FORGOTTEN DARTERS: Denis Ovens who was given the not so honourable nickname 'The Nearly Man'

In this section we regularly reminisce about Forgotten Darters from the past. Today it is the turn of Denis Ovens.

Denis Ovens was born on July 1st 1957 in Enfield, England. In 1994 he made his debut on the BDO circuit and five years later he won his first major title at the Scottish Open. Later that year he also reached the quarter-finals at the Winmau World Masters, where he lost 3-2 to Mervyn King.

In 2000 Ovens, who was nicknamed "The Heat", qualified to play in the BDO World Championships for the first time. In the opening round he lost 3-1 to Bobby George. It was Ovens' last appearance at a BDO World Championship, as he made the switch to the PDC later that year.

In his first four appearances at the PDC World Darts Championship, he never made it past the third round. However, this changed in 2005 when, after victories against Mark Holden and Roland Scholten, he lost in the quarter-finals 5-3 to the later finalist Mark Dudbridge. Afterwards Ovens participated in the showpiece event eight more times, but never got further than the second round.

Due to his exit in the second round at several TV tournaments, Ovens was given the new nickname 'The Nearly Man'. Although that was perhaps not entirely appropriate since he still managed to achieve some nice results. Between 2010 and 2012 he reached the semi-finals of the UK Open three times in a row. Twice Phil Taylor was too strong, once he lost to Wes Newton.

Ovens had to deal with regular injuries at the end of his career and put an end to his career in 2015 at the age of 58. Afterwards, he made one last appearance at a major tournament. At the Swedish Classic he crashed out in the last 32 against Willem Mandigers. Since then Ovens enjoys his well-earned retirement.