| Matthew Edgar | |
| Nickname: | "Prime Time" |
| Birth Place: | Doncaster, England |
| Hometown: | Daventry, England |
| Since: | 2001 |
| Darts: | 21g Mission Signature "Edgar TV" |
| Laterality: | Right-handed |
| Music: | "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses previously "Buck Rogers" by Feeder |
| Pdc: | 2011–2022 (Tour Card 2012–2013, 2015–2016, 2018–2021) |
| Wdf: | 2023– |
| Pdc World: | Last 64: 2021 |
| Uk Open: | Last 32: 2011, 2018, 2020 |
| Pc Finals: | Last 64: 2016, 2018, 2019 |
| Bdo World: | Last 48: 2024 |
| World Masters: | Last 32: 2024 |
| Results: | WDF Events (x2)PDC Challenge Tour (x2) |
Matthew Edgar (born 28 August 1986) is an English darts player who competes in World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Prime Time", Edgar has won 2 WDF ranking titles and has won two titles on the PDC Challenge Tour. A former PDC Tour Card holder, he has played in ten UK Opens, and four World Championships (three PDC and one WDF).
Edgar joined the PDC in 2011, and qualified for the 2011 UK Open. He defeated Nigel Heydon, Andy Pearce and Martyn Turner on the way to the last 32, where he lost to Andy Boulton 9–5.
In January 2012, he entered the Professional Darts Corporation Pro Tour 'Q School' qualifying tournament.On the first day, Edgar lost to Darren Whittingham 6–4 at the final stage.[1] After four days playing in the event in Barnsley, Edgar gained his professional tour card for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. His best results of 2012 came in two UK Open Qualifiers, where he lost in the last 16 to Johnny Haines and Richie Howson respectively.[2] These results helped him to reach the UK Open for the second time where he was beaten in the second round by Kevin McDine.[3] He could not advance beyond the last 32 in any of the rest of the events he played in the year.[2]
Edgar went into 2013 ranked world number 81,[4] and reached his first PDC quarter-final at the eighth UK Open Qualifier where he was edged out 5–6 by Adrian Lewis. He was seeded 50th for the UK Open itself, meaning he began at the second round stage, with a 5–4 win over Colin Osborne.[5] He faced reigning champion Robert Thornton in the third round and led 6–4, before going on to lose 7–9.[6] Edgar also qualified for two European Tour events during the year, losing in the first round of the Gibraltar Darts Trophy and beating Stuart Kellett 6–1 at the German Darts Championship before being defeated 6–2 by Paul Nicholson in the second round.[7]
Edgar began 2014 outside of the world's top 64 and entered Q School in an attempt to win his place back, coming closest on the third day when he advanced to the last 32 but lost 5–2 to Darron Brown.[8] [9] Edgar only had PDPA Associate Member status for the year ahead which allowed him to compete in UK Open and European Tour qualifiers as well as the Challenge Tour.[10] He qualified for the UK Open and lost 5–3 to Spain's Antonio Alcinas in the second round.[11] Edgar was a runner-up in the first Challenge Tour event of the year when he lost 5–4 to Jamie Robinson, but he went one better in the fourth event by claiming the title with a deciding leg victory over Mark Frost.[12] [13] He came within a match of qualifying for both the 2014 Grand Slam of Darts and 2015 World Championship but was beaten on both occasions.
On the second day of 2015 Q School, Edgar won seven matches ending with a 5–0 whitewash of Andy Boulton to earn a new two-year tour card.[14] He reached the quarter-finals of the third UK Open Qualifier, but was edged out 6–5 by Adrian Lewis.[15] Edgar also suffered a narrow defeat in the second round of the UK Open, 5–4 against Jason Mold.[16] The only European Tour event he could qualify for was the 2015 International Darts Open and he beat Darren Webster 6–5, but was whitewahsed by Dave Chisnall 6–0 in the second round.[17]
A last 16 showing in the final qualifier saw Edgar enter the UK Open at the second round stage and he beat Mark Wilson 6–4, before losing 9–3 to Mark Webster.[18] [19] He had two last 16 finishes in Players Championship events, before reaching the quarter-finals for the only time this season at the final one by defeating Jelle Klaasen, Wayne Jones, Cristo Reyes and Robbie Green, before losing to Benito van de Pas 6–2.[20] It was this result which saw Edgar make his debut in the Players Championship Finals and he lost to Simon Whitlock 6–3 in the first round.[21]
With his tour card status now expired, Edgar entered Q–School. He finished 13th on the Order of Merit, just one point shy of reclaiming his place.[22] A host of injuries including a broken hand restricted the amount of entries available through the year which meant he did not qualify for 2017 UK Open, the first time in Edgar's career he did not qualify. There were positive signs in the Summer when Edgar won a second Challenge Tour title came beating Barrie Bates 5–2 in the final.
