Kirk Shepherd | |||||||||||||||||
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Martial Dartist | ||||||||||||||||
Born |
Ramsgate, Kent, England |
15 September 1986 ||||||||||||||||
Home town |
Swindon Wiltshire England |
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Darts information | |||||||||||||||||
Playing darts since | 1999 | ||||||||||||||||
Darts | 21g Kirk Shepherd – Unicorn | ||||||||||||||||
Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||
Walk-on music | Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas | ||||||||||||||||
Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||||||||
BDO | 2003–2006 | ||||||||||||||||
PDC | 2006– | ||||||||||||||||
Current world ranking | 90 | ||||||||||||||||
BDO majors - best performances | |||||||||||||||||
World Masters | Last 64: 2005 | ||||||||||||||||
PDC premier events - best performances | |||||||||||||||||
World Ch'ship | Runner-up: 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
Grand Slam | Last 16: 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
Ch'ship League | Initial groups, 6th, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
UK Open | Last 32: 2011, 2013, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
US Open/WSoD | Quarter Finals: 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
Other tournament wins | |||||||||||||||||
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Other achievements | |||||||||||||||||
Youngest player to reach World Darts final (either version) |
Kirk Shepherd (born 5 October 1986 in Ramsgate) is a darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation events, and lives in Birmingham, England. He is the youngest player ever to reach a final of the World Professional Darts Championship. Shepherd used the nicknames Young Gun and Karate Kid for his matches, but at the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship, he unveiled a new nickname in the Martial Dartist.
Shepherd won the Winmau World Youth Masters in 2003, the British Teenage Singles Champion in 2004 and 2006 and was twice voted British Darts Organisation Young Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006. At the age of just 18, he reached the final of the BDO Gold Cup in 2005. In 2006, he reached the quarter finals of the England Open, before switching from the BDO circuit to join the PDC in November 2006.
Shepherd's first twelve months in the PDC were not particularly successful – with just a couple of last 32 placings in the non-televised Pro Tour events and reached only 142 in the world rankings by the time of the qualifying rounds for the 2008 World Championship. Shepherd then qualified at the last chance PDPA qualifier to earn a place at the tournament proper at the Alexandra Palace.
He then produced a series of major upsets at the 2008 World Championships, beating Terry Jenkins in the first round – then Mick McGowan and Barrie Bates and three-times former finalist Peter Manley to reach the semi-finals. Jenkins missed seven darts to beat him, McGowan missed four darts and Manley missed two darts to end his run, but he continued to progress. He then defeated Wayne Mardle 6–4 in the semi-final and met John Part in the final of the World Championship on New Year's Day. He failed to produce the form he had shown in the tournament and scored the lowest average by a finalist in the PDC World Championship during his 2–7 loss. He collected the runners-up cheque for £50,000 – his previous career earnings had been £16,970. Shepherd qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts in 2008 and his world ranking jumped from 173 at the start of 2007 to 22nd at the start of 2008. After the match, he quit his job where he had worked in a factory.