Ross Smith is an English professional darts player who plays in PDC events.
Career
Smith began playing in Professional Darts Corporationevents in 2005 and made his debut in the Vauxhall Spring Open, reaching the last 16. Smith then reached the final of the WDF Europe Youth Cup, losing to DutchmanJohnny Nijs. Smith had little success afterwards on the PDC circuit and switched to the BDO in 2007. He reached the last 16 of the 2008 British Classic and the 2008 Czech Open. Smith qualified for the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship, winning one of five places in the qualifiers in Bridlington. He gained victories over Stuart Kellet, Kevin Simm and Henny van der Ster before beating Scotland's Don Haughton to qualify. He faced Scott Waites in the first round, losing 3-0. In the 2011 BDO World Darts Championship, he beat Tony O'Shea 3-1 in the first round and Willy van de Wiel 4-1 in the second round, before losing to eventual champion Martin Adams 1-5 in the quarter finals. It was announced at the end of the 2012 BDO World Championship that Ross would be one of many players to compete in the rival PDC's 'Q School' the following season. He earned a tour card through the qualifiers Order of Merit. His best result of 2012 came just one week later as he reached the quarter-finals of the second Players Championship and lost 3–6 to Justin Pipe. Smith qualified for three of the five new European Tour events, but lost in the first round on each occasion. He came very close to defeating world number 5 Simon Whitlock in the third event, the European Darts Open as he led 5–2, but went on to lose 5–6. Smith headed into 2013 ranked world number 79, and reached his first semi-final on the PDC tour in April at the seventh UK Open Qualifier, where he lost 6–3 to John Part. At the UK Open itself, he fought back from 7–4 down in the third round against Jelle Klaasen to level at 7–7, before being edged out 9–7. He threw a nine-dart finish in the second round of the Gibraltar Darts Trophy against Adrian Lewis, but lost 5–6; this remained the last nine-dart finish achieved on the PDC European Tour until June 2018. Smith won four events on the PDC Challenge Tour during 2013 to top the Order of Merit which has earned him a place in the Grand Slam of Darts and the 2014 World Championship and also a two year PDC tour card which includes all of his 2014 entry fees. In the Grand Slam he lost each of his three games to Simon Whitlock, Wes Newton and Mark Webster to finish bottom of Group G. He played Whitlock in the first round of the World Championship and was beaten 3–0 in sets. He began 2014 at 54th place in the rankings meaning he rose 25 positions during the previous year. He lost 9–5 in the third round of the UK Open to Kim Huybrechts. Smith's only quarter-final showing of the year came at the 19th Players Championship where he lost 6–3 to Gerwyn Price. He missed out on qualifying for the 2015 World Championship by just £500 on the Pro Tour Order of Merit. Smith saw off Kevin Thomas at the German Darts Championship and came from 4–1 behind against Peter Wright in the second round to force a deciding leg in which he missed one match dart to lose 6–5. 2015 proved to be a difficult year for Smith as he could only record one more last 32 finish out of the events he played in. Smith explained that the birth of his child and starting a new job had left him with no time to practice. He fell to 74th on the Order of Merit meaning he needed to enter 2016 Q School. Smith hit a nine darter on the first day and on the final day eliminated seven players, concluding with a 5–4 victory over Mick McGowan to win a new two-year tour card and stated that his goal was to get in the top 40 in the rankings. He failed to qualify for the 2016 UK Open and reached the last 32 of an event for the only time this year at the fourth Players Championship event by beating Peter Wright and Dennis Smith, before losing 6–2 Rowby-John Rodriguez. He reached the main draw of the Gibraltar Darts Trophy and Austrian Darts Open, but was eliminated in the first round of both. In 2016 he lost his PDC tourcard. In 2018 he won his tourcard back and in 2019 he reached the world championship where he defeated Paul Lim in the first round, but lost to Daryl Gurney in the second round. He also qualified for the UK Open in 2019 where he reached the quarter finals after defeating Dawson Murschell, Yordi Meeuwisse, Alan Norris, Steve West and James Wade.