Edgar re-gained his PDC Tour Card at Q–School, finishing 9th on the UK Q–School Order of Merit.
On the 2018 PDC Pro Tour, he competed in the 2018 UK Open Qualifiers.[23]
At UK Open Qualifier 1 he defeated Adam Hunt 6–5 in a deciding leg, Mick McGowan 6–1, Mark Webster 6–5 in a deciding leg and Mervyn King 6–2 to reach the fourth round (Last 16), where he was beaten by Kyle Anderson, who averaged 107.32 to Edgar's 95.40, 6–2.[24]
At UK Open Qualifier 2, Edgar defeated Charlie Jackson 6–5 in a deciding leg and Philip Borthwick 6–4, then both Andrew Gilding and Cristo Reyes 6–5 in last-leg deciders. This meant Edgar reached the Last 16 in successive UK Open qualifiers, where he lost to Justin Pipe 6–5 in another deciding leg.[25]
Edgar became the 23rd seed for the 2018 UK Open and entered in the third round. There, he achieved a 10–4 win over John Henderson, reaching the fourth round for the second time in his career, but lost to Steve West 10–7 in round 4.
In April Edgar made his return to the PDC European Tour at the 2018 German Darts Open, where he lost to Steve West 6–2 in the first round.
Edgar did enough on the Players Championship circuit to qualify for the 2018 Players Championship Finals where he met Michael van Gerwen in the first round and lost 6–2. He also managed to qualify for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship through the ProTour.
In the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, Edgar played Darius Labanauskas in the first round and lost 3–1 despite winning the first set.
Edgar started the year off placed world number 68, so to maintain his tour card for next season he needed to jump 4 places in the rankings. He played in the 2019 UK Open where he made the third round before losing to Ryan Searle 6–3. He qualified again for the Players Championship Finals that year and played Dave Chisnall in the first round. He lost 6–2.
Edgar had not managed to do enough on the tour to qualify for the 2020 PDC World Championship. He entered the last chance Tour Card Holder qualifier and managed to come through it with wins over Tytus Kanik, Gary Eastwood and Christian Bunse, before beating Adam Hunt 7–4 to book his place at Alexandra Palace. However, he lost to Darius Labanauskas once again.
He was unable to achieve qualification for a 3rd year running for the Players Championship Finals, however the day after the Players Championship Final at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, he qualified for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship via the UK Tour Card Holder Qualifiers, beating Josh Payne 7–2 in the last 8 to confirm his place in his 3rd successive PCC World Championship.
Edgar finally progressed past the first round of the World Championship in the 2021 edition by whitewashing Maik Kuivenhoven 3–0 in sets. In round 2, he lost to Mensur Suljović 3–1.[26]
Matthew returned to PDC Q-School looking to regain his tour card. During the first 3 days, Edgar picked up 0 points, which left him needing to reach the Final on Day 4 as a minimum. The day brought the best out in Edgar, and he progressed to the Semi-Finals, the highlight being a 106.35 average against Kai Fan Leung in the Last 64. Unfortunately for Matt, he lost against Nathan Rafferty 6–3 in the Semi-Final, leaving him outside of the Tour Card spots in the Q-School Order of Merit.[27] [28]
In 2023 Edgar won 2 WDF ranking events, the Iceland Masters and the Slovenian Open.
