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Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English international darts player.^[1] Nicknamed Wolfie, he is the reigning BDO World Champion and Winmau World Master, having won both titles twice. He is currently number four in the BDO world rankings, and formerly number one. He plays county darts for Cambridgeshire. Adams lives in Deeping St James, near Market Deeping, Lincolnshire with his wife Sharon who is a swimming instructor.

Darts career

Adams was born in Sutton, London and started his darts career in pubs. He still plays pub darts, currently playing for Rigby's in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire^[2]. He turned professional in 1982.

Following the formation of the World Darts Council in 1993, all the players that left the British Darts Organisation were banned from playing county darts leaving England searching for a new team and a new captain. Adams took over the role in 1993 and has remained captain since, becoming the longest reigning England captain ever.

Adams has won many BDO Open events and twice won the WDF World Cup singles, but often missed out on winning the biggest tournaments. He was sometimes the victim of great comebacks and also great collapses himself when he found himself in winning positions. In particular, his 5-4 defeat to Chris Mason in the 1999 World Championship quarter-finals, having led 4-1 and seen nine match-darts pass him by in the match, is always mentioned among the greatest matches in the history of the event.

In the Grand Slam BDO events, other than the World Championship, Adams was runner-up on three occasions. He was beaten 6-4 in the 2004 Bavaria World Darts Trophy final by Raymond van Barneveld and lost the 2006 Bavaria World Darts Trophy final to Phil Taylor 7-2. He also lost to 17-year-old Dutch youngster Michael van Gerwen 7-5 in the 2006 Winmau World Masters final, having led 5-2.

Having made his Lakeside debut in 1994 at the age of 37, Adams failed to progress beyond the semi finals of the World Championship until 2005 when he reached the final at the 12th attempt. He beat Davy Richardson 3-2, John Henderson 3-2, Ted Hankey 5-3 and Simon Whitlock 5-0 before losing 6-2 against van Barneveld in the final.

Adams reached his second world final in 2007. He was number one seed for the second time in his career and put out Tony O'Shea, Co Stompé, Ted Hankey and Mervyn King in his run to the final where he faced qualifier Phill Nixon. The two oldest players in the tournament (they were both 50 years old) reached the final. Adams stormed into a 6-0 lead, before Nixon produced an incredible comeback to level the match. Just when it looked like Adams was heading for another dramatic defeat, he went off the stage to compose himself. When he did that he finally justified why he'd started as strong favourite when he won all three legs in the final set to win through 7-6 and finally claim the World title that he said he had been chasing for 14 years.

In the draw for the 2008 BDO World Championships, Adams was again paired with Nixon in the first round. In the match, Adams beat Nixon 3-0. After the game, Adams was clearly emotional in an interview following his victory, citing the memories of the 2007 final as the reason (First time he had won comfortably) ^[3] In the second round he came up against Martin Phillips. It was easy pickings for Adams who cruised to a 4-0 victory with Phillips paying the price for many missed doubles. In the quarter finals he played a fiercely fought match against Masters champion Robert Thornton who he led at one time 4-2. Thornton fought back to make it 4-4 but Adams eventually took control of his visible nerves to win 5-4. Adams went on to lose in the semi-finals to number one seed Mark Webster, who eventually won the tournament.

Adams also had a brief run in the rival Professional Darts Corporation between 1999 and 2001. He played in the revived News of the World Darts Championship in 1997, reaching the semi finals, losing to Taylor who won the event. Adams then claimed the Scania Open in 1999, beating Taylor in the final. He played in the 2000 PDC World Matchplay but lost in the first round. He returned to Blackpool a year later in 2001 and reached the semi finals. He beat Mick Manning, Alan Warriner and Dennis Smith before losing to the eventual winner Taylor. He then reached the quarter finals of the 2001 World Grand Prix, beating Peter Manley and Alex Roy before losing to John Lowe. Afterwards he never played in a PDC tournament again.

Adams defeated Scott Waites in the World Masters final of 2008 to record his first Masters victory and his second major (after the 2007 Worlds), in another epic 7-6 encounter. A month later, at the 2009 World Championship, he reached the semi-final for the fifth successive year, where he was narrowly defeated by eventual champion Ted Hankey. Later that year, he won his second successive Masters title, once again by a 7-6 scoreline in the final, over Robbie Green after Green led by 6-3 and had a dart for the title. This win made Adams the first man to retain the Masters title since Bob Anderson in 1988. Adams joined Eric Bristow, Richie Burnett, Bob Anderson and John Walton as the fifth player to win them in the same season.^[4]

In the 2010 World Championship he beat a visibly nervous Anthony Fleet in the first round without losing a leg, followed by further comfortable victories over Daryl Gurney and Garry Thompson. In the semi-final he let a 5-1 lead slip over Welshman Martin Phillips before finally winning 6-4. He then defeated unseeded Dave Chisnall 7-5 in the final to win a second World Championship in a rematch of their first round match a year earlier. In February 2010 he won the Dutch Open title for the first time in his long career. The England captain triumphed 3-1 over international team-mate Scott Waites in the men's singles final in Veldhoven. ^[5]

Professional record

BDO World Championship record

Stance on the PDC

As a result of winning the Winmau Masters in 2008, Adams was invited to compete in the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts, and declined the invitation, resulting in the PDC's Board of Directors ruling that Adams will no longer be eligible for invitations into the tournament in future.^[6] Adams brushed off their decision, saying that it would simply save him the time in having to refuse them.^[7] Despite this, commentators at the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts confirmed that they had once again unsuccessfully invited him to that year's event.

BDO Majors (4)

World Championship

Winner (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2007	BDO World Darts Championship	Phill Nixon	7-6
2010	BDO World Darts Championship	Dave Chisnall	7-5

World Masters

Winner (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2008	Winmau World Masters	Scott Waites	7-6
2009	Winmau World Masters	Robbie Green	7-6

References

External links

• Wolfie Darts Official Web Site
• Profile on Darts Database