Aden Kirk (born 3 March 1992) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is also a published children's book author with Austin Macauley Publishers. Kirk is most known for his third round victory over Phil Taylor at the 2014 UK Open, regarded as one of the biggest shocks in darts history.
In 2014, Kirk reached the last 64 in two of the six UK Open qualifiers to enter the event in the first round stage. He beat Conan Whitehead 5âÂÂ4 and Gerwyn Price 5âÂÂ2 to face 16-time world champion Phil Taylor in the third round. In Kirk's first televised match, he caused a big upset by beating Taylor 9âÂÂ7. He then played Peter Wright, who had been the World Championship runner-up at the beginning of the year, and continued his amazing run by taking out two ton-plus finishes and coming back from 5âÂÂ3 down to triumph 9âÂÂ5. In the fifth round Kirk and Brendan Dolan shared the first 14 legs, before the Northern Irishman won the match with two 13 dart legs. Kirk earned ã5,000 for his run in the tournament, by far the biggest of his career to date. In July, Kirk reached the final of the 12th Challenge Tour event of the year where he was edged out 5âÂÂ4 by Brett Claydon.
In April 2015, Kirk won the third Development Tour event of the year. He saw off Jamie Lewis 4âÂÂ3 in the semi-finals and Benito van de Pas 4âÂÂ1 in the final. Kirk reached the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time since his UK Open exploits at the 15th Players Championship with victories over William O'Connor, Justin Pipe and Ronny Huybrechts, before he lost 6âÂÂ1 to Peter Wright.
Kirk won 2016's 11th Development Tour event by beating Keegan Brown 4âÂÂ3 in the final. He also reached the final of the 16th event and lost 4âÂÂ1 to Dean Reynolds. He finished third on the Order of Merit, but won a two-year Tour Card after first placed Reynolds decided to remain in the BDO.