Steve Lennon Explained

Steve Lennon (born 25 November 1993) is an Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. A professional since 2017, he has participated in seven PDC World Championships and reached his first major quarter-final at the 2018 Players Championship Finals. He finished as the runner-up at the 2018 Dutch Darts Masters on the PDC European Tour.

Nicknamed "Scuba Steve", Lennon has represented Ireland at the PDC World Cup of Darts on five occasions alongside William O'Connor. The pair reached the final at the 2019 edition.

Career

Lennon played county darts for Kilkenny and Kildare. Lennon has played professional darts since 2011. He first won a tournament in the Ireland Players Championship, beating Stephen Byrne 6–1 in the Final. In 2016, he made it to the final of the Finnish Masters, beating Dennis Nilsson.^[1]

Lennon entered the Professional Darts Corporation's Qualifying School in 2017, and picked up a Tour Card on the third day.^[2]

He made his World Championship debut in 2018 but lost 2–3 to Michael Smith in the first round.

Lennon made it to the final of the 2018 Dutch Darts Masters, where he lost out to Michael van Gerwen. He reached the quarter-final of the 2018 Players Championship Finals, again losing to van Gerwen.

Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Lennon was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He played Peter Wright on Night 3, in Dublin. Lennon took a 3–0 lead, only to lose 7–5.

In June 2019, Lennon alongside William O'Connor made it all the way to the final of the 2019 PDC World Cup of Darts where they eventually lost to Scotland 3–1.^[3]

He enjoyed one of his finest days in the PDC on 22 February 2020 when he got to the semi-finals of Players Championship 5, only to lose narrowly to Gerwyn Price. Lennon had three averages of over 100.^[4] He hit his first PDC nine-dart finish in his last 32 game against Kai Fan Leung.^[5]

Unable to qualify for any ranking major apart from UK Open in 2022, Lennon dropped down in ranking. He missed his first World Championship in six years, but managed to stay within top 64 of PDC Order of Merit and continued on the Pro Tour in 2023.

In 2023 Lennon continued to struggle, missing out on PDC World Cup of Darts for the first time since 2017. He qualified for 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, but did not qualify from the round robin. He was also able to qualify for 2023 Players Championship Finals and was eliminated in Second Round. After one year absence he returned to Alexandra Palace for 2024 PDC World Darts Championship. Lennon came back from 0–2 on sets against Owen Bates in the First Round and won 3–2, giving him chance to keep his Tour card. However, he lost in Second round against Jonny Clayton 1–3 and finished the season on 66th place in PDC Order of Merit.^{[6] [7] [8]}

Lennon lost his Tour card after 2023 season, but managed to win his Tour card back on first day of UK Q-School 2024, defeating William Borland 6–4 and securing his position for seasons 2024 and 2025. In the 2024 PDC Players Championship series, Lennon made the quarter-finals of event 3, defeating Adam Warner 6–5, Gerwyn Price 6–3, Dimitri Van den Bergh 6–3 and Ritchie Edhouse 6–4 before losing to Michael van Gerwen 6–5.

Personal life

Lennon previously studied business at Waterford Institute of Technology.^[9]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2018: First round (lost to Michael Smith 2–3)
• 2019: Second round (lost to Alan Norris 2–3)
• 2020: First round (lost to Callan Rydz 2–3)
• 2021: Second round (lost to Devon Petersen 1–3)
• 2022: Third round (lost to Mervyn King 0–4)
• 2024: Second round (lost to Jonny Clayton 1–3)
• 2026: First round (lost to Damon Heta 1–3)

Career finals

PDC team finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	Did not qualify				1R	2R	1R	2R	3R	DNQ	2R	DNQ	1R
PDC World Masters	Did not qualify											Prel.
UK Open	Did not participate			2R	DNQ	6R	3R	4R	4R	3R	2R	2R
World Matchplay	Did not qualify				1R	Did not qualify
World Grand Prix	Did not qualify				1R	Did not qualify
European Championship	Did not participate			DNQ	1R	DNQ	1R	Did not qualify
Grand Slam of Darts	Did not qualify			2R	DNQ	RR	Did not qualify			RR	DNQ
	Did not participate			2R	QF	1R	1R	1R	DNQ	2R	DNQ
PDC Non-ranked televised events
Premier League Darts	Did not participate						Did not participate
PDC World Cup of Darts	Did not participate				1R	F	1R	1R	2R	DNP
	1R	1R	QF	1R	Did not participate
BDO Ranked televised events
World Masters	2R	1R	3R	No longer a BDO Player
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	style="text-align:center;	-	style="text-align:center;	-	style="text-align:center;	-	71	41	41	45	44	61	66	100	76

