Lazarenko first appeared in a televised match on the show
Indoor League in the 1970s. In
1980, he lost out to
Bobby George; Big Cliff made a habit of winning the Dartsathlon (an event made up of having 15 darts at various doubles, trebles, Bullseyes, 25s, and 501 legs) in the early–mid 80s, winning the event four times in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986. He also won the Autumn Gold Masters in 1984 and 1986, the British Matchplay in 1979, British Gold Cup in 1984, Jersey Open in 1982 and 1983, and the Danish Open in 1981 and 1983. He came to the fore, however, with his 1977 win in the Marlboro Masters. Lazarenko was one of the sixteen players who defected from the BDO to form the PDC. Although he managed to maintain his popularity with the fans, he never managed to repeat his performances in the
PDC World Darts Championship, with several first-round exits to his name, and only managing a quarter-final at best in
1999. In other PDC tournaments, however, Lazarenko showed great promise: he reached the semi-finals of the
1995 World Matchplay, beating
Dennis Smith,
Shayne Burgess, and
Nigel Justice along the way, before losing to
Dennis Priestley. He was also a Matchplay quarter-finalist in
2001. In the mid-2000s, Lazarenko suffered from ill health, losing a lot of weight, and ceased competing in darts tournaments. However, in the
2007 UK Open Darts at the
Reebok Stadium in
Bolton, Lazarenko made a return to the big stage, and won two matches in one night, en route to the second round. He then won another game the next night, before falling in the third round. In 2008 it was announced that Lazarenko would compete in the BetFred League of Legends along with players including Bristow, Lowe, George, and
Bob Anderson. Lazarenko reached the semi-finals of the tournament, losing to
Keith Deller. ==In popular culture==