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Rod Harrington

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Rod Harrington
Personal information
NicknameThe Prince of Style
Born (1957-12-30) 30 December 1957 (age 67)
Boreham, Essex, England
Home townChelmsford, Essex
Darts information
Playing darts since1977
DartsDurro Rod Harrington 21 gram
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Sharp Dressed Man" by ZZ Top
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO1987–1993
PDC1993–2007 (Founding Member)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'shipQuarter Final: 1992
World MastersWinner (1) 1991
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipRunner Up: 1995
World MatchplayWinner (2) 1998, 1999
World Grand PrixRunner Up: 1998
UK OpenLast 96: 2003, 2005
Other tournament wins
Austrian Open1992
Belgium Open1991, 1992
British Gold Cup1990
Calgary Golden Harvest1998
Denmark Open1991, 1992, 1998
Double Diamond Masters1987
French Open1991, 1993
Golden Harvest North American Cup1997, 1998, 1999
Jersey Festival Of Darts1992
Swedish Open1991
Swiss Open1998
Other achievements
PDC World Number 1 (Apr 1995 to Aug 1996), (Aug 1998 to Aug 2000)
Updated on 27 December 2018.

Rodney "Rod" Harrington (born 30 December 1957 in Boreham, Essex) is a retired English former World No. 1 professional darts player and commentator and analyst on Sky Sports. He used the nickname The Prince of Style for his matches, often wearing a suit and waistcoat for his games. Harrington enjoyed some major success during his professional career including the prestigious Winmau World Masters in 1991 and two successive World Matchplays in 1998 and 1999.[1] At the PDC Awards Dinner held on the 22/01/2019 Harrington was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame

Darts career

BDO career

He started his career before the game split into two separate organisations during the early 1990s. He accumulated many Open tournament titles including the Belgian Open (1991, 1992), Denmark Open (1991, 1992), French Open (1991, 1993) and the Swedish Open (1991). Harrington's 1991 Winmau World Masters victory over Phil Taylor remains one of Taylor's rare major final defeats - although Taylor was only a one-time World Champion at the time and had lost his world crown to Dennis Priestley in January 1991.

Harrington made his World Championship debut in 1992, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to eventual runner-up Mike Gregory. At the 1993 World Championship, Harrington was seeded fourth but lost 2-3 to Wayne Weening in the first round. After those championships, the majority of the top players left the governing body, the British Darts Organisation, to form the WDC (now PDC) in an acrimonious split in the game.

PDC career

After the WDC/PDC started their own World Championship in 1994, Harrington would be ever-present in the event for the first ten years. He reached the quarter-finals in the inaugural tournament, but his best ever achievement came in the 1995 World Championship - by reaching the final. He lost the final 2-6 to Taylor, who was winning the third of his world championship titles at the time.

He reached the World semi-finals on two further occasions, 1998 (where he was beaten by that year's eventual winner, Taylor) and 2001 (where he lost to that year's runner-up, John Part) and the quarter-finals in 1997. However, after the 2002 World Championship (where he was seeded third), his form slumped dramatically to the point where he was outside the top 16 by 2003 - and a first round defeat by Alan Warriner would turn out to be his last appearance in the World Championship.

He did have some success at the other major PDC tournaments. In 1998 he beat Ronnie Baxter in the final of the World Matchplay, helped along the way by his now famous 125 checkout (Treble 15, Double 20, Double 20); he then successfully defended the title in 1999 with a victory over Peter Manley. He and Phil Taylor remained the only players to retain a major PDC title until Raymond van Barneveld retained his UK Open title in 2007. Harrington also reached the final of the first World Grand Prix event in 1998 losing to Taylor. Along with Richie Burnett he also reached the final of the PDC World Pairs tournament in 1997, losing in the final to the pairing of van Barneveld and Roland Scholten.

Final years

After three knee operations in early 2000, Harrington's form dropped dramatically, and although he never officially announced a retirement from the game. He still attempted to qualify for the major UK tournaments until the 2007 World Championship - where he lost in the first qualifying round. He is unranked in the official Order of Merit. Harrington retired from professional darts in 2007, and has never thrown another dart in any competition since.

Harrington became a director of the PDC and now also regularly acts in the capacity of a commentator and analyst on Sky Sports' live darts coverage. At one time, he was also the manager of former PDC world number one Colin Lloyd.

Personal life

Harrington is married to Dawn, and has three children: Victoria, Curtis, and Ryan. Harrington's son Ryan (born 1990) is a darts player on the PDC circuit.

World Championship results

BDO

PDC

Career finals

BDO major finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1991 Winmau World Masters England Phil Taylor 3–1 (s)

PDC major finals: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)
World Matchplay (2–0)
World Grand Prix (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1995 World Darts Championship England Phil Taylor 2–6 (s)
Winner 1. 1998 World Matchplay England Ronnie Baxter 19–17 (l)
Runner-up 2. 1998 World Grand Prix England Phil Taylor 8–13 (l)
Winner 2. 1999 World Matchplay England Peter Manley 19–17 (l)

Performance timeline

Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
BDO World Championship DNP QF 1R No longer a BDO Member
Winmau World Masters 4R W 3R DNP 1R DNP
PDC World Championship Not yet founded QF F RR QF SF 2R 1R SF 2R 2R DNQ
World Matchplay Not held SF 1R QF SF W W QF 1R 1R DNQ
World Grand Prix Not held F SF 2R 1R 2R DNQ
UK Open Not held 2R 1R 3R
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. ^ "Darts: Rod's timing is spot on". Billericay Weekly News. 11 June 1999. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
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