BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Roland Scholten: The first Dutchman to win a PDC major

In this column, we always go back in time with a particular darter. Today we do so with Dutchman Roland Scholten.

Scholten was born on Jan. 11, 1965, in Den Haag, Netherlands. In 1992 he made a first appearance by reaching the final at the Austrian Open, which he lost to Rod Harrington. A year later, he took his first major trophy by winning the WDF World Cup. In the final, Scholten was too strong for Dane Rusel Troels.

World Championship debut

In 1994, he got to make his debut at the BDO World Championship. After a win in the opening round against Sean Palfrey, he went down 3-1 in the second round against Ronnie Sharp. In his next two appearances at the BDO World Championship he did not make it past the second round. In 1996 however, he did make a name for himself by reaching the semi-finals of the Winmau World Masters, where he lost to eventual winner Colin Monk;

After victories against successively Mike Gregory and Bobby George, Scholten managed to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in 1997. There he lost 4-2 to Mervyn King. That year he also made a brief foray into the PDC, where he managed to win the World Cup for pairs alongside Raymond van Barneveld.

In 1998 Scholten recorded his best result ever at a World Championship. After victories against Co Stompé, Roger Carter and Sean Palfrey, he lost in the semifinals to Richie Burnett. A year later, Scholten entered the Lakeside Country Club for the last time, which he left with a defeat in the quarterfinals against Ronnie Baxter.

Switch to PDC

Scholten then switched to the PDC, but because the BDO was difficult at first, Scholten had to refrain from participating in the 2000 PDC World Championship. A year later he did compete at the Circus Tavern and after wins against Shayne Burgess and Cliff Lazarenko he immediately reached the quarterfinals on his debut. There Rod Harrington proved too strong 4-2.

Later that year, he did provide a remarkable performance at the World Grand Prix. After victories against Harrington, Mick Manning, John Part and John Lowe in succession, he eventually lost to Alan Warriner in the final.

UK Open 2004

Scholten remained a regular at the top of the PDC and in 2004 he crowned his success by winning the UK Open. Scholten defeated Mark Dudbridge, Henry O'Neill, Denis Ovens, Alan Warriner and Steve Beaton before also beating John Part 11-6 in the final. 'The Tripod' thus became the first Dutchman ever to win a PDC major.

Scholten also reached the 2006 Premier League final, but lost it 16-6 against Phil Taylor. In the following years he increasingly suffered from neck and shoulder problems. His performance suffered and Scholten dropped further and further down the world rankings. Finally, he left the PDC in 2013.

Afterwards, Scholten concentrated mainly on his work for television. For example, he regularly gives analyses at SBS 6 and Viaplay, has worked for German channel Sport 1 for a while and also commented for Eurosport at the WDF World Championship. In 2022 and 2023, Scholten participated in the World Seniors Darts Championship, but each time he was eliminated in the first round.