BACK IN TIME WITH: Kyle Anderson - Australian nine-dart hero who left us far too soon

In this column, we regularly go back in time with a particular darter. On the occasion of the Auckland Darts Masters, a tournament that takes place this month and was won by Kyle Anderson in 2017, today we do so with the much missed Australian.

Kyle Anderson was born on Sept. 14, 1987, in Subiaco. He was of aboriginal descent and was extremely proud of it. He began his career with the BDO where he quickly showed his talent by winning the Japan Open in 2010. That same year he also played his only major with the BDO, but at the Winmau World Masters he only reached in the last 72.

In 2012, Anderson won the Oceanic Masters, which allowed him to make his debut at the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship. In the opening round, he had chances to win the first two sets, but eventually lost 3-0 to Steve Beaton. Still, Anderson had shown what he was capable of and returned to Australia full of confidence.

In 2013, he dominated the Australian circuit with no fewer than seven tournament victories. As a result, Anderson finished first in the Australian rankings, allowing him to participate in the 2014 World Darts Championship once again. In the opening round there, he caused a sensation when he threw a roof raising nine-darter against Ian White. At the time, it was only the seventh nine-darter in the history of the World Darts Championship. It was quite a historic afternoon at Alexandra Palace, by the way, as barely an hour earlier, Terry Jenkins had also thrown a nine darter, leaving both players to share the bonus cheque.

As it turned out however, it was the last leg Anderson won that World Championship. White showed no mercy after the nine darter and won the match 3-1. A month later, 'The Original' headed to Q-School full of ambition, hoping to capture a PDC Tour Card there. And he did so successfully, winning six consecutive matches on the first day before, in the final Keegan Brown was defeated and a Tour Card was claimed. However, the Australian did not like the constant flying back and forth between England and Australia, and thanks to a sponsor he was able to settle permanently in England in order to complete the entire Pro Tour.

Some players need a long "break-in" period when first joining the PDC Pro Tour, but that did not prove to be the case with Anderson. After all, after only a few months on the Pro Tour, he managed to reach the semifinals at a Players Championship, but once again White stood in the way of more success. However, Anderson continued to perform regularly and managed to win against some big names in the sport. At the Sydney Darts Masters that year, he also managed to cause a huge surprise by winning in the first round against Raymond van Barneveld. In the quarter-finals he defeated Simon Whitlock in an all-Australian duel, but in the semifinals Phil Taylor was eventually too strong 10-4.

In 2015, on his third attempt at the World Darts Championship, there was finally a victory as he managed to get past the first round with a win against Beaton. One round later, however, his adventure was over after a 4-2 defeat against Andy Hamilton. The following months he continued to perform very regularly, advancing to the top 64 of the world rankings. At the 2016 World Darts Championship, he defeated Brendan Dolan in the first round but then bumped into Vincent van der Voort, who was too strong 4-2.

A few months after that, he reached the quarter-finals at a major for the first time. At the UK Open, he successively defeated Andy Hamilton, James Wilson and Benito van de Pas. The quarterfinals did eventually prove to be a severe anticlimax as Anderson went down 10-0 against Jelle Klaasen. That same year, Anderson also joined Simon Whitlock at the World Cup of Darts. The Australian pair did well, but after victories against Germany and Denmark, they were defeated in the quarterfinals by the Netherlands.

Visa problems prevented Anderson from competing in the final tournaments of 2016 and even forced him to miss out on the 2017 World Darts Championship. His visa problems did get resolved in early 2017 though thankfully and 2017 ended up being by far the most successful year of his career. Anderson crowned himself ranking winner for the first time in the middle of that year after a tournament victory at Players Championship 17 by beating Kevin Painter in the final.

'The Original' then won the Auckland Darts Masters, a tournament of the World Series of Darts. In the final, he defeated his compatriot Corey Cadby. Later that year, Anderson also reached the semifinals at the European Championship, where he again threw a nine-darter and eventually only lost to Michael van Gerwen in a deciding leg.

Anderson, whose brother Beau was also a more than capable dart player, was still active on the Pro Tour in 2018 and 2019, but no new big wins were forthcoming. After the start of the corona pandemic in March 2020, Anderson decided to return to Australia. He handed in his Tour Card in early 2021 to assist his family with the upcoming birth of his second child.

On Aug. 24, 2021, the darts world was startled with some very bad news. Anderson, who had been in the hospital for some time, had died of kidney failure. He was only 33 and left behind a wife and two children. Following their overall victory at the 2022 World Cup of Darts, Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta dedicated their title to Anderson. A crowdfunding campaign was also launched from the darts world to financially support Anderson's family.

The Australian was a particularly well-liked player on the circuit, about whom no one could say a bad word. He is therefore particularly sorely missed to this day.