Keith Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship. He also won the British Professional Championship in 1987.

He was the first qualifier to win the World Darts Championship and remains one of the youngest champions in history. For his World Championship win, Deller used 18-gram spring-loaded darts, later banned for tournament play but now legal again.

Career

BDO Deller's victory over Eric Bristow in the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship by six sets to five was probably the biggest upset in the history of the championship. He had also beaten world number three John Lowe in the quarter-finals and defending champion and world number two Jocky Wilson in the semi-final, to become the only player in history to defeat the world's top three ranked players in the World Championship. The tabloid headlines the following day were "Killed Three", an anagram of his name. The champion's prize money in 1983 was £8,000.

His checkout of 138 to clinch the trophy is amongst the most memorable in darting history. Bristow had left himself 50 to stay in the match, but decided to throw for single 18 with his last dart to leave double 16 instead of a more difficult attempt at the bullseye. Deller then hit treble 20, treble 18, double 12 for the title, and even to this day commentators often refer to 138 as the "Deller checkout" if a player is left with that score.

Despite a meteoric rise to world champion, his career results failed to maintain that level. On the defence of his world title, he lost in the first round to Nicky Virachkul, and he only won three further matches in the BDO World Championship in subsequent years. He did win the British Professional Championship in 1987, but generally his world ranking continued to fall, and he failed to qualify for the World Championship between 1989 and 1993. One of his more notable achievements in the years following his world title win is his 100.30 average in his quarter-final match against John Lowe in the 1985 World Championship; this made him the first-ever player to record a three-figure average in a BDO world championship match.

PDC

Deller was one of the players who broke away from the British Darts Organisation in 1992 and joined the WDC, now the PDC. This saw him gain some more television exposure, and he did produce a few resurgent performances to reach the semi-finals of the 1998 PDC World Championship and also the semi-finals of the 1998 PDC World Matchplay. Deller dropped out of the top 32 of the PDC's World Rankings around 2005 and therefore had to attempt qualification for their major tournaments – which he failed to do for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 PDC World Championships.

Records Deller's name has been in the record books on a couple of occasions. He held the Guinness World Record for the fastest three legs of 301 in 97 seconds. On 13 October 1984 he was on the wrong end of a piece of darting history when Lowe hit the first-ever televised nine-dart finish against him in the quarter-finals of the MFI World Matchplay. He became the first player to achieve a match average of 100 in a BDO World Championship match.

On 7 August 2012, Deller recorded a 25-second 301, checking out 130 on the bullseye for a new world record time. This beat the record of 33 seconds by Dean Gould, recorded earlier on the same day at the same venue, the Olympia Great British Beer Festival.

Spotter Deller has for many years been part of the Sky Sports broadcasting team acting as a "spotter" for the cameras. His knowledge of the players and scoring shots helps the director and camera operators to anticipate where the next dart will be thrown.

Personal life Deller supports his local football club, Ipswich Town. He lives with his wife Kim and has two children.

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours, having raised large sums of money for various charities, including over £500,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

World Championship performances

BDO Deller's BDO results are as follows: 1983: Winner (beat Eric Bristow 6–5) 1984: First round (lost to Nicky Virachkul 1–2) 1985: Quarter-final (lost to John Lowe 2–4) 1986: Second round (lost to Alan Glazier 1–3) 1987: First round (lost to Brian Cairns 0–3) 1988: First round (lost to John Lowe 1–3)

PDC Deller's PDC results are as follows: 1994: Group Stage (lost to Steve Brown 1–3 and Kevin Spiolek 1–3) 1995: Group Stage (lost to Larry Butler 2–3 and Kevin Spiolek 1–3) 1996: Quarter-finals (lost to Phil Taylor 0–4) 1997: Quarter-finals (lost to Phil Taylor 1–5) 1998: Semi-finals (lost to Dennis Priestley 1–5 and lost the third place match to Rod Harrington 1–4) 1999: First round (lost to Bob Anderson 2–3) 2000: Second round (lost to John Lowe 1–3) 2001: Quarter-finals (lost to Phil Taylor 0–4) 2002: First round (lost to Rod Harrington 3–4) 2003: Second round (lost to Richie Burnett 3–4) 2004: Fourth round (lost to Peter Manley 2–4) 2005: Second round (lost to Wayne Jones 1–3)

WSDT Deller's WSDT results are as follows: 2022: Second round (lost to Larry Butler 2–3) 2023: Second round (lost to Neil Duff 0–3) 2024: First round (lost to Richie Burnett 1–3)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 5 (2 titles) Legend World Championship (1–0) Winmau World Masters (0–1) British Professional Championship (1–0) British Matchplay (0–2)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score(l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.Winner 1. 1983 World Darts Championship Eric Bristow 6–5 (s)Runner-up 1. 1983 British Matchplay Eric Bristow 2–3 (s)Runner-up 2. 1984 Winmau World Masters Eric Bristow 1–3 (s)Runner-up 3. 1984 British Matchplay Mike Gregory 2–3 (s)Winner 2. 1987 British Professional Championship Leighton Rees 7–5 (s)

Performance timeline Deller's performance timeline is as follows:

BDO Tournament 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 W1RQF2R1R1R Winmau World Masters4RF3R3R3R2R British MatchplayFFSFDNP 1R2R2RSFWQF Butlins Grand Masters1RDNPQF1RNot held MFI World MatchplayNHQF1R1RSF1R

+ WDF majors performances Tournament Event World Cup 1983 WDF World Cup & WDF Europe Cup Singles Pairs Team Overall

PDC Tournament 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 RRRRQFQFSF1R2RQF1R2R4R2RDNQ World Matchplay2RQF1R1RSF1R1R1RQF2R1R1RDNQ World Grand PrixNot held1RQF2R2R1R2RDid not qualify UK OpenNot held3R2R3R4R3R

Notes

References

External links Video Clip of John Lowe's nine dart finish v Keith Deller