20092010 2009 proved to be a much better year for Wright as he made his PDC televised debut at the
2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic where he was defeated 6–3 by
Colin Lloyd in the first round. His good form on the
PDC Pro Tour, helped by a semi-final showing in the Las Vegas Players Championship, earned him qualification for the
2009 World Matchplay. Wright played
Terry Jenkins in the first round and lost 10–4. Further quarter-final and semi-final runs followed in Players Championship events to qualify for his first
PDC World Championship, where he lost 3–1 in sets to
Michael van Gerwen in the opening round. In 2010, Wright also made his debut in the
Players Championship Finals and lost in the first round 6–2 against
Wes Newton. In April, he reached his first final on the PDC tour at the sixth
UK Open Qualifier where he lost 6–2 to
Phil Taylor. Wright was knocked out in the third round of the
UK Open 9–7 by
William O'Connor.
2011 season Wright won a match at the World Championship for the first time in
2011 by beating
Co Stompé 3–1 and then saw off
Paul Nicholson to face defending champion
Phil Taylor in the third round. Wright lost 4–1 and averaged a very respectable 96.56. He enjoyed a good run at the
UK Open which was ended in the last 16 by
Mark Hylton and played in his second
World Matchplay where
Simon Whitlock beat him 10–7 in the first round. Wright's first quarter-final appearance in a major event came at the
European Championship with victories over
John Part and
Gary Anderson, before losing again to Whitlock this time 10–6. His form continued by reaching the final of the 18th
Players Championship of the year and a 6–2 loss to Anderson. Wright defeated
Denis Ovens 6–4 in the opening round of the
Players Championship Finals but lost 8–6 to
Wes Newton in the subsequent round.
2012 season Wright was unable to repeat his 2011 run in the
2012 edition of the
World Championship, as he lost 3–1 to
Jelle Klaasen in the first round. Wright missed 11 consecutive darts at doubles in the first two sets of the match. Wright represented Scotland with
Gary Anderson in the
2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they were beaten by South Africa in the second round, losing in a sudden-death leg. Wright defeated Andy Brown and former world champions
John Part and
Richie Burnett to reach the last 16 of the
UK Open where he played
Raymond van Barneveld. Wright led 8–6 and was on a 138 finish on his throw to advance to the quarter-finals and beat the Dutchman for the first time. He hit treble 20 with his first dart and then single 18 to leave 60, meaning single 20 with his last dart would have left double top for the win when he returned to the board. However, Wright hit another treble 20 to bust his score and went on to lose the match 9–8. Wright won his first PDC ranking title in October 2012, at the 15th Players Championship of the year in
Killarney, Ireland, where he beat
Robert Thornton 6–1 in the final with a 107 average. After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Wright was 17th on the Order of Merit, comfortably inside the top 32 who qualified for the
Players Championship Finals. He beat
Colin Lloyd and
Wayne Jones, before losing to
Kim Huybrechts 10–6 in the quarter-finals.
2013 season At the
2013 World Championship Wright saw off
Arron Monk 3–0 in the first round to set up a meeting with the second favourite for the tournament,
Michael van Gerwen, who Wright described as "not good enough" before the match. Wright won the first two sets, but van Gerwen won 12 of the next 14 legs to triumph 4–2. In the eight
UK Open Qualifiers during the early part of 2013, Wright was a losing quarter-finalist twice and a losing semi-finalist three times to be placed fourth on the
Order of Merit. It was at the UK Open where Wright reached his first major PDC semi-final. He had impressive victories over Gaz Cousins (9–4), BDO number one
Stephen Bunting (9–2),
Steve West (9–4) and
Adrian Lewis (10–6). He played
Phil Taylor in the semis and was beaten 5–10, with Wright stating afterwards that he had played the player instead of the dart board and was tensing up and snatching darts. He set himself a goal of reaching the top 16 in the world rankings by the end of the year. Later in the month, Wright won his second career ranking title at the fifth
Players Championship. He averaged an incredible 118.66 in beating
Gary Anderson 6–0 in ten minutes in the quarter-finals and then saw off
Kevin Painter 6–3 in the semis and
Wes Newton 6–1 in the final. He lost 6–4 to
Colin Lloyd in the first round of the
European Championship and 13–3 to
Michael van Gerwen in the second round of the
World Matchplay. Wright reached the final of the
German Darts Championship, but lost 6–2 to
Dave Chisnall. He also lost to Chisnall in the final of the next event, the seventh Players Championship, having beaten van Gerwen 6–2 in the semi-finals. He picked up another appearance in a final at the tenth event but lost 6–3 to
Raymond van Barneveld. At the
World Grand Prix he lost 2–0 in sets to
Wes Newton in the first round, but after the event he moved into the world's top 16 for the first time. This earned him a spot in the first staging of the
Masters, a tournament exclusively for the top 16 on the Order of Merit, where he was defeated 6–2 by Van Gerwen in the opening round.
2014 season Wright advanced to the third round of the
2014 World Championship, where he faced
Michael Smith who had knocked out
Phil Taylor in the previous round. Wright produced his then highest televised averaged of 105.07 but at one point was 3–2 behind, before winning six of the next seven legs to reach the quarter-finals of the event for the first time in his career. He trailed 2–0 early on against
Wes Newton but rallied to level with the match eventually going into a deciding set. Wright missed four match darts at two legs to none up but eventually edged the contest with a 121 finish on the bull to face
Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals. He outplayed Whitlock from the start and maintained his high level by averaging over 100 for the second time in the event and win 6–2. Wright lost 12 of the first 14 legs in the final against number two seed
Michael van Gerwen, before winning two unanswered sets and then missed one dart to trail just 4–3. He went on to be 6–2 behind and again won two sets in a row, but missed two chances to extend the match into a 12th set as he was beaten 7–4. The runner-up's cheque of £100,000 was the highest of his career at that point and he rose to world number seven. He was named the Most Improved Player and PDPA Player of the Year at the PDC's Annual Awards in January. Wright's exploits earned him a place in the
Premier League for the first time and he started the campaign very strongly with victories over the likes of Taylor (7–4),
Adrian Lewis (7–1) and Whitlock (7–3) to be top of the table between weeks four and six. Despite three defeats in a row in the middle of the season, Wright was in the play-off places until week 13 and he then battled to a 6–6 draw with Taylor to ensure he would have a chance of progressing in the final round of league matches. However, after other results had not gone his way he was guaranteed to finish fifth in the
table before he had played and he ended the season with a 7–5 defeat against Van Gerwen. Wright won his third title carrying ranking points of his career at the ninth
Players Championship by beating
Justin Pipe 6–2. At the
Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters, Wright eliminated Taylor 10–5 and
Dave Chisnall 11–8 to reach the final, where Van Gerwen was once again the victor as he defeated Wright 11–7. Wright played in his second
World Cup of Darts this year and first with
Robert Thornton and they progressed to the quarter-finals where they played Northern Ireland's
Brendan Dolan and
Michael Mansell. Wright lost his singles match 4–2 to Dolan, but Thornton saw off Mansell to send the tie into a deciding doubles game which Scotland lost 4–1. At the
European Darts Open, Wright averaged 111.29 whilst beating Michael Smith 6–1 in the second round and he went on to reach the final where he won his first European Tour title by defeating
Simon Whitlock 6–2. He also advanced to the final of the last Players Championship of the year, but lost 6–5 to
Gary Anderson.
2015 season Wright had a largely trouble free passage into the quarter-finals of the
2015 World Championship as he dropped just one set in his opening three games. However, he was second best against
Gary Anderson in a 5–1 defeat. A 9–1 victory over
Raymond van Barneveld at the
UK Open marked Wright's first ever win over the Dutchman with Wright going on to meet
Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals. Wright won 10–6 after producing a match defining run to go from 5–4 behind to 9–5 ahead and broke down in tears in the post match interview. He recomposed himself to thrash
Stephen Bunting 10–0 with an average of 105.10, over 20 points higher than his opponent's. However, a victory over a fifth world champion in the tournament proved a step too far as he couldn't quite reach the same heights in the final against
Michael van Gerwen in an 11–5 defeat. A week later, Wright lost 6–5 to
James Wade in the final of the second
Players Championship event. On his return to Scotland, Wright recovered from 5–1 down to steal a point against
Stephen Bunting in the
Premier League, stretching his run to five matches unbeaten. However, four of those games were draws and Wright went into the ninth week of fixtures needing a win over
Adrian Lewis to avoid being relegated from the competition, but he was beaten 7–4. Wright threw the first
nine-dart finish of his career during his run to the final of the seventh Players Championship and won the title by defeating Wade 6–5 with an average of 110.14. He also won the 12th event by overcoming
Jelle Klaasen 6–1 in the final. Wright and Anderson beat the Dutch duo of Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld in a doubles match in the semi-finals of the
World Cup to ensure Scotland would reach their first final in the event. They played England's Taylor and Lewis and it went to the final singles game in which the winner of Wright against Lewis would win the title, with Lewis triumphing 4–1. In the inaugural
Japan Darts Masters, Wright advanced to the final by edging past Van Gerwen 8–7 with a 141 finish. He was 7–2 down to Taylor, but then produced three ton-plus finishes during a five leg burst to level the match. However, Taylor was first to a double in the deciding leg to inflict Wright's fourth defeat in a televised final. Wright reset his highest televised average to 108.13 whilst eliminating
Kim Huybrechts 10–5 in the opening round of the
World Matchplay. A pair of straight forward wins over
Andrew Gilding and
Gerwyn Price saw him reach the semi-finals of the event for the first time, but he lost 17–12 to Van Gerwen.
Terry Jenkins defeated Wright 6–4 in the final of the 15th Players Championship. He led
Kim Huybrechts 5–2 in the final of the
European Darts Grand Prix, before losing four successive legs to be defeated 6–5, missing one championship dart in the process. Wright won his third Players Championship title of the year by edging
Benito van de Pas 6–5 with all 11 legs going with the throw. He lost each of the first five legs to Van Gerwen in the semi-finals of the
European Championship, but then pulled it back to 8–7 behind. However, Wright missed two darts at a single number to set up a double to level and went on to lose 11–7. The pair would meet once more in the final of the first
World Series of Darts Finals and this time Wright lost the game's opening four legs, before moving 5–4 up. At 10–9 ahead and one leg away from the title, Wright hit a 180 to leave 90 only for Van Gerwen to take out 129 on the bull and, after Wright was unable to checkout 121 in the final leg, Van Gerwen finished 50 to complete an 11 dart leg and deny Wright his first televised title.
2016 season Wright did not drop a set in reaching the third round of the
2016 World Championship and survived one match dart from
Dave Chisnall to win 4–3. He missed one dart against
Adrian Lewis to reduce his deficit to 4–3 in the quarter-finals and lost 5–2. Wright reached the final of the
UK Open for the second year in a row and just like 12 months previously he faced
Michael van Gerwen. He stayed with Van Gerwen early on by only trailing 5–3 and missed a dart for a nine-dart finish, but Wright would ultimately lose 11–4. A week later Wright won the first
Players Championship of 2016 by recovering from 5–3 down to Lewis to triumph 6–5. At the end of March, Wright reached the final of the
German Darts Masters losing 6–4 to Van Gerwen. Wright missed out on a Premier League finals spot by two points. A subsequent fallout on social media between Wright's wife Jo,
Adrian Lewis and members of the management team of
Gary Anderson led Wright to withdraw from the Scottish
World Cup of Darts team, for whom he had represented in the previous years final, and was replaced by
Robert Thornton. Wright returned to PDC major televised action by reaching the quarter-finals of the
World Matchplay after impressive 10–5 and 11–6 wins over
Joe Cullen and
Ian White respectively, before losing narrowly 16–14 to Lewis. He was edged out 6–5 by Van Gerwen in the final of the
European Darts Open and the pair met in a European Tour final for the third time this year at the
European Darts Grand Prix, with the world number one triumphing once again this time 6–2. Wright lost 2–0 to
Brendan Dolan in the first round of the
World Grand Prix, but reached the semi-finals of the
European Championship and was ousted 11–8 by
Mensur Suljović. From 10–8 up in the semi-finals of the
World Series of Darts Finals,
Phil Taylor missed a total of seven match darts as Wright sneaked through to his seventh televised final and second in a row in this event 11–10. Once again Van Gerwen waited and Wright rallied from 10–6 to trail 10–9, but then missed five chances to level the game and was beaten 11–9. It was a similar story at the
Grand Slam as Wright went 5–0 up on Taylor in the quarter-finals and knocked him out 16–10, missing a dart at double 12 for a nine darter along the way. In the semi-finals he lost to Van Gerwen for the 16th time in a row as the Dutchman averaged 111.17 to Wright's 102.13 in a 16–10 win. However, Wright, who so often changes his darts, stated that he had found a set he would be finally be staying with. Another semi-final exit followed at the
Players Championship Finals as
Dave Chisnall beat him 11–8.
2017 season: First major title Wright averaged over 100 in each of his three matches at the
2017 World Championship leading up to a quarter-final meeting with
James Wade in which he averaged even higher at 104.79. He closed out the match with a 134 finish to win 5–3 and move on to a semi-final against
Gary Anderson. Wright battled to 3–3 having trailed 3–1, but lost nine of the final ten legs to be defeated 6–3. His current world ranking of three is the highest he has ever been. Wright won the first
UK Open Qualifier of the year by beating
Adrian Lewis 6–4 in the final and took the third event with a 6–5 win over
Michael Smith in the final. He made it three wins out of six events by defeating
James Wade 6–3 in the final of the last qualifier to top the UK Open rankings. Wright produced the second highest televised three-dart average of all-time of 119.50 in a 7–2 victory over Lewis in the fifth week of the
Premier League. At the end of the same week he played in the
UK Open, where he was the bookmakers' pre-tournament favourite due to his strong form and the absence of an injured van Gerwen. He defeated
James Richardson, Dave Chisnall, and
Rob Cross in the first two days of the tournament. From the quarter-final stage he beat
Raymond van Barneveld 10–8 (with an average of 110.88) and
Daryl Gurney 11–5 to play in the final of the event for the third year in a row. Wright raced into a 7–2 lead over
Gerwyn Price and held on to claim his first major title with an 11–6 win. Wright won the
German Darts Championship by overcoming Van Gerwen 6–3 in the final. It was his first victory over the world number one in a final after Wright had lost 10 in a row. He also added the
German Darts Open to his growing collection of tournament wins after edging out
Benito van de Pas 6–5 in the final by taking out a 121 finish with his opponent waiting on seven. He quickly made it a hat-trick of European Tour tournament wins this year when he whitewashed Van Gerwen 6–0 in the final of the
European Darts Grand Prix. Wright came close to topping the
Premier League table as he finished a point behind Van Gerwen. Nevertheless, he qualified for the play-offs for the first time and was 4–0 ahead of Taylor in the semi-finals. Wright still had to rely on Taylor missing darts at doubles including one to win the match and edged through 10–9. He also had a fast start in the final to be 7–2 up on Van Gerwen, before being pegged back to 8–8. At 10–9 Wright was one leg away from winning. He left 32 after nine darts, before missing six darts for the title. Wright still had the throw in the next leg, but Van Gerwen had a 12-dart leg to break and win 11–10. Despite this disappointment, two days later Wright won the 11th
Players Championship by overcoming
Daryl Gurney 6–3. Wright and
Gary Anderson suffered a surprise first round 5–2 defeat to Singapore at the
World Cup. Wright reached the finals of the
2017 World Matchplay and the
2017 Grand Slam of Darts losing to Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen respectively. He won his first title on the
World Series of Darts at the
2017 German Darts Masters, beating Taylor 11–4 in the final.
2018 season Wright had an early exit in the
2018 World Championship, losing to
Jamie Lewis in the second round. He only finished 7th in the
2018 Premier League Darts, but turned his season round by reaching the final of the
2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, alongside
Gary Anderson, losing to the Netherlands team. Wright followed his World Cup final appearance with a semi-final place at the
2018 World Matchplay and a win at the
2018 Melbourne Darts Masters. He also reached the finals of the
2018 World Grand Prix and the
2018 Champions League of Darts, losing to Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson respectively.
2019 season: World Cup Champion At the
2019 World Championship, Wright again suffered an early exit, losing 3–1 to Spaniard
Toni Alcinas in the second round. He finished the
2019 Premier League Darts season in 8th, only beating
Raymond van Barneveld and contender
Steve Lennon over the season. The Scotland team of Wright and Gary Anderson won the
2019 PDC World Cup of Darts, beating Ireland in the final. Wright subsequently won the
2019 German Darts Masters, beating
Gabriel Clemens in the final. Wright made the final of the
2019 Champions League of Darts, and at one point led the first-of-eleven match against
Michael van Gerwen 10–7, but he missed three match darts and allowed Van Gerwen to win 11–10. Wright also made the final of the
2019 Grand Slam of Darts, losing 16–6 to reigning champion
Gerwyn Price.
2020 season: World, Masters and European Champion At the
2020 World Championship Wright survived a match dart at bullseye to win a sudden-death leg against
Noel Malicdem in the second round, before beating
Seigo Asada and
Jeffrey de Zwaan to reach the quarter-finals, where he triumphed 5–3 over
Luke Humphries to reach the semi-final for the first time since the
2017 tournament. In a bad-tempered affair, Wright defeated
Gerwyn Price 6–3 in the semi-final and defeated
Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the final to become the 2020 World Darts Champion at the age of 49. On 2 February Wright beat
Michael Smith 11–10 to win his first
Masters title. In November, Wright won his 4th major by beating
James Wade 11–4 in the final of the
European Championship. Wright had a poor showing at the
Grand Slam, failing to progress from the group stage after a 2–5 loss to
Devon Petersen in his final match, later stating "When I lost to Devon I could have walked away from the sport quite easily." Wright had better luck the following week with a run to the semi-finals of the
Players Championship Finals making him just the third player in history (after Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor) to exceed £1,000,000 on the
PDC Order of Merit.
2021 season: World Matchplay Champion and Players Championship Finals winner Wright kicked off the defence of his world title by beating
Steve West in his opening match of the
2021 World Championship, dressed in a
Grinch costume. His reign as world champion came to an end in the third round, when he was defeated 4–3 by
Gabriel Clemens. In July, Wright won the
World Matchplay title for the first time with a dominance performance whereby he won all five of his matches by a minimum of six legs and averaged over 100 throughout. He defeated
Danny Noppert,
Joe Cullen, Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen and finally defending champion
Dimitri van den Bergh. He followed this up with a second world cup win for Scotland, this time partnering
John Henderson. A dry period including a first round loss to Rob Cross at the Grand Prix ended with a third Grand Slam of Darts final, beating
Jose de Sousa,
Fallon Sherrock and Michael Smith in the knockout rounds (the latter being a 16–12 win from 8–12 behind) before once again losing to Gerwyn Price. The following week, Wright won his first Players Championship Finals title, following comfortable wins over van Gerwen and
Jonny Clayton with a deciding leg victory over
Ryan Searle in the final. This completed Wright's set of reaching the final of every active PDC major and was his fifth win in two years.
2022 season: Second World Championship, World Number 1 Wright started his
2022 World Championship campaign with a convincing 3–0 win against
Ryan Meikle, before fighting back from 2–0 down to defeat
Damon Heta 4–2 in the third round. He next beat
Ryan Searle 4–1, before coming back from 4–3 down to beat
Callan Rydz in extra legs to make the semi-final. There he beat
Gary Anderson 6–4 to reach the final for the third time in his career. Wright defeated
Michael Smith 7–5 in the final to win his second world title. In the
Masters, Wright suffered an early exit, losing 10–8 to
Simon Whitlock in the round of 16. In the
UK Open, he defeated
Joe Cullen 10–6 in the fourth round before beating Simon Whitlock 10–5. However, his tournament came to an end after losing 10–7 to
William O'Connor after many missed doubles. On the 7th of March, Wright became the PDC World Number 1 for the first time, becoming the 11th player to do so and the oldest ever first time world number 1 at 51 years old. In the
Premier League, Wright finished 5th in the league table, meaning he did not qualify for the play-offs after only winning 1 night in the league stage. In the
World Cup of Darts, alongside
John Henderson, the pair defeated Hong Kong 5–1 in the opening round, before overcoming Portugal 2–0 in the round of 16, with Wright himself scraping past
José de Sousa 4–3 to secure the victory, although Scotland would go on to lose 2–0 to England in the quarter-finals, with Wright himself losing 4–1 to
James Wade. Following the conclusion of the
Grand Slam of Darts, Wright withdrew from the
Players Championship Finals in order to be with his wife who was receiving treatment after a
gallbladder operation.
2023: Second European Championship title At the
2023 World Championship, Wright opened his world title defence with a 3–0 win over
Mickey Mansell. His reign ended when he lost 4–1 to
Kim Huybrechts in the third round. Wright won his first title of the year at the
Nordic Darts Masters, beating
Gerwyn Price in the final 11–5. He won his first ranking title of the year at the
Czech Darts Open in May, where he defeated
Dave Chisnall 8–6 in the final. In the
2023 Premier League, he failed to win a night over the course of sixteen weeks and finished bottom of the league table. Wright and
Gary Anderson, representing Scotland, reached the final of the
2023 World Cup of Darts but lost to the Wales 10–2. At the
2023 European Championship, Wright reached the final following an 11–8 win over
Danny Noppert. He won his second
European Championship by beating
James Wade 11–6.
2024 At the
2024 World Championship, Wright suffered a shock 3–0 second round loss to
Jim Williams. In the
2024 Premier League, Wright only won two matches for the entire season and finished bottom of the league table. He won the
German Darts Championship after a surprise 8–5 victory over
Luke Littler in the final, where Wright won six consecutive legs to win the match.
2025 At the
2025 World Championship, Wright reached the quarter-finals. In the lead-up to his fourth-round tie against reigning world champion
Luke Humphries, Wright vowed to beat tournament favourites Humphries and
Luke Littler, and said he was not ready to listen to calls for him to retire. Wright defeated Humphries 4–1 after winning the last three sets, eliminating the defending champion. In his quarter-final match, he lost to
Stephen Bunting 5–2. For the first time since
the 2013 event, Wright was not selected in the
2025 Premier League Darts lineup. He reached the final of
Players Championship 11 in April, losing 8–3 to
Cameron Menzies. Wright failed to qualify for the
Grand Slam of Darts for the first time since
2012 after losing 5–0 to
Connor Scutt in the
PDC Tour Card holder qualifying event.
2026 At the
2026 World Championship, Wright won his first-round match 3–0 against
Noa-Lynn van Leuven. He exited the tournament after losing 3–0 to German qualifier
Arno Merk. In February 2026, Wright fell out of the world's top 32 for the first time since 2011. ==Style and stage persona==