BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Larry Butler, surprise winner of the first World Matchplay

Thursday, 31 August 2023 at 23:34

In this column, we go back in time with a darting star of the past. Today we do so with American Larry Butler.

Larry Butler was born on July 21, 1957 in Owenboro, Kentucky in the USA. The darts world got to know him in 1992 when he made his debut at the BDO World Championship. However, at Lakeside Country Club, he went down 3-1 against Dennis Priestley in the opening round.

Two years later, Butler was there again at a World Championship, this time that of the PDC. However, he did not make it past the group stage after a 3-1 defeat to Tom Kirby and a 3-2 win against John Lowe.

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World Matchplay 1994

A few months later, "The Bald Eagle" caused a sensation at the first edition of the World Matchplay. The unseeded American beat Steve Raw, Jerry Umberger, Jocky Wilson and Shayne Burgess in succession to actually reach the final. In that final, he defeated first world champion of the PDC, Dennis Priestley 16-12, good for his first and, until today, only major title.

Repeating that performance proved difficult in subsequent years, although Butler remained a regular at the PDC World Championship for a while. There he defeated Lowe and Keith Deller, among others, and a quarterfinal place in 1996 was ultimately his best result. Butler also represented the USA several times at the World Cup of Darts.

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Second major final

Afterwards, Butler was mainly active domestically, until he reached the final at the Winmau World Masters in 2015 a bit out of the blue more than 21 years after his previous major final. In that final, he would lose to Glen Durrant 7-3.

Thanks in part to that strong performance, he also got to compete at the BDO World Championship for the second time in his career at the beginning of 2016. After a 3-2 victory in the opening round against James Hurrell, he went down 4-0 against Glen Durrant in the last 16.

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Q-School

Butler, who was also out of contention for a while after suffering a heart attack, tried to capture a PDC Tour Card at Q-School early this year, but was unsuccessful. These days, he does still compete occasionally on the World Seniors Darts Tour and the Modus Super Series.

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