David Whitcombe (born 27 June 1954) is an English former professional darts player who won several major tournaments, he was twice a winner of the Winmau World Masters (1982 and 1985) and lost to Eric Bristow in two World Championship finals in 1984 and 1986.
Dave was born on 27 June 1954 in Chatham, Kent.[1] After leaving school at age 15, he worked as an apprentice electrician at Chatham Dockyard, often playing darts during lunchtime.[1] He joined a local team, and in his first season, won the league singles tournament.[2] At age 20, he was selected to play for Kent,[1] and in 1975, he quit his job to concentrate on entering darts tournaments.[1]
He made his debut in the 1978 BDO World Darts Championship.[3] He won the News of the World Darts Championship in 1989,[3] the British Matchplay, the Swedish Open 3 times, the Finland Open, the Marlboro Masters and Dunlop Masters tournaments.[3] He was also a prolific county and holiday camp open winner.[3]
He played for and captained Kent in the inter counties league, winning the BDO (Darts World Magazine Sponsored) Tons Trophy and individual averages.[3] In one season, he managed to win all 9 man of the match awards (5 consecutively),[1] beating 9 England International players in the process, earning him an England call-up in 1981.[1]
His overall World Championship record also included three quarter-final appearances in 1983, 1989, 1991, and the semi-finals in 1985.[3] Bristow must be considered as Whitcombe's nemesis at the World Championship.[3] In his 13 appearances at the championships, Whitcombe met Bristow six times and lost every time, including a quarter final in 1991 where Whitcombe lost 3–4 despite having been three sets and two legs up at one stage.[3] However, in other Major championships like the British Matchplay and the World Masters, Whitcombe defeated Bristow in both the semi and finals.[3] Whitcombe also defeated Phil Taylor in the first round of the 1988 British Professional, which was Taylor's first televised appearance, but lost in 2 finals, both to Jocky Wilson.[3]
Whitcombe helped form the players' association WPDPA (World Professional Dart Players' Association) with John Lowe, Cliff Lazarenko, and Tony Brown.[2] The association was set up with the intention of promoting more televised tournaments after the big slump of televised darts in 1989 and the early 1990s. Eventually this organisation linked up with the newly formed World Darts Council in 1992, and darts was soon split into two organisations.[2]
Whitcombe never actually joined the PDC darts circuit at its outset – choosing instead to virtually retire from the sport in 1992.[2] He made a comeback in 2004 – rejoining the PDPA and the PDC circuit.[2] In his comeback later, he managed to qualify for the 2006 PDC World Championship, losing to Roland Scholten in the first round.[4]
In May 2008, Whitcombe once again graced the big stage in a televised tournament, taking part in the BetFred League of Legends which was shown live on Setanta Sports, playing along with Bristow, Lowe, Lazarenko, Bobby George, Peter Evison, Keith Deller, and the eventual winner Bob Anderson. Whitcombe led the league after the first 4 weeks and was the standout player of the league at that time.[2] Whitcombe's form slumped in the following league weeks, but he still looked on course to cruise into the semi-finals as he was in second place after week 5 and in third place after week 6. However, on the final league night on week 7, due to his own loss to Deller and the match between Evison and Lazarenko ending in a draw, Whitcombe slumped to fifth and failed to reach the semi-final stage.[2]