John MaGowan is a Northern Irish

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 darts

Darts

Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...

 player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation

Professional Darts Corporation

The Professional Darts Corporation is a professional darts organization, established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of leading professional players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council...

 events. He is nicknamed Mr. Magoo.

BDO career

MaGowan reached the final of the Isle of Man Open in 1994, losing to Mick Manning. In 1997, MaGowan reached the quarter finals of the Dutch Open and the WDF World Cup as well as the 1998 Norway Open. MaGowan's only major tournament in the BDO came in the 2001 World Masters, losing in the first round to John Walton

John Walton (darts player)

John Michael Walton is an English darts player who is a former World Champion. He has adopted the nickname The Boy and uses the song Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex as his walk-on theme.-Darts career:...

.

PDC career

Shortly afterwards, MaGowan switched to the PDC and in his first tournament, he reached the semi finals of the UK Open Scottish Regional Final. A quarter final in the 2003 Eastbourne Pro followed and MaGowan played in the 2003 UK Open where he entered the third round outright but lost to Wayne Jones

Wayne Jones (darts player)

Wayne Alan Jones is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation tournaments. He uses the nickname The Wanderer for his matches....

. He then played in the 2003 World Grand Prix in Dublin, losing in the first round to Wayne Mardle

Wayne Mardle

Wayne Mardle is a darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation, and former player in the BDO. He now lives in Romford...

.

MaGowan reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Open, starting in the first round with a 5-0 win over Moe Whelan. He then beat Steve Hine

Steve Hine

Steve Hine is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. He works as a baker and consequently he is nicknamed The Muffin Man...

, Steve Johnson, and Steve Evans

Steve Evans (darts player)

Steve Evans is a Welsh darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation events.Evans joined the PDC in 2003, and reached the last 32 of the 2004 UK Open, eventually losing to John MaGowan....

 before losing to Kevin Painter

Kevin Painter

Kevin Painter is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation tournaments, where he is known as "The Artist"...

.

MaGowan qualified for the 2005 World Grand Prix and beat Alan Caves

Alan Caves

Alan Caves is an English darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation. His best run came at the 2004 UK Open where he reached the last 16, ultimately losing to Alan Warriner...

 and then Peter Manley

Peter Manley

Peter David Manley is an English professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation. He is nicknamed One Dart as he is known for hitting doubles with his first dart...

 to reach the quarter finals. The run though was temporarily halted when he travelled to his son's wedding by helicopter before returning to the Citywest Hotel for his quarter-final game with Dennis Smith

Dennis Smith (darts player)

Dennis Smith is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. He is a stalwart on the PDC circuit, having been playing on the circuit since 1994 but has yet to capture a major title to add to his collection of Open wins...

 but the fatigue obviously got to him as he was beaten 4-0.

MaGowan qualified for the 2006 PDC World Darts Championship

2006 PDC World Darts Championship

The 2006 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was held from 19 December 2005 to 2 January 2006 at the Circus Tavern. It was the 13th staging of the Professional Darts Corporation's version of the World Championship....

 where he lost to Dennis Priestley

Dennis Priestley

Dennis Priestley is an English professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively...

 in the first round. He then had one of his best tournaments in the 2006 UK Open Darts

2006 UK Open Darts

-Format:Qualifying events are held at Greene King pubs across the UK - winners from each pub event progress to one of four Regional Finals, to be staged in their relevant area. Players who reach the final eight in the Regional Finals will qualify for the televised stages of the UK Open in Bolton.In...

 when he made it to the semi-finals beating Painter, Matt Clark

Matt Clark (darts player)

Matt Clark is an English darts player who competes for the Professional Darts Corporation and formerly played for the British Darts Organisation. He uses the nickname Superman for his matches.-Darting history:...

, Adrian Lewis

Adrian Lewis

Adrian Lewis is an English professional darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation who is the reigning PDC World Darts Champion...

 and Robbie Green

Robbie Green

Robbie Green is an English darts player who previously played in Professional Darts Corporation events and now plays in British Darts Organisation events. He is a former BDO world #1 and is currently ranked #3 on the BDO circuit, and 4th on the WDF circuit...

 before losing 11-7 to the eventual winner of the tournament Raymond van Barneveld

Raymond van Barneveld

Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...

. He collected £7,500 in prize money. He then managed to qualify for the 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic and beat Gerry Convery

Gerry Convery

Gerry Convery is a Canadian darts player.Convery made his televised debut in the 2004 Las Vegas Desert Classic, beating Darren Webster in the first round before losing in the second round to Dennis Smith...

 in the first round before losing to Chris Mason

Chris Mason (darts player)

Christopher John Mason is an English darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation. He uses the nickname Mace the Ace for his matches.- BDO and first PDC spell :...

 in the second round. His 2007 UK Open campaign began in the third round but was beaten 11-1 by van Barneveld. MaGowan's 2008 UK Open campaign was supposed to start in the second round, but his opponent Jimmy Mann

Jimmy Mann (darts player)

Jimmy Mann is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. He is not a full-time professional and makes his living as a greenkeeper....

 couldn't play and he received a bye into the third round where he lost to fellow countryman Brendan Dolan

Brendan Dolan

Brendan Dolan is a Irish darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events.After two early exits in the 2003 and 2004 UK Open, his first major run came in the 2004 World Grand Prix where he qualified through the All Ireland qualifiers, winning one of four places...

.

In 2008 MaGowan wrote darts history by throwing a 9-dart finish at the PDC Players Championship in Eindhoven in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Aged 67 he became the oldest darts-player to throw a 9-darter in an official tournament. He went on to reach the quarter finals. He returned to Dublin for the 2008 World Grand Prix but lost in the first round to Colin Osborne

Colin Osborne

Colin Osborne is an English darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation events.-Darts career:Osborne has won two PDC Pro Tour events and he also managed to hit two perfect nine dart finishes in 2005...

 1-2.

MaGowan won one of eight places for the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship

2009 PDC World Darts Championship

The 2009 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship was the 16th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation....

 at the qualifiers in Telford

Telford

Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...

. He defeated Mason 3-0 in the first round but lost to Priestley in the second round 1-4.

MaGowan withdrew from the 2011 UK Open, where he was due to play Shaun Griffiths

Shaun Griffiths

Shaun Griffiths is an English darts player.Griffiths won consecutive Winmau World Youth Masters titles in 2007 and 2008. In 2010, he won the British Teenage Open, and reached the quarter-finals of the PDC Under-21 World Championship....

 in the first round, after suffering a hip injury. He has not played in any PDC tournaments since, and at the 2011 World Grand Prix, commentator John Gwynne suggested that MaGowan had retired from professional darts.

Personal life

MaGowan and his wife Maggie were married for 8 years. MaGowan gains most of the practice in a shed in his garden where at one stage, his wife locked him in his shed while going out shopping and was left in his shed for around five hours. Maggie passed away in May 2010.

MaGowan is an avid Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

 fan, with MaGowan using blue flights on his darts to signify this.

External links