Beginnings Bunting won both the British Teenage Open and the World Youth Masters in 2001 and also captured the
WDF Europe Youth Cup in 2002. He made his
BDO World Darts Championship debut in 2004 aged 18, where he beat
Vincent van der Voort in the first round before losing in the second round to former World Champion
Ted Hankey. He returned to Lakeside in 2005 but was beaten in the first round by
John Henderson. In 2008 Bunting won the Lytham St Annes Open and was also recalled to the England squad. In July 2008 he reached the quarter-finals of the
BDO British Classic where he lost to Scotland's
Ross Montgomery live on Setanta. In November 2008 Bunting captured his maiden BDO ranked open title when he won the
Northern Ireland Open, beating fellow Cheshire player
Darryl Fitton two sets to nil in the Final. Bunting was successful in qualifying for the
2009 BDO World Darts Championship as the standby qualifier, but was beaten by
Gary Robson in the first round. On 21 May 2009 Bunting finished joint fourth in the Dutch Pentathlon in
Oosterhout, Netherlands. The pentathlon had a field of 20 BDO and PDC players and was won by
Gary Anderson with
Scott Waites 2nd and Gary Robson 3rd. It was played in Oosterhout Holland. Bunting competed in the Winmau British Classic on 25 July 2009. He played Dave Chisnall in the semi-final and beat him 2–0 in sets. In the final Bunting played Scott Waites, where he came out the eventual winner 2 sets to 1 with a 170 finish in the fifth leg. Bunting qualified for the
2010 BDO World Championship, beating the debuting
Ian White 3–0 in the first round before losing to top seed
Tony O'Shea 4–0 in the second round.
The following year, Bunting once again qualified and won his first round match 3–0, this time against
Brian Woods with the tournament's highest
three-dart average of 94.62. Bunting then defeated
Scott Waites in the second round 4–2 averaging 89.79 to reach his first World Championship quarter-final, where he was beaten 5–1 by third seed
Dean Winstanley with both players averaging over the 90 mark. September 2011 saw Bunting reach the quarterfinals of the
Winmau World Masters on
ESPN. Bunting had been playing all morning to fight through to the live televised stages and in the deciding match Bunting defeated
Wayne Warren. Bunting was into the last 32 and played Peter Johns from Wales. Bunting won 3–0 in sets and played
Robbie Green in the last 16. Bunting won 3–1 with per dart average of 30.33. In the quarter-finals Bunting lost 3 sets to nil against
Ross Montgomery. On 30 September 2011 Bunting played in the
England Classic at Bunn Leisure, in Selsey Sussex. Bunting was the defending champion having won the title in 2010. Bunting started the day with a 3–0 win over Steve Gurney, followed up by a 3–0 win over Mark Davis. In the last 64 defeated Trevor Chant 3–0. In the last 32 Bunting beat Clive Barden 3–2. The last 16 saw Bunting defeat Sam Rooney 3–0. Bunting defeated Dean Jones 4–0 in the quarterfinal. In the semi-final Bunting defeated Tony Andrews 5–1 with a per dart average of 30.27. In the final Bunting defeated Jamie Robinson 6–3 with a per dart average of 29.10. Bunting won the £2,500 first prize for the second time. On 22 October 2011 Bunting won his first European event at the Tops of Ghent tournament in Belgium. In the last 256 Bunting defeated Billy Caluwaerts (Belgium) 4–2. Bunting then defeated Marcel Blik (Netherlands) 4–1 in the last 128 round. In the last 64 Bunting played his Lancashire county teammate Gary Hooper and won 4–2. In the last 32 Bunting played another Lancashire county teammate and newly crowned Romanian Open Champion
Joe Murnan. Bunting won 4–3. In the last 16 Bunting played
Martin Atkins 'The Assassin' who is a regular in the BDO World Championships. Bunting had a 4–1 victory. In the quarterfinals Bunting played Christian Kist. Bunting won the tie 5–1 to gain a place in the semi-finals. In the semi-final Bunting played Darryl Fitton. Bunting ran out a 2 sets to 0 victor. In the final Bunting played
Steve West. Bunting took the title 3–0 (2–3; 2–3; 1–3) in sets. Bunting won €1600 in prize money. Bunting played in the PDC
UK Open as an amateur entrant, and played two-time and defending champion
James Wade in the second round. Bunting led the best-of-seven legs match 3–2 and had four match darts in the deciding leg – one at bullseye and three at double-19 – but was eventually defeated 4–3.
World Masters and World Champion In October 2012, Bunting took his largest career title by winning the
Winmau World Masters as the number one seed, defeating
Tony O'Shea 7–4 in the final. In December, Bunting won the
Zuiderduin Masters, by defeating
Alan Norris in the final. Bunting finished 2012 at BDO and WDF World number one. At the 2013 BDO World Championship, Bunting recorded the highest average of the first round in beating James Wilson 3–2, but in the second round he was unexpectedly defeated by
Darryl Fitton 4–2 despite once again recording the highest average of the round. Bunting led 2–1 and had five darts at double top to take a 3–1 lead, but was unable to take the chance and Fitton went on to win six of the next eight legs to clinch victory. At the 2013 Isle of Man tournament final Bunting defeated
Darryl Fitton 4–2 to win the title. He then won the Mariflex Open, the Welsh Open and the England Open. In July, Bunting won the England Masters title at the Pontins Southport beating
Paul Jennings in the final 6–5. In the semi-final Bunting defeated
Tony O'Shea 5–3. Bunting successfully retained the World Masters title in 2013, becoming only the fourth man to do so after
Eric Bristow,
Bob Anderson, and
Martin Adams. He also became the first man in history to win the title without dropping a single set. His tournament included a 6–0 semi-final win over world #4
Darryl Fitton, and a 7–0 final win over world #2
James Wilson. At the Zuiderduin Masters, Bunting reached the final for the second straight year but this time was comprehensively beaten by Wilson, 5–1 in sets. Bunting entered the 2014 BDO World Championship as the number one seed for the second year in a row. He defeated
Jim Widmayer 3–1 in the first round,
Dave Prins 4–0 in the second round with the tournament's highest three-dart average (100.65), and
Rick Hofstra 5–2 in the quarter-finals after Hofstra led 2-0 and had chances to win the fourth and sixth sets. In the semi-final, Bunting beat fourth seed
Robbie Green 6–1 to set up a final with
Alan Norris, which Bunting won 7–4 after the match had been level at 3–3.
Switch to the PDC On 22 January 2014, it was announced that Bunting had received and accepted a tour card to join the
Professional Darts Corporation. Bunting's first tournaments were the
UK Open Qualifiers and he won the second and £10,000 by beating eight players, concluding with a 6–5 victory over
Andrew Gilding. The result saw him enter the
2014 UK Open at the third round stage where he made his PDC televised debut against Kevin Dowling. Dowling threw for the match in the penultimate leg and missed match darts before Bunting stepped in to take out a 151 finish and sealed a 9–8 victory in the next leg to set up a meeting with
Dean Winstanley. Bunting missed a dart at double 12 to start the match with a
nine-dart finish, but went on to lose 9–6. He made his European Tour debut at the
2014 German Darts Masters and won through to the semi-finals where he lost to
Phil Taylor 6–3. Bunting's second PDC final came at
Players Championship 10, in a run which included a victory over world number one
Michael van Gerwen, before being defeated by
Terry Jenkins 6–3. He made his debut in the
World Matchplay against
Peter Wright and he beat the world number five 10–6. In the subsequent round he started badly against
Gary Anderson to trail 5–0 and could never recover the deficit as he was defeated 13–8. In August he made his first World Series of Darts appearance as he was given a wildcard pick for the
Sydney Darts Masters. Bunting beat John Weber, Wright and
James Wade to reach the final where Taylor defeated him 11–3. In October, Bunting reached the semi-finals of the
World Grand Prix by beating
Ronnie Baxter, Wright and
Richie Burnett. He was defeated 4–0 by
Michael van Gerwen, with the Dutchman winning three of the four sets in deciding legs. Bunting produced a superb performance in the second round of the
European Championship as he averaged 102.21 in beating Taylor 10–9 having never been behind during the match and missed a double 12 for a nine-dart finish. He was unable to replicate the performance in the quarter-finals against
Terry Jenkins as he was eliminated 10–7. Bunting reached the quarter-finals for the third major event in a row by beating Wade 10–8 at the
Grand Slam of Darts, but lost 16–9 against
Mervyn King. In the
Players Championship Finals he was defeated 10–5 by Anderson in the second round.
2015 In his debut at the
2015 PDC World Darts Championship, Bunting saw off
Robert Marijanović 3–1 in his first match, before defeating
James Wade 4–1. He played
Michael Smith in the third round and eliminated him 4–2, after surviving a comeback when Smith rallied from 3–0 down. Both players had a
three-dart average of 102 and hit eight 180s each during the match. In an extremely close quarter-final clash with
Raymond van Barneveld there was never more than a set between the players as they both averaged 98.30. Bunting could not win a leg in the deciding set to be defeated 5–4 and end his chances of becoming the first player to hold both versions of the World Championship at the same time. After Van Barneveld stated that his opponent's performance had shown he was a world class player, Bunting was left in tears on stage in the post-match interview. Following the World Championship final, Bunting was named as a Sky Sports Wildcard to compete in the
2015 Premier League Darts. He drew 6–6 with Wade on the opening night. In the following weeks, Bunting would fall into the relegation zone, losing his next three games before winning his first game against
Adrian Lewis 7–3 in the fifth week. He survived relegation by a point, but could only win one of his last seven matches to finish eighth in the league. In March, Bunting would make it to the semi-finals of the
UK Open, beating Adam Huckvale,
Michael Smith,
Dave Chisnall,
William O'Connor and
Mervyn King before being defeated by
Peter Wright 10–0 with an average of just 82.39 over 20 points lower than Wright. He lost to
Ian White 10–6 in the first round of the
World Matchplay and took out just 19% of his finishes in the opening round of the
World Grand Prix to be eliminated 2–1 in sets by
Mark Webster. He lost in the first round of the
Players Championship Finals and second round of the
European Championship. Bunting did reach the quarter-finals of the inaugural
World Series of Darts Finals, but was heavily beaten by
Phil Taylor 10–3.
2016 Bunting met
Raymond van Barneveld at the
World Championship for the second successive year, this time in the second round. Once again there was never a set between the players, with Van Barneveld taking the final set by six legs to four. Bunting did not receive a wildcard for a second appearance at the
Premier League this year. He reached the fifth round of the
UK Open, but was beaten by
Joe Cullen 9–7. En route to the final of the second
Players Championship event, Bunting overturned a 5–0 deficit against
Adrian Lewis to win 6–5. He then earned his second PDC title by overcoming
Michael van Gerwen 6–4. Despite averaging 102.48, he was only ahead of
Mensur Suljović in the first leg of their opening round
World Matchplay match as he lost 10–8. A week later Bunting reached the semi-finals of the
European Darts Open and was defeated 6–4 by
Peter Wright. He was knocked out in the second round of both the
World Grand Prix and
European Championship, 3–0 in sets by
Kim Huybrechts and 10–4 by Jelle Klaasen respectively.
2017 Bunting missed seven darts for the match in his first round tie with
Darren Webster at the
2017 World Championship and bowed out 3–2 in sets.
2018 At the
2018 World Championship, he lost 3–1 in the first round to
Dimitri Van den Bergh.
2019 At the
2019 World Championship, he lost 3–1 in the second round to
Luke Humphries. Bunting returned to form in 2019, making two ranking finals and reaching the quarter-finals of both the
2019 World Matchplay and the
2019 Players Championship Finals.
2020 After three years without a win at the World Championship, he made it to the last 16 at the
2020 edition, beating
José Justicia and
Jonny Clayton, before being
whitewashed 4–0 by world no. 1
Michael van Gerwen. As a result of his 2019 runs to the quarter-finals in the majors, he was selected for a return to the
Premier League, appearing as a 'challenger' for the night in
Liverpool. In October, Bunting tested positive for
COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the
2020 World Grand Prix.
2021–2022 After winning a
sudden death leg against
Andy Boulton his opening match of the
2021 World Championship, Bunting defeated
James Wade,
Ryan Searle and
Krzysztof Ratajski en route to his first PDC World Championship semi-final. He was eliminated by the eventual champion
Gerwyn Price, who beat him 6–4. He later reached the semi-finals of the
2021 World Grand Prix, where he was beaten by Price once again. On the
2021 PDC Pro Tour, Bunting won his first PDC title since 2016 by defeating
Dimitri Van den Bergh 8–4 in the final of
Players Championship 17. At the
2022 World Championship, Bunting faced
Ross Smith in the second round. He led the match 2–1 but went on to lose a tiebreaker in a 3–2 defeat. On the
2022 European Tour, he reached the semi-finals of the
Austrian Darts Open and the
European Darts Matchplay.
2023 Bunting won his opening match of the
2023 World Championship by recovering from 1–0 down to defeat
Leonard Gates 3–1 in the second round. He ended an eight-match losing streak against
Dave Chisnall by beating him 4–2 in the third round, before a 4–1 win against fifth seed
Luke Humphries sent him through to the quarter-finals. He was eliminated in a 5–3 loss to eventual champion
Michael Smith. Bunting appeared in his second
European Tour final at the
German Darts Open in September, where he was beaten 8–3 by
Krzysztof Ratajski. At the
Grand Slam, he reached his first major semi-final since October 2021, being defeated by
Rob Cross by a score of 16–13. He also reached the quarter-finals of the
Players Championship Finals, where he lost in a deciding leg to
Michael van Gerwen.
2024 At the
2024 World Championship, Bunting reached the fourth round by beating
Ryan Joyce and
Florian Hempel by scorelines of 3–0 and 4–0 respectively, before suffering a 4–0 loss at the hands of
Michael van Gerwen. At the
Masters, he reached his first PDC major final, defeating reigning world champion
Luke Humphries en route. He went on to win the final 11–7 against Van Gerwen, thereby winning his first PDC major title. He reached the quarter-finals of the
UK Open, where he was defeated 10–2 by Humphries. On the
2024 PDC Pro Tour, Bunting set the fourth highest
three-dart average ever on the
European Tour in his 6–0 victory over
Owen Bates at the
European Darts Open; Bunting averaged 117.12 in the match. He reached six
Players Championship finals during the year and was unable to capture a title. In March, he lost to
Raymond van Barneveld 8–1 in the final of
Players Championship 5 (PC5). In September, he lost to
Luke Littler 8–7 in the
PC20 final. In October, Bunting was the runner-up at three consecutive events, losing to
Wessel Nijman,
Chris Dobey and Luke Humphries at
PC24,
PC25 and
PC26 respectively. He reached his sixth Players Championship final of the year at
PC29, but lost to
Cameron Menzies 8–4. Bunting finished second on the
2024 Players Championship Order of Merit, meaning he would be the number two seed for the
Players Championship Finals. He lost to 63rd seed
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6–2 in the first round.
2025 At the
2025 World Championship, Bunting defeated Kai Gotthardt and
Madars Razma before beating
Luke Woodhouse 4–0 to reach the quarter-finals. He then defeated
Peter Wright 5–2 to reach his first World Championship semi-final since the
2021 event. He was eliminated after a 6–1 loss to eventual champion
Luke Littler. After the end of the tournament, Bunting was announced as part of the
2025 Premier League lineup. It was his first inclusion in the main lineup since the
2015 edition. Competing on the
World Series of Darts for the first time in 11 years, Bunting won his first World Series title at the
2025 Bahrain Darts Masters, beating
Gerwyn Price 8–4 in the final. A week later, he was the runner-up at the
Dutch Darts Masters after losing the final 8–5 to
Rob Cross. He lost his first eight matches of the 2025 Premier League but turned his form around on night nine. On 3 April in
Berlin, he achieved his first two wins before defeating Price 6–5 in the final to claim his first nightly win. The following weekend, Bunting won his first
PDC European Tour title. He beat world number one
Luke Humphries 7–6 in a last-leg decider in the semi-finals before defeating
Nathan Aspinall 8–4 in the final. He reached a second Premier League nightly final on night 11 but suffered a 6–2 loss to
Chris Dobey. At the end of the league stage, Bunting finished last in the table on 12 points. Following the culmination of the Premier League, Bunting won his second World Series title at the
Nordic Darts Masters by defeating Rob Cross 8–4 in a rematch of their final in the Netherlands. After losing six finals in Players Championship events in 2024, he claimed the
Players Championship 18 (PC18) title by beating
Jermaine Wattimena 8–5 in the final. He reached back-to-back finals at
PC24 and
PC25, winning the latter with an 8–6 victory over
Jonny Clayton. He won his second European Tour title at the
Swiss Darts Trophy by beating
Luke Woodhouse 8–3 in the final. At the
European Championship, Bunting averaged 109.20 in his first-round defeat to Chris Dobey, a record losing average in the competition.
2026 At the
2026 World Championship, Bunting was the fourth seed and reached the third round following wins over
Sebastian Białecki and
Nitin Kumar. He exited the tournament after a 4–3 upset loss to
James Hurrell. ==Personal life==