Matthew Edgar

Career

Edgar joined the PDC in 2011, and qualified for the UK Open. He defeated Nigel Heydon, Andy Pearce and Martyn Turner on the way to the last 32, where he lost 5–9 to Andy Boulton.

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. 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. These results helped him to reach the UK Open for the second time where he was beaten in the second round by Kevin McDine. He could not advance beyond the last 32 in any of the rest of the events he played in the year.

Edgar went into 2013 ranked world number 81, 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. He faced reigning champion Robert Thornton in the third round and led 6–4, before going on to lose 7–9. 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.

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. 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. He qualified for the UK Open and lost 5–3 to Spain's Antonio Alcinas in the second round. 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. He came within a match of qualifying for both the 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. He reached the quarter-finals of the third UK Open Qualifier, but was edged out 6–5 by Adrian Lewis. Edgar also suffered a narrow defeat in the second round of the UK Open, 5–4 against Jason Mold. The only European Tour event he could qualify for this year was the International Darts Open and he beat Darren Webster 6–5, but was thrashed 6–0 by Dave Chisnall in the second round.

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. 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 6–2 to Benito van de Pas. It was this result which saw Edgar make his debut in the Players Championship Finals and he lost 6–3 to Simon Whitlock in the first round.

With his tour card status now expired, Edgar entered the 2017 Q School and finished 13th on the Order of Merit, just one point shy of reclaiming his place.

Practice and personal life

Edgar practices with former world championship runner-up Kevin Painter. When not playing darts, he works for Northampton Town F.C. as a sports coach and actively blogs about darts for his sponsor, sports betting community, OLBG.com.