Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English former professional darts player.
He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won his first event at the 2010 German Open.
Winstanley won the German Open, England Open, and Belgium Open in 2010. As a result of his performances on the BDO circuit, he qualified for the 2010 Winmau World Masters as the fourth seed. He defeated Stewart Rattray in the last 16 before losing to Martin McCloskey in the quarter-finals.
Winstanley also qualified for the 2011 World Championship as the third seed. In the first round, he survived two match darts against Martin Atkins before winning 3âÂÂ2. He then defeated Robbie Green 4âÂÂ1 in the second, Stephen Bunting 5âÂÂ1 in the quarter-final and Jan Dekker 6âÂÂ2 in the semi-finals, thus making him one of a small number of players to have reached the final at his first attempt. He was defeated 7âÂÂ5 by Martin Adams in the final, having led 4âÂÂ3 and 5âÂÂ4. Later that year, Winstanley reached the final of the World Masters, where he was beaten 7âÂÂ2 in sets by Scott Waites.
Winstanley qualified for the 2011 Grand Slam of Darts. He topped his group with victories over Ted Hankey, Ian White and Raymond van Barneveld. In the second round, he lost 10âÂÂ9 to Mark Walsh having narrowly missed three match darts at 9âÂÂ8 in front and a further two in the deciding leg.
Winstanley was seeded 3rd for the 2012 World Championship. He defeated Joey ten Berge 3âÂÂ1 in the first round, before being defeated 4âÂÂ3 by Alan Norris in the second round having led 3âÂÂ1.
It was announced at the end of the 2012 BDO World Championship that Winstanley had entered the rival PDC's 'Q School' He beat Matt Clark 6âÂÂ1 on the third day to earn a PDC Pro Tour card after earlier beating Dave Ladley, Kevin Dowling, Mareno Michels and Simon Craven. In April, he earned a place in the European Tour Event 1 in Vienna by defeating Gary Butcher in the UK qualifier. He enjoyed wins over Paul Nicholson and Jim Walker in the event, before losing in the third round 3âÂÂ6 to Richie Burnett. Winstanley also qualified for the second European Tour event, with a win over Mark Jones in the UK qualifier. He played Mark Walsh in the first round of the event in Berlin, coming back from 2âÂÂ5 down to triumph 6âÂÂ5. In round two Winstanley was on the other end of a final leg decider, losing to Michael Mansell.
Winstanley's first PDC major was the UK Open, where he lost to an in-form Terry Jenkins 3âÂÂ9 in the last 32. Winstanley's results during his first 6 months on the tour were good enough to seal a place in the World Matchplay due to his ranking on the ProTour Order of Merit. He faced Gary Anderson in the first round and came back from 0âÂÂ5 down to win 13âÂÂ11 and set up a last 16 meeting with Ronnie Baxter. There, Winstanley hit nine 180s, but only 25% of his doubles as he bowed out of the tournament with an 8âÂÂ13 defeat. His doubles continued to prove a weakness in his game as he missed two for the match in a 2âÂÂ3 loss to Dave Chisnall in his debut performance in the World Grand Prix.
Winstanley went into the last round of matches at the Grand Slam of Darts knowing a win over Simon Whitlock would secure his place in the knockout stages. He produced a superb performance to win 5âÂÂ1 with a 100.63 average, before seeing off Arron Monk 10âÂÂ5 and Kevin Painter 16âÂÂ12 to reach his first PDC major semi-final. He faced Michael van Gerwen who started the match exceptionally by leading 5âÂÂ0 and 10âÂÂ1 and Winstanley could never catch up as he lost 8âÂÂ16.
His first year as a PDC player saw him finish 33rd on the ProTour Order of Merit after all 33 Players Championship, UK Open and European Tour Events had been played. This was enough to see him qualify for the World Championship as the third highest non-qualified player. The week before the tournament Winstanley practised intensely with five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, playing two four- to six-hour sessions a day at the DutchmanâÂÂs home with the players aiming to take out 5001 in 50 turns. Winstanley beat Mervyn King 3âÂÂ2 in his debut, recovering from 1âÂÂ2 down in sets and 0âÂÂ2 in legs in the decider, also surviving one match dart to eventually win the final set 6âÂÂ4. In his second round match, whilst trailing Vincent van der Voort 0âÂÂ2 in sets and having won only one leg in the match, Winstanley hit his first televised nine-dart finish and the fifth in World Championship history. He eventually lost 2âÂÂ4 having had darts at doubles to win both the fifth and sixth sets. Winstanley won the Best Newcomer at the annual PDC dinner in January 2013. His only quarter-final of 2013 came in May at the Players Championship One, where he lost 6âÂÂ1 to Robert Thornton. Winstanley suffered a surprise 4âÂÂ5 defeat to qualifier Dave Weston in the first round of the UK Open. Winstanley produced an encouraging 5âÂÂ2 victory over Kim Huybrechts in his opening group game of the Grand Slam of Darts but followed it up with 5âÂÂ1 and 5âÂÂ3 defeats to Michael van Gerwen and Van der Voort to finish third and exit the tournament.
He qualified for the 2014 World Championship through the 2013 ProTour Order of Merit and fell 2âÂÂ0 down to Richie Burnett in the first round, before missing one dart to square the match at two sets all and was instead beaten 3âÂÂ1. Winstanley was ranked world number 36 after the tournament. He enjoyed a good run at the UK Open by beating Andy Boulton 9âÂÂ2 and reigning BDO world champion Stephen Bunting 9âÂÂ6, before losing to Kevin Painter 9âÂÂ5 in the fifth round. Later in the month he reached his first final since joining the PDC at the second Players Championship where he was beaten 6âÂÂ1 by Michael van Gerwen.
Winstanley earned a place in the European Darts Trophy, where he overcame Gino Vos, Jamie Caven, Ian White and Peter Wright en route to reach his first appearance in the semi-finals of a European tour event, but lost there again against Michael van Gerwen. He defeated Michael Smith 2âÂÂ1 in sets at the World Grand Prix, before being eliminated 3âÂÂ1 by Van Gerwen in the second round. A first round exit at the European Championship followed and Winstanley was knocked out of the Grand Slam in the group stage after failing to win any of his three games. However, he found his form at the Players Championship Finals by averaging 103.94 in a 6âÂÂ3 triumph over Simon Whitlock and then beat Jelle Klaasen 10âÂÂ5 to play in his first major PDC quarter-final. He took an early 3âÂÂ0 lead over Vincent van der Voort, but went on to lose 10âÂÂ8.
Winstanley secured narrow 3âÂÂ2 and 4âÂÂ3 wins over Wayne Jones and Darren Webster in the 2015 World Championship to reach the third round of the event for the first time. He dropped the first two sets without winning a leg against Vincent van der Voort, but improved to trail 3âÂÂ2. Winstanley missed one dart to take the tie into a final set and was instead defeated 4âÂÂ2. He lost 5âÂÂ3 to William O'Connor in the second round of the UK Open. Winstanley did not qualify for the rest of the PDC majors in 2015 and could not get past the last 16 in any Pro Tour event.
At 2âÂÂ2 in sets and 4âÂÂ4 in legs in their first round 2016 World Championship match, Ronny Huybrechts broke throw with a 164 finish with Winstanley waiting on 40 and then took out 104 to win in the next leg. He lost 9âÂÂ3 to Vincent van der Voort in the third round of the UK Open. After this, Winstanley only reached the last 64 of five events and was beaten each time, eventually falling outside of the top 64 in the world.
On 15 November 2016, Winstanley was fined ã3,000 and suspended from the PDC until May 2017 for posting a live recording of an event showing inappropriate behaviour. Having lost his PDC Tour Card, he was subsequently unable to enter the 2017 Q School.
Winstanley is a father of five. He is married to darts player Lorraine Winstanley.
PDC