Jonny Clayton


Jonny Clayton is a Welsh darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. Clayton won the 2016 Worthingtons Darts Champion of Champions. His performances on the PDC Pro Tour ensured his qualification for the 2017 PDC World Darts Championship for the first time. He is a plasterer by trade. He is a fluent Welsh speaker. His nickname is The Ferret.

Career

Clayton joined the PDC Pro Tour in 2015 after winning a Tour Card on the final day of Qualifying School. His first quarter-final came at the sixth Players Championship event and he lost 6–1 to Benito van de Pas.
Clayton qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts later that year, but despite winning his opening match against Terry Jenkins, he went on to finish bottom of his group.
Clayton's first appearance at the UK Open came at the 2016 edition, but he was defeated 6–3 by James Wilson in the second round. Clayton recorded a quarter-final showing at the eighth Players Championship and reached his first semi-final at the 12th event, but was whitewashed 6–0 by Gary Anderson. A 2–0 victory over Tony Darlow saw Clayton claim the non-ranking Worthingtons Darts Champion of Champions title. He lost 6–3 to Darren Webster in round one of the Players Championship Finals.
Clayton made his PDC World Championship debut in the 2017 event, and came from a set down to beat fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price 3–1 in the first round. He lost 4–1 to Ian White in the second round. Clayton won his first PDC ranking title with Players Championship 22 after beating James Wilson 6-1 in the final.
Clayton got to his first PDC major final at the 2017 Players Championship Finals. He beat Jeffrey de Graaf, Price, Stephen Bunting, Steve Beaton and number 1 seed Rob Cross, before losing out to Michael van Gerwen.
His run to the final saw him break into the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit, meaning that he was a seed at the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, where he was eliminated by fellow countryman Jamie Lewis.
At this point a three-time PDC ranking title winner, Clayton was selected as a 'challenger' for the 2020 Premier League night in Cardiff, but lost 7–1 to an inspired Michael Smith.
Clayton kicked off his 2020 season by defeating world number one Michael van Gerwen 10-6 in the opening round of the 2020 Masters.

World Championship performances

PDC

PDC major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline