Devon Petersen (born 4 June 1986) is a South African professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won his first PDC European Tour title at the 2020 German Darts Championship. He reached his first major semi-final at the 2020 European Championship. Petersen won the first Amateur Darts Circuit (ADC) Global Championship in 2024.
His best PDC World Championship performance is reaching the last 16 on three occasions.
He has also worked as a pundit for Sky Sports.
He qualified for the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship as the South African champion. He beat Guyana's Norman Madhoo 4âÂÂ3 in the preliminary round with big checkouts including a 136 and a 146. In beating Madhoo, he earned a place in the first round proper, where he would play Jamie Caven. Despite winning the first set, Petersen lost by 3 sets to 1.
He qualified for the 2011 PDC Pro Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the second day of the Pro Tour's Q School. Since turning professional, Petersen has left South Africa to live in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, and signed a sponsorship deal with leading darts manufacturer Unicorn.
Petersen retained the South African Open in 2011 to qualify for the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, where he edged out José Oliveira de Sousa 4âÂÂ3 (legs) in the preliminary round to reach the last 64 for the second successive year. Petersen played Steve Brown in the first round and recovered from 2âÂÂ1 down in sets to win 3âÂÂ2, also recovering from 2âÂÂ0 down in legs in the deciding set and surviving one match dart. Petersen said after the win that it was a "dream come true" and that he was sure he had more in him. He played Gary Anderson in the second round and played the best he has in front of the television cameras. However, the class of his opponent came through and he lost 4âÂÂ2, with Anderson stating after the match that "Devon became very tough for me". Petersen himself said that he would "work hard and come back a better player".
He represented South Africa with Shawn Hogan in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they defeated Spain 5âÂÂ2 in the first round before causing a shock by knocking out number 4 seeds Scotland in the second round in a sudden death leg. They played Wales in the quarter finals and were beaten in the deciding doubles match. Petersen prematurely celebrated as he thought he had taken his country to the semi-finals by hitting double 16. However, he had miscounted and they were out of the tournament moments later when Richie Burnett secured the winning double. Petersen reached the last 64 of the 2012 UK Open by defeating Andrew Gilding 4âÂÂ0, but then lost to Ronnie Baxter 9âÂÂ6. In June, he qualified for the European Tour Event 3 after defeating Darren Webster and Gareth Cousins in the UK qualifier. Petersen again lost to Baxter this time 6âÂÂ2 in the first round in Düsseldorf.
Petersen took a year away from darts in 2013 to recuperate from an arm injury. In September he won the South African Masters by defeating Graham Filby 9âÂÂ3 in the final and in doing so earned a place in his third World Championship for the 2014 edition, where he saw off Mohd Latif Sapup 4âÂÂ1 in the preliminary round. Petersen danced onto the stage for his first round match against Steve Beaton which immediately got the crowd on his side as he defeated the 1996 BDO world champion 3âÂÂ1 in sets. Petersen was 2âÂÂ1 ahead against Justin Pipe in the next round and in the deciding leg of the fourth set he took out a crucial 130 finish with Pipe on 36, before wrapping up a 4âÂÂ1 win. In the third round his run came to an end when he lost 4âÂÂ0 to James Wade. Petersen partnered Filby in the World Cup of Darts and they came past Germany 5âÂÂ3 in the first round, before Petersen beat Paul Lim 4âÂÂ0 in his singles match in the second round. Filby lost his to Harith Lim, meaning a doubles match was needed to settle the tie which South Africa edged 4âÂÂ3. In the quarter-finals they faced the number one seeds of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis, with Petersen and Filby both losing their singles matches to exit the tournament. Petersen was defeated in the final of the South African Qualifier for the 2015 World Championship 9âÂÂ5 by Nolan Arendse.
In January 2015, Petersen played in Q School and earned a two-year tour card on the second day by defeating Chris Hartrey 5âÂÂ1 in the final round. Petersen did not base himself in Britain for 2015 and estimated he would make 20 trips back and forth from South Africa during the year. He entered the UK Open in the second round stage and beat Mark Cox 5âÂÂ4, Mark Barilli 9âÂÂ8, Jamie Caven 9âÂÂ6 and Eddie Dootson 9âÂÂ3 to reach the quarter-finals of a major PDC event for the first time. Petersen led world number one Michael van Gerwen 3âÂÂ2 at the first break but had had darts to win every leg and went on to lose 10âÂÂ5. He became the first South African to throw a nine-dart finish on the PDC tour at the sixth Players Championship and went on to reach the quarter-finals where Van Gerwen whitewashed him 6âÂÂ0. At the World Cup, Petersen and Filby survived a match dart from Finland to win 5âÂÂ4 before losing both of their singles matches against Van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld of the Netherlands in the second round. Petersen was invited to participate in the first World Series of Darts Finals, where he was eliminated 6âÂÂ3 by Robert Thornton in the first round.
Petersen saw off Ricky Evans 6âÂÂ5 and Kim Huybrechts 6âÂÂ2 at the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters and then lost 6âÂÂ2 to Mervyn King in the third round. He qualified for six other European Tour events and, even though he didn't reach the third round again, he had done enough to make his debut in the European Championship, but was defeated 6âÂÂ4 by King in the opening round. Petersen and Graham Filby missed 14 darts at doubles as they were beaten 5âÂÂ1 by Singapore in the first round of the World Cup. Petersen lost in the first round of the European Championship (6âÂÂ4 to Mervyn King) and the Players Championship Finals (6âÂÂ3 to Robbie Green).
Petersen struggled in the first round of the 2017 World Championship as he could only average 79.29 in a 3âÂÂ1 defeat to Steve Beaton.
Petersen returned to form in the 2019 World Championship reaching the Last 16 his best run since 2014 beating Wayne Jones, Ian White, and Steve West before narrowly losing to Nathan Aspinall.
Again he qualified via the PDC World Africa Qualifying Event for the 2020 World Championship. He played Luke Humphries in the first round and lost 1âÂÂ3. Petersen remained in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit and kept his tour card for 2020.
On 22 February 2020, Petersen reached his first ever PDC semi-final, at Players Championship 5, beating high quality players such as Stephen Bunting and Rob Cross (the World Number Four at the time) along the way, before losing to eventual winner Peter Wright 7âÂÂ5.
On 27 September 2020, Petersen won his first ranking title beating Johnny Clayton 8âÂÂ3 at the German Darts Championship. He followed this by a Second Round loss to Gerwyn Price in the 2020 European Darts Grand Prix, hence finished 4th with ã27,000 on the European Tour order of merit, which cemented his place as a top seed in the 2020 PDc European Championship. In this tournament, Petersen eliminated Andy Hamilton, Martin Kleermaker and Ian White to reach his first major televised Semi Final, but lost narrowly 10âÂÂ11 to James Wade. This run equaled a cheque of ã32,000.
Further televised exposure followed in the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, where he was partnered by Carl Gabriel in a 5-1 First Round humiliation to Poland with Krzysztof Ratajski & Krzysztof Kciuk.
Despite some inconsistency in form at the 2020 PDC Winter Series, Petersen showed rejuvenation in the 2020 PDC Grand Slam of Darts, where he reached the Last 16 on his debut. In the course of doing so, he won all three of his group stage games against Ian White, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Peter Wright, topping the group and receiving the group winner's bonus of ã3,500. Australian rising star Damon Heta proved too big of an obstacle and denied Petersen a place in his third major televised Quarter Final in a 10âÂÂ7 victory over the South African.
Petersen entered the Top 32 in the world before the commencement of the 2020 PDC Players Championship Finals, but lost 3âÂÂ6 to Luke Humphries, averaging 101.46 against Humphries' 99.65.
Petersen returned to the Alexandra Palace in London for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship and started as a seeded player in Round 2 (Last 64) for the first time in his career. He overcame Steve Lennon and Jason Lowe to reach the fourth round, where he lost 4âÂÂ0 to Gary Anderson.
In 2023, Petersen once again represented South Africa on the World Cup of Darts, forming a team with Vernon Bouwers. They made it to the second round, where they lost to the French team of Thibault Tricole and Jacques Labre.
Petersen previously used darts given to him by Phil Taylor at the 2009 South African Masters.
PDC
PDC European Tour
PDC Players Championships