he reached the last 16 in the World Masters tournament in 2007. Montgomery with tournament wins at both the EDO English Open as well as the British Classic in 2008.

OTHER INFO:  Though Montgomery is currently one of the top professional darts players in the world, he did not begin his career as an athlete with visions of darts grandeur on his mind. After achieving a great amount of success as a football player, Montgomery was forced to retire due to injuries suffered while playing.

Once retired from football, Montgomery turned his attentions to darts and quickly became one of the most brilliant new players in the game. Though he has achieved moderate success with his local teams as well as in several tournaments, Montgomery is still working diligently to achieve his career goals of winning the honour of tournament champion on the world stage at either the World Masters or the World Championships at Lakeside, though his preferable outcome would be to gain both titles.

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NAME:  Ross Montgomery

NICKNAME:  The Boss

DATE OF BIRTH:  16th October 1962

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Greenhills, East Kilbride, Scotland

RESIDES:  Greenhills, East Kilbride, Scotland

HEIGHT:  6’ 1”

MARITAL STATUS:  married to wife Dorothy

SPONSORS:  none currently, though he is still looking for sponsorship for the current season

PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATION:  Montgomery has been a member of the British Darts Organization since his first professional appearance in 2003. He also plays for the Calderwood Inn in the Rutherglen – East Kilbride Darts League as well as the Roadhouse team in the Glasgow Premier League.

TYPE OF DARTS USED:  22g Tungsten

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:  While Montgomery’s main professional interest is the game of darts, in his personal life he is very dedicated to his family, particularly to his wife Dorothy who he met when she was a cheerleader for the American football team, Montgomery, while he played for the Glasgow Diamonds.

Though he was forced to retire at an early age from professional American football, Montgomery still quite enjoys participating in regular recreational football games. In addition to playing, Montgomery is also an avid fan of both football and American football, following both closely during the season. Montgomery regularly participates in recreational darts games with friends and is also a very large fan of music as reflected by his choice of walk on music, “Breathe” performed by The Prodigy. 

He was also the 2008 UK Open Winner and was awarded the PDC Young Player of the Year in 2006. He also boasts about three 9-dart finishes during a calendar year in 2006, which is an unparalleled feat to date. He had an extremely successful run from 2006-08 and he was also chosen as the PDC Player of the Year in 2007.

In 2001 Wade reached the British Classic final, but lost to John Walton. However, the following year he managed to win the Swiss Open and in 2003 he made his debut in television during the Lakeside World Championship, although in the first round he lost to Dennis Harbour 2-3. During 2003, he participated in several other BDO Open events and he managed to reach the Norway Open final, the Belgian Open semi-finals and the Dutch Open quarter-finals.

The year 2004 is considered to be the turning point in his life as he made the most important decision of his career when he decided to shift to the PDC, even after qualifying for most of the upcoming BDO tournaments next year.


The 2006 World Match-play victory was one of the most sensational events in his career as he achieved glory after a series of close fights. He knocked out former World Championship finalist, Kevin Painter, 13-9 and even displayed fantastic recovery skills by making a dramatic comeback from 1-5 “down-and-out-situation” against Roland Scholten. He went on to secure the victory in tiebreaker as he finished 19-17.

OTHER INFO: Considered at one point to be one of the greatest darts players ever, Mervyn King, popularly known as The King began playing darts at the age of 12 and thereafter established himself as an illustrious darts player in the British Darts Organization. However, he now plays for the rival Professional Darts Corporation, more popularly known as the PDC and has risen to the sixth ranking in the world darts scene, just after two years of joining the PDC. He debuted in the World Professional Darts Championship in 1997 where he hit thirty 180s during this whole tournament, which was a new record at that time. He reached the semi-finals, but lost 5-3 to Les Wallace.

His only first round defeat so far came when he was defeated by Andy Fordham in 1999. He displayed top form while he played the World Championship between 2002 and 2004. He did reach the finals twice but unfortunately he lost 4-6 and 3-6 to Tony David in 2002 and to Andy Fordham in 2004 respectively. He also lost in the semi-final of 2003 to Raymond van Barneveld. He lost in the second round to André Brantjes in 2005 and to Jelle Klaasen in 2006. Again, in 2007, he suffered defeat, this time at the semi-finals losing to Martin Adams. Although his rankings are below his previous form, he is still the man to beat in any tournament.

NAME:  Mervyn King

NICKNAME:  The King

DATE OF BIRTH:  15th March 1966

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Ipswich, Suffolk, England

RESIDES:  Bradwell, Norfolk, England

HEIGHT:  5’ 9”

MARITAL STATUS: single

SPONSORS:  totally into sport, Datadart, Manorfield Cars

PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATION: King was a member of the British Darts Organization from 1995 to 2007. He was still under a contract from BDO for the 2008 tournament, when he made a rather controversial switch to the Professional Darts Corporation in February 2007. Still a member of PDC, his recent stint at the 2009 World Championship, elevated him to sixth position in the PDC Order of Merit.

TYPE OF DARTS USED:  22g Datadart (Own Design)

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:  He is very much into cars and also golfing.

TITLES: King has won on several Open titles since he first emerged onto the darts scene back in 1995. However it was in 2004 in Bridlington, only after a long wait, he claimed his first Grand Slam when he defeated Tony O’Shea and won the Winmau World Masters.

First at the International Darts League he defeated O’Shea in the finals, 13-11 in the legs. Second was Dutch Grand Masters held on 11th December 2005, where he beat Adams 5-4 in the finals He clinched his very first PDC Pro-Tour title in April 2008 at the Scottish Players Championship in Glasgow.

In his recent competition at the 2009 World Championship, he reached the semi finals before being truly beaten by Phil Taylor, 6-2.

OTHER INFO:  Boulton has been playing darts for eighteen years with his professional debut being as a member of his county team of Cheshire eight years ago. Boulton enjoys MC-ing at his county matches as he is still a very active member of the team. He also competes in doubles matches with darts player, Ian White. As a team, the two are known as A + E or The Paramedics. They have been playing together for many years and also perform in exhibition tournaments as well as singles competitive events. In addition to maintaining his website, Boulton also posts videos of his karaoke exploits to YouTube for his fans to enjoy, including some videos that include White and other English teammates singing following their partners exhibition matches.

Boulton and White play in exhibition matches several times a year and Boulton makes an effort to ensure that these matches are fun for all and include the audience in the occasion. In both his professional and exhibition matches, Boulton is well known for his fantastic sense of humour. This skill is one that he uses to, not only, amuse and delight his audience, but also in the maintenance of his website and his rapport with his colleagues and friends.

Boulton maintains an active roster of tournaments and is scheduled to appear in many different competitions, mostly in the UK, over the course of this season with hopes to return to the world stage in the World Championship series tournaments in the near future.

NAME:  Robert Wagner

NICKNAME: The Magician

DATE OF BIRTH:  14th June 1965

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Austria

RESIDES:  Norway

HEIGHT: 5’ 11”

MARITAL STATUS:  not married

SPONSORS:  none currently

PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATION:  Wagner has been a member of the British Darts Organization since his first professional competition in 2002.

TYPE OF DARTS USED:  22g DataDart Silver Shadow

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:  Outside of darts, Wagner is an avid bodybuilder. His affinity for exercise and weightlifting stems from his previous career as a professional bodybuilder prior to his taking up darts as a full time occupation. As a fitness enthusiast, Wagner is interested in many different sports with his favourite of these being football, which he follows closely while in season.

He is also a large fan of both music and films and enjoys keeping up with not only vintage music, but also current hits. His walk on tune for the 2008 season was “Just for Tonight” performed by the band, One Night Only. 

Manley got on board the tournament in lieu of Andy “Rocky” Jenkins, who lost his slot after ending 2009 with a ranking of 33rd in the Players Championship Order of Merit. Only the top 32 players get to qualify for the event.

Considering himself "lucky" to be at the tournament, the Cumbria-based player said, "I want to make the most of my chance. I'll be the underdog but it's up to me to perform on the night."

He admits that his odds of winning rely heavily on how his opponents will play that evening. If Taylor faces him with the same form he had against Simon Whitlock in the World Championship, then Manley says, "I'll have some problems."

Thursday evening will also have Scottish dartsman Robert Thornton facing-off against Kevin Painter, along with a showdown between Terry Jenkins and Vincent van der Voort.

Premier League wildcard qualifier Adrian Lewis takes on Northern Irelander Brendan Dolan, as Colin "Jaws" Lloyd tries to sink his teeth on Denis Ovens.

2009 Australian Open winner Paul “The Asset” Nicholson faces a tough draw with Dennis “the Menace” Priestley, winner of PDC's first world championship after a finals match with Phil Taylor in 1994.

Though the two will be opponents at the oche on Thursday, the Australian still maintains his high respect for Priestley, whom he calls "his idol."

NICKNAME: X-Factor
DATE OF BIRTH:  25th February 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH:  Stoke-on-Trent, England
RESIDES:  Stoke-on-Trent, England
HEIGHT:  6’ 1”
MARITAL STATUS: married with two children, Lloyd and Ebony
SPONSORS: none
PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATION:  Boulton played for the British Darts Organization from 2004 until he left for one year in 2005 to join the Professional Darts Corporation. After spending one year with the PDC, Boulton opted to return to the BDO where he remains currently.
TYPE OF DARTS USED: 24g

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:  Boulton is an avid sports and music enthusiast. He enjoys watching various sporting events, with his favourite being Stoke City FC. He also enjoys singing karaoke, a hobby that earned him the nickname of X-Factor due to his love of singing karaoke after darts tournaments. His favourite song to sing during performances is “Sweet Caroline.”
In addition to singing karaoke and watching sporting events, Boulton also enjoys sitting down to his favourite dinner of roast beef with his family, including his two children, Lloyd and Ebony. 

TITLES: A relative newcomer to the professional darts world, Boulton has had impressive victories in both the World Championships and the World Masters. In 2008, he finished in the last 16 in the World Championships, a performance similar to his 2006 finish at the World Masters tournament, where he also finished in the last 16. Boulton won the 2008 North Lanarkshire Open tournament and is very optimistic about the current 2009 tournament season.

Apart from seeing Phil Taylor defend his Players Championship crown, crowds who come to The Power's opening match at the tournament's Purfleet venue have something else to look forward to, namely a possible upset by Taylor's arch-rival Peter Manley over his foe. Of the twelve titles that defending champion Taylor has so far won at Purfleet, three of those were the result of a finals showdown with the "One Dart."

Former world championship finalist Manley will be the first man-to-beat for Taylor on Thursday night as The Power begins his quest to retain the prestigious title. "It's like a home venue for me," said Taylor of the place for the £250,000 event. "There's something special about the Circus Tavern. I love it and I love the people who run it and I'm looking forward to being back there."
The Power, who is hoping to keep his title over the weekend, said that his familiarity with the flow of the tournament shouldn't be a reason for complacency. "I have to perform over five games otherwise I'll get my backside kicked," he said.

And although he hasn't had very much time to practice since the World Championship, he is not about to walk on stage unprepared. "It's a short format in the first round," he added. "But that will suit me because I've not played competitively since the World Championship. I haven't had a lot of time to prepare properly for this but I'm going into the tournament very relaxed."