Ryan Joyce Explained

Ryan Joyce (born 20 September 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is ranked world number twenty-five. A professional since 2018, he has won 2 PDC ranking titles and also reached the quarter-finals of the PDC World Championship in 2019. Nicknamed "Relentless", Joyce has made two PDC major semi-finals: in the 2023 Players Championship Finals and 2024 World Grand Prix. He has also reached a PDC European Tour final, finishing as runner-up at the 2025 European Darts Trophy.

Career

BDO

In 2014 he reached the Last 48 of the World Masters. He took part in the 2016 BDO World Trophy, he was knocked out in the first round losing to Jamie Hughes.^[2] He qualified for the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship, where he won 3–0 against Dennis Nilsson in the Preliminary round.^[2] In the first round, he lost to Martin Adams 3–2 in a sudden death leg, after throwing for the match twice and missing one dart at double 18 to win followed by Adams hitting a 115 checkout to stay in the match, before Joyce himself survived a dart at 5-4 down before hitting a 164 checkout to take the game to the deciding leg.^[2]

Outside of the major tournaments he has reached 3 BDO ranked event finals, the first was the 2013 Turkish Open where he lost 5–0 to Martin Phillips,^[2] then the Isle of Man Open in 2016, losing 6–4 to Tony O'Shea also the Denmark Masters in 2016 losing 6–4 to Glen Durrant.^[2] He has had more success in pairs competitions winning the Turkish open pairs 2013, Welsh open pairs 2015 and losing in the final of the British open pairs 2016 all while partnering Andy Chalmers.^[2] He won the Scottish open pairs 2017 title with Kevin McDine. His most recent success came in the BDO Gold cup singles tournament 2017 which he won beating Wayne Warren 6–3 in the final.^[2]

PDC

2018

Joyce attended Q-School for the first time in 2018 and earned a two–year PDC Tour Card by finishing 10th on the UK Q-School Order of Merit.

Joyce made his Players Championship Finals debut at the 2018 edition as the 27th seed. He lost to the 38th seed Steve Lennon 6–2 in the first round.^[2]

Joyce made his debut at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, whitewashing both Anastasia Dobromyslova and Simon Whitlock 3–0, then defeating both Alan Norris and James Wade 4–3 in sets. However, he was beaten in the quarter-finals by the eventual winner Michael van Gerwen 5–1.^[2]

2020

In July 2020, at Players Championship 10, the second Players Championship event of the Summer Series, Joyce won his first PDC title, coming back from 7–3 down to defeat Dave Chisnall 8–7 in the final.^[3]

2023

On the 2023 PDC Pro Tour, Joyce was the runner-up at Players Championship 16 and Players Championship 24. In October Joyce won his second PDC title, defeating Gerwyn Price 8–7 in the final of Players Championship 26.^[2]

In November 2023, Joyce reached a first major televised semi-final at the 2023 Players Championship Finals, losing 11–3 to eventual champion Luke Humphries.^{[4] [5]}

2024

On the 2024 PDC Pro Tour, Joyce was the runner-up at Players Championship 9, losing to Michael Smith 8–6 in the final.^{[6] [7]}

At the 2024 World Grand Prix Joyce reached the semi-finals, defeating Josh Rock 2–0 in sets, Nathan Aspinall 3–2 in a deciding leg in set 5, and Rob Cross also 3–2, before being whitewashed 5–0 by Luke Humphries.^[2]

2025

In March 2025, Joyce reached his first PDC European Tour final at the 2025 European Darts Trophy. He was defeated by Nathan Aspinall 8–4 in legs.^{[8] [9]} He made his European Championship debut in October,^[10] being eliminated by eventual champion Gian van Veen in the quarter-finals.^[11]

Style of play

Joyce is known as an accurate double hitter,^[12] particularly on the double 16 segment of the board.^[13]

Personal life

Joyce has admitted suffering from a fear of flying, this impacting on his willingness to attend European Tour events.^[14]

World Championship results

^[2]

BDO

• 2017: First round: (lost to Martin Adams 2–3)

PDC

• 2019: Quarter-finals (lost to Michael van Gerwen 1–5)
• 2020: First round (lost to Jan Dekker 2–3)
• 2021: Second round (lost to Krzysztof Ratajski 0–3)
• 2022: Second round (lost to Mervyn King 2–3)
• 2023: First round (lost to Scott Williams 1–3)
• 2024: Second round (lost to Stephen Bunting 0–3)
• 2025: Fourth round (lost to Luke Littler 3–4)
• 2026: Second round (lost to Krzysztof Ratajski 1–3)

Performance timeline

Source: ^[2]

BDO

Tournament	2014	2016	2017
BDO Ranked televised events
BDO World Championship	DNP		1R
BDO World Trophy	DNP	1R	DNP
	4R	1R	3R
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	183	36	104

PDC

Tournament	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNP	QF	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	4R	2R
PDC World Masters	Did not qualify							Prel.
UK Open	DNQ	4R	4R	4R	4R	3R	3R	6R
World Matchplay	DNQ		1R	DNQ	1R	1R
World Grand Prix	DNQ		2R	DNQ	SF	1R
European Championship	Did not qualify							QF
Grand Slam of Darts	DNQ		RR	2R	DNQ		2R	DNQ
	1R	1R	1R	2R	3R	SF	QF	2R
PDC Non-ranked televised events
World Series of Darts Finals	DNQ				QF	DNQ		DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	51	42	44	34	44	37	33	24