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
2017	DNQ		GDO 1R	EDG 1R	Did not qualify				DDM 1R	GDG DNQ	IDO 2R	EDT DNQ
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG 2R	GDO 2R	ADO 2R	EDG 1R	DDM F	GDT 1R	Did not qualify				IDO 2R	EDT DNQ
2019	Did not qualify			GDO 2R	ADO 2R	DNQ		DDO 1R	DNQ		EDM 1R	DNQ
2020	BDC 2R	GDC 2R	EDG 2R	IDO DNQ
2022	Did not qualify							DDC 1R	EDM 1R	Did not qualify
2023	BSD DNQ	EDO 1R	IDO 2R	Did not qualify							GDO 1R	HDT DNQ	GDC 2R
2024	BDO DNQ	GDG 2R	Did not qualify
2025	Did not qualify									FDT 1R	DNQ			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
2011	Did not participate																						KIL 1R	Did not participate
2012 [11]	Did not participate														KIL Prel.	KIL Prel.	Did not participate
2013 [12]	Did not participate										KIL 1R	KIL Prel.	Did not participate
2017	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	MIL 4R	MIL 4R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	DUB QF	DUB 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R
2018	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 3R	WIG 3R	WIG 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR QF	DUB 4R	DUB 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R
2019	WIG 3R	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	DUB 2R	DUB 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R
2020	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	WIG SF	WIG 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	NIE 1R	NIE 3R	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	COV 2R	COV 3R	COV 1R	COV 3R	COV 2R
2021	BOL 3R	BOL 1R	BOL 2R	BOL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 4R	MIL QF	NIE 4R	NIE QF	NIE 2R	NIE 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	COV 1R	COV 3R	COV 1R	COV 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R
2022	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	NIE 2R	NIE 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	NIE 2R	NIE 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R
2023	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 3R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 4R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R
2024	WIG 1R	WIG 3R	LEI QF	LEI 3R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 4R
2025	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	ROS 3R	ROS 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	HIL 3R	HIL 1R	LEI 1R	LEI 3R	LEI 3R	LEI 2R	ROS 1R	ROS 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 2R	HIL 3R	HIL 2R	MIL 4R	MIL 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R

Notes and References

1. http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?PlayerKey=12746 dartsdatabase.co.uk
2. Web site: 2017 PDC Qualifying School Day Three. PDC. 21 January 2017. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20170121104127/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/odyd7tz5tp0q1ix450xxb14l6/title/2017-pdc-qualifying-school-day-three. 21 January 2017.
3. Web site: Scotland beat Republic of Ireland to win the 2019 World Cup of Darts. 9 June 2019. Sky Sports. 11 June 2019.
4. Web site: PDC Players Championship 05 - Steve Lennon. 22 February 2020. Dart Connect. 22 February 2020.
5. Web site: PDC Players Championship 05 - Steve Lennon vs Kai Fan Leung. 22 February 2020. Dart Connect. 26 October 2022.
6. Web site: I am lost for words Steve Lennon superb comeback seals Round Two spot . Sky Sports . 11 January 2024.
7. Web site: O'Keeffe . Shane . “I was even thinking of pulling out” Steve Lennon produces remarkable comeback at PDC World Darts Championship . Scoreline . 11 January 2024.
8. Web site: Delaney . Luke . Steve Lennon crashes out of PDC Championship . Q102 . 11 January 2024.
9. Web site: Glennon . Michael . Carlow's Lennon ready to stand up to the Bully Boy . . 18 December 2017 . en . 20 December 2017.
10. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets, (m) = score in matches.
11. Not a Tour card holder
12. Not a Tour card holder