Edgar was the runner-up at the 2024 Welsh Open, he lost to Andy Davidson 5–1 in the final.[29]
Edgar qualified for the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship at the Lakeside Country Club virtue of being ranked 20th on their World Championship rankings race.[30] He was drawn to play Dutch Open champion Jarno Bottenberg in the first round, who defeated him 2–0 in sets.[31]
Edgar practices with former world championship runner-up Kevin Painter. He has previously worked for Northampton Town as a sports coach.[32] Edgar also runs a YouTube channel dedicated to darts called "Edgar TV Darts", where he regularly answers questions raised by followers and chronicles his journeys through various PDC and WDF competitions.[33]
Before starting his darts career, Edgar was a professional wrestler and trained in mixed martial arts.[34]
The Online Betting Guide, OLBG, began sponsoring Edgar in 2011 and have since sponsored the darts player intermittently for over 13 years. In 2024 they supported his journey to qualify for Lakeside 2024 at the WDF World Championships.[35]
Edgar has one son.[36]
PDC
| Tournament | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | |||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | Did not qualify | 1R | 1R | 2R | |||||||||
| UK Open | 4R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 4R | 3R | 5R | 3R | |||
| Did not qualify | 1R | 1R | 1R | DNQ | |||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||
| PDC Year-end ranking | 96 | 102 | 81 | 141 | 107 | 77 | 86 | 66 | 66 | 62 | |||
WDF
| Tournament | 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDF Major/platinum events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF World Championship | 1R | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF World Masters | 4R | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Did not qualify | GDT 1R | GDC 2R | DNQ | |||||||||
| 2015 | Did not qualify | IDO 2R | Did not qualify | ||||||||||
| 2018 | DNQ | GDO 1R | Did not qualify | EDT 3R | |||||||||
| 2019 | EDO 1R | Did not qualify | EDG 1R | DNQ | EDM 1R | DNQ | |||||||
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 [37] | DNP | DER 1R | CRA 2R | DNP | CRA 1R | CRA 3R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | NUL 2R | NUL 1R | ONT 2R | ONT 3R | DER 1R | DER 1R | NUL 2R | NUL 1R | DUB 1R | DUB 3R | KIL 4R | GLA 2R | GLA 2R | ALI 1R | ALI 2R | CRA 1R | CRA 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | ||||
| 2012 | ALI 2R | ALI 2R | REA 2R | REA 1R | CRA 1R | CRA 1R | BIR 2R | BIR 2R | CRA 1R | CRA 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | DUB 2R | DUB 1R | KIL 3R | KIL 1R | CRA 1R | CRA 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | |||||||||||
| 2013 | WIG 1R | WIG 3R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | CRA 1R | CRA 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | DUB 1R | DUB 2R | KIL 2R | KIL PR | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | |||||||||||||||
| 2014 [38] | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | CRA DNP | CRA 1R | Did not participate | CRA 1R | CRA 2R | COV 1R | COV 3R | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | COV 1R | COV 1R | COV 1R | CRA 2R | CRA 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | DUB 2R | DUB 3R | COV 2R | COV 1R | |||||||||||
| 2016 | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | COV 2R | COV 2R | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | DUB 4R | DUB 1R | BAR 1R | BAR QF | |||||||||||
| 2017 [39] | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | MIL DNP | MIL 2R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | WIG DNP | WIG DNP | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | WIG DNP | WIG DNP | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | DUB 2R | DUB 2R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | |||||||||
| 2018 | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | MIL 4R | MIL 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | MIL 2R | MIL 2R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | DUB 2R | DUB 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | |||||||||
| 2019 | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG QF | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | WIG 3R | WIG 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 3R | HIL 3R | HIL 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 4R | DUB 1R | DUB 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | |
| 2020 | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 3R | MIL 3R | MIL 1R | MIL 3R | NIE 2R | NIE 2R | NIE 2R | NIE 3R | NIE 1R | COV 1R | COV 1R | COV 1R | COV 1R | COV 1R | ||||||||
| 2021 | BOL 1R | BOL 1R | BOL 1R | BOL 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | NIE 3R | NIE 3R | NIE 1R | NIE 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | COV 2R | COV 1R | COV 3R | COV 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR QF | |
| 2022[40] | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | WIG DNP | WIG DNP | BAR DNP | BAR 2R | NIE 1R | NIE 2R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | WIG 3R | WIG 2R | NIE 1R | NIE 2R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | BAR 1R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | BAR 1R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | |
