Robert Charles Anderson (born 7 November 1947) is an English former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation and Professional Darts Corporation events. He won the 1988 BDO World Darts Championship. Nicknamed the Limestone Cowboy, he was ranked world number one for over three years in the late 1980s.

Before darts Anderson threw his first darts maximum (180) at the age of just seven, with brass darts with feather flights. He became a champion athlete during his teenage years, and was selected as a javelin thrower for the British Olympic team of 1968; however, he broke his arm before the team left for Mexico, an injury which ended his javelin-throwing career. He then turned his attention to football – playing to a moderately high standard for Lincoln United, Guildford City, Woking and Farnborough Town. During this time, he had continued to play darts socially and decided to take up the game more seriously when his injury jinx struck again – this time a broken leg in 1970 ended his football career.

Darts success

Anderson's career peaked in 1988 when winning the World Professional Championship. He took on John Lowe in the final and won 6-4 in sets, posting a 92.7 average, and winning £16,000.

He won the Winmau World Masters in 1986, 1987 and 1988 – the first man to win the Masters in three successive years.

Two years after his world title success, Anderson underwent surgery to fix a back problem that threatened his darts career. He returned to the game professionally but never reached the same heights he had achieved in the late 80's. However, in 1992, he was chosen as the captain of England, which was one of his proudest moments in darts.

Anderson was amongst the players who formed the Professional Darts Corporation – an organisation (originally known as the World Darts Council) which separated from the existing governing body, the British Darts Organisation in 1992–93. Anderson reached the final of the Lada UK Masters, in November 1993 – losing to Mike Gregory.

In 1996, Anderson won the WDC World Pairs event alongside Phil Taylor. Anderson and Taylor defeated Chris Mason and Steve Raw in the final.

His world ranking stayed sufficiently high to earn automatic qualification for most major PDC tournaments, and he went on to reach the semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship in 2004 and 2005.

Anderson was also the driving force behind the Bob Anderson Classic, a major darts tournament held every October. The tournament started in 2002 and ran until 2005.

In 2008, Anderson took part in the BetFred League of Legends which was shown live on Setanta Sports, to play along with the likes of Eric Bristow, Keith Deller, John Lowe, Cliff Lazarenko, and Dave Whitcombe. Anderson went on the capture the League of Legends title in 2008, beating Keith Deller in the final.

Outside darts Bob married Sally Attwater on 8 April 2004. he chose former World Champion dart player Eric Bristow as his best man. Anderson has two children, Jennie and David. He lists his hobbies as golf, and fishing. Anderson lives in the Somerset sea-side resort town of Clevedon.

World Championship results BDO

1984: 1st Round (lost to Stefan Lord 0–2) 1985: 2nd Round (lost to Dave Whitcombe 1–3) 1986: Semi-Finals (lost to Dave Whitcombe 4–5) 1987: Quarter-Finals (lost to Alan Evans 3–4) 1988: Winner (beat John Lowe 6–4) 1989: Semi-Finals (lost to Jocky Wilson 4–5) 1990: 1st Round (lost to Jann Hoffmann 2–3) 1991: Semi-Finals (lost to Dennis Priestley 2–5) 1992: 2nd Round (lost to Graham Miller 2–3) 1993: Quarter-Finals (lost to Steve Beaton 1–4)

PDC

1994: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 2–4) 1995: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 1–4) 1996: Group Stage (beat Gerald Verrier 3–1) & (lost to Jamie Harvey 2–3) 1997: Group Stage (lost to Eric Bristow 1–3) & (beat Gary Mawson 3–1) 1998: Group Stage (lost to Shayne Burgess 0–3) & (beat Gerald Verrier 3–1) 1999: Quarter-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 0–4) 2000: 1st Round (lost to Peter Manley 0–3) 2001: 1st Round (lost to Rod Harrington 1–3) 2002: 1st Round (lost to Steve Beaton 3–4) 2003: 2nd Round (lost to Colin Lloyd 3–4) 2004: Semi-Finals (lost to Kevin Painter 0–6) 2005: Semi-Finals (lost to Phil Taylor 2–6) 2006: 1st Round (lost to Andy Hamilton 2–3) 2007: 1st Round (lost to Darren Webster 1–3) 2008: 1st Round (lost to Jason Clark 2–3)

WSDT

2022: 1st Round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–3) 2023: 1st Round (lost to Andy Jenkins 0–3)

Career finals

BDO Anderson appeared in BDO major finals 10 times with a record of 7 wins and 3 runners-up. Legend World Championship (1–0) World Masters (3–0) World Matchplay (1–1) Grand Masters (0–1) British Matchplay (2–1)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 1984 Butlins Grand Masters Mike Gregory 3–5 (l)Runner-up 2. 1985 MFI World Matchplay Eric Bristow 4–5 (s)Winner 1. 1986 Winmau World Masters (1) Bob Sinnaeve 3–2 (s)Winner 2. 1987 Winmau World Masters (2) John Lowe 3–1 (s)Winner 3. 1987 MFI World Matchplay John Lowe 5–1 (s)Winner 4. 1988 World Darts Championship John Lowe 6–4 (s)Winner 5. 1988 Winmau World Masters (3) John Lowe 3–2 (s)Winner 6. 1988 British Matchplay (1) John Lowe 3–2 (s)Winner 7. 1989 British Matchplay (2) Cliff Lazarenko 3–0 (s)Runner-up 3. 1990 British Matchplay Alan Warriner-Little 4–5 (s)

Performance timeline Anderson's performance timeline is as follows:

BDO Tournament 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Did not participate1R2RSFQFWSF1RSF2RQFDid not participate Winmau World Masters3RDNQ2RDNQQF4RSFWWW4R2RSF2RDid not participate British MatchplayDNPQFDNPQFQFWWFQFDid not participateNot held British ProfessionalNot heldDNQ2RQF1RQF1RSFNot held Butlins Grand MastersDid not participateF1RSFNot held MFI World MatchplayNot heldSFF1RW1RNot held World Darts TrophyNot heldDid not participateRR

+ WDF majors performances Tournament Event World Cup 1987 Euro Cup 1988 World Cup 1989 Euro Cup 1990 World Cup 1991 Euro Cup 1992 WDF World Cup & WDF Europe Cup Singles rowspan=4 Pairs Team Overall

PDC Tournament 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 PDC World ChampionshipQFQFRRRRRRQF1R1R1R2RSFSF1R1R1R World MatchplayQF1RSFQFQF2R2R1RQF2R2R1R1R1RDNQ World Grand PrixNot yet founded1RRRDNQ1R1R1RQFDNQ Las Vegas Desert ClassicNot yet foundedDNQRR1RDNQ1RDNQ UK OpenNot heldDNQ4R5R5R3RDNQ

References

External links

Bob Anderson's official website Team Unicorn biography page