PDC European Tour^[2]

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
2018	Did not qualify					DDM 2R	GDT DNQ	DDO 2R	EDM 2R	GDC 2R	DDC DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT 2R
2019	Did not qualify						DDM 1R	DDO 2R	CDO DNQ	ADC DNQ	EDM 1R	IDO DNQ	GDT 2R
2022	IDO WD	Did not qualify					EDG 1R	Did not qualify					GDT 3R
2023	BSD 1R	EDO 2R	Did not qualify						EDG WD	EDM 3R	GDO DNQ	HDT DNQ	GDC 1R
2024	BDO 3R	GDG 3R	IDO DNP	EDG DNP	ADO 1R	BSD 1R	DDC 1R	EDO WD	GDC 2R	FDT 3R	HDT WD	SDT WD	CDO WD
2025	BDO 1R	EDT F	IDO DNQ	GDG QF	ADO SF	EDG 1R	DDC 2R	EDO 2R	BSD WD	FDT 3R	CDO 2R	HDT 2R	SDT 3R	GDC 3R

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	32	33	34
2018	BAR SF	BAR QF	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	MIL 4R	MIL 2R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	DUB 1R	DUB 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R
2019	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	BAR QF	BAR 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	DUB SF	DUB 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R
2020	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	MIL 1R	MIL W	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 3R	COV 1R	COV 4R	COV 3R	COV 1R	COV QF
2021	BOL 1R	BOL 3R	BOL 2R	BOL 2R	MIL QF	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 3R	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 2R	NIE 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 3R	COV 4R	COV 1R	COV SF	COV 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R
2022	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	NIE DNP		BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	WIG 3R	WIG SF	NIE DNP		BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R
2023	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	LEI 4R	LEI 2R	HIL DNP		LEI 2R	LEI F	HIL 3R	HIL 3R	BAR SF	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR F	BAR 3R	BAR W	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 4R	LEI 1R	LEI 2R	HIL DNP		LEI 1R	LEI 2R	HIL F	HIL 4R	HIL DNP		MIL 1R	MIL SF	MIL 1R	MIL 4R	MIL 4R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	LEI 1R	LEI 2R	WIG 2R	WIG QF	WIG 3R	WIG 2R	WIG QF	LEI 2R	LEI 2R
2025	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	ROS 1R	ROS 4R	LEI 1R	LEI 4R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 2R	ROS DNP		HIL 4R	HIL 1R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	LEI 4R	LEI 1R	LEI 3R	HIL 1R	HIL QF	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	HIL DNP		LEI 3R	LEI 3R	LEI 4R	WIG 3R	WIG 2R	WIG SF	WIG 2R

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ryan Joyce . Professional Darts Corporation . 21 November 2020.
2. Web site: Ryan Joyce Player Details - Matches. dartsorakel.com . 22 December 2024.
3. Web site: Darts results: Ryan Joyce wins second Players Championship event of PDC Summer Series. www.sportinglife.com. 10 July 2020. 9 October 2024.
4. News: 26 November 2023 . Michael van Gerwen nine-darter not enough as Luke Humphries wins Players Championship Finals . 25 July 2024 . BBC Sport.
5. Web site: Allen . Dave . Humphries denies nine-dart Van Gerwen for Minehead glory . https://web.archive.org/web/20231127222010/https://www.pdc.tv/news/2023/11/26/humphries-denies-nine-dart-van-gerwen-minehead-glory. dead. 27 November 2023. www.pdc.tv. 26 November 2023. 11 October 2024.
6. Web site: 6 May 2024 . Michael Smith wins first darts ranking title in 11 months at Players Championship 9 in Hildesheim . 6 May 2024 . Sky Sports.
7. Web site: 6 May 2024 . Allen . Dave . Super Smith hits back to deny Joyce for PC9 title . www.pdc.tv . 6 May 2024.
8. Web site: 23 March 2025 . Aspinall wins first European Tour title . BBC Sport . 24 October 2025.
9. Web site: 24 March 2025 . Nathan Aspinall: Stockport ace clinches maiden European Tour title with victory over Ryan Joyce . Sky Sports . 24 October 2025.
10. Web site: Gorton . Josh . 25 October 2025 . Wade dumps out Littler to set up Humphries clash at European Championship . Professional Darts Corporation . 5 November 2025.
11. Web site: Mirza . Raz . 27 October 2025 . Gian van Veen stuns Luke Humphries in European Championship final after last-leg drama to win first major title . Sky Sports . 5 November 2025.
12. Web site: 2024-12-30 . Understated Joyce bidding to cause Littler upset . 2025-04-27 . PDC . en.
13. Web site: 2024-12-14 . Stats Analysis: The best double hitters on every different segment . 2025-04-27 . PDC . en.
14. Web site: "Sometimes it seems easier just not to go" - After soaring into Grand Prix QFs Ryan Joyce admits fear of flying in aeroplanes. Darts News. Wood. Kieran. 10 October 2024. 6 October 2025.