Colin Osborne

Colin Osborne (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open.

Colin Osborne
Personal information
Nickname"Ozzy"
Born (1975-06-19) 19 June 1975
Middlesbrough, England
Home townDerby, England
Darts information
Playing darts since1989
Darts22g Unicorn Contender Gold Colin Osborne
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Unbelievable" by EMF
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC2005–
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipQuarter Final: 2007
World MatchplayLast 16: 2008
World Grand PrixLast 16: 2008, 2010, 2012
Grand SlamLast 16: 2010
Ch'ship LeagueWinner (1) 2009
Desert ClassicLast 16: 2007
European Ch'shipLast 16: 2009
UK OpenRunner Up: 2009
US Open/WSoDLast 16: 2008
Players Ch'ship FinalsSemi Final: 2010
Other tournament wins
Sheppey Darts Classic 2006
Sportsdale.com Xmas Open 2009

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2009
Players Championship (GER) 2011
Players Championship (KIR) 2008
Players Championship (SCO) 2009

UK Open Regionals/Qualifiers

Regional Final (NEE) 2008
Other achievements
9 Dart Finish PDPA Players Ch'ship Hayling Island 2006
2007 Makes breakthrough into PDC top 10

Darts career

Osborne has won two PDC Pro Tour events and he also managed to hit two perfect nine-dart finishes in 2005. The first one of these came in the Players Championship in the Isle of Wight and a second one followed at the non-televised qualifying rounds for the 2005 World Matchplay.

On his World Championship debut in 2007, Osborne reached the quarter-finals where he was beaten 5–4 by Andy Jenkins.

This great performance was followed by an even better one at the 2007 UK Open, where he beat Michael van Gerwen and Mervyn King as he reached the semi-final only to be beaten 11–10 in a thriller against Vincent van der Voort. He followed this success with victory against James Wade in Las Vegas, only to lose to Peter Manley in the second round.

Osborne suffered a surprising first round exit in the 2008 World Championship, losing 3–1 to Dutchman Erwin Extercatte. In the 2008 World Matchplay, he beat King in the first round, but then lost in the next round to Phil Taylor. Osborne was 10–0 down before finally winning a leg, eventually losing 13–5 with Taylor averaging 109.

In the 2009 PDC World Championship, Osborne beat South Africa's Charles Losper 3–0 in the first round, before losing 4–1 to van der Voort in the second round.

2009 was a breakthrough year for Osborne, as he reached his first major final in the 2009 UK Open. Having beaten Raymond van Barneveld, Jamie Caven and Kevin Painter in the earlier rounds, he lost 11–6 to Taylor in the final. He also won the 2009 Championship League Darts, defeating Taylor 6–4 in the final, but a disappointing year in the other majors was compounded with a first-round loss to Simon Whitlock in the 2010 World Championship, a match that was dubbed "The Battle of the Wizards" due to both players being nicknamed 'The Wizard'.

In 2010, Osborne reached the semi-finals of the Players Championship Finals before losing to King. At the Grand Slam of Darts, Osborne lost his opening group match to Robert Thornton before beating Whitlock and Dave Chisnall to qualify for the knockout stages. He lost 10–3 to Gary Anderson in the last 16. He then reached the third round of the 2011 World Championship, and was 3–2 up against van Barneveld before losing 4–3.

Nickname

Between 2005 and 2010, Osborne was nicknamed The Wizard, a reference to The Wizard of Oz. He has long been known on the circuit, most notably by commentator Sid Waddell as Ozzy, a reference to both The Wizard of Oz and to rock singer Ozzy Osbourne. Due to the latter, he used the song "Paranoid" by Ozzy's band Black Sabbath as his walk-on. In 2011, he officially changed his nickname to 'Ozzy', following the increasing prominence of Simon Whitlock, who is also nicknamed 'The Wizard'.[1]

Outside darts

Osborne is a former representative of the English table tennis team. He is also a former yo-yo champion and enjoys golf and snooker.

Osborne was born in Middlesbrough, but now lives in Derby with his wife Sarah and their two sons, Colin Jr. (born 2003). and Alfie (born 2006). For about 18 months, Colin and Sarah were the landlords of the Greyhound pub, Village Street.

World Championship performances

PDC

PDC major finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Legend
UK Open (0–1)
Championship League Darts (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Runner-up 1. 2009 UK Open Phil Taylor 6–11 (l)
Winner 1. 2009 Championship League Darts Phil Taylor 6–4 (l)
  1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline
Tournament20052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
PDC World Championship DNQ QF 1R 2R 1R 3R 1R 2R 1R Did not qualify
US Open/WSoD NH DNQ 1R 5R Not held
UK Open QF 3R SF 4R F 4R 5R 4R 2R Did not qualify
Las Vegas Desert Classic DNQ 2R DNQ 1R Not held
World Matchplay 1R DNQ 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R Did not qualify
World Grand Prix DNQ 1R 2R 1R 2R DNQ 2R Did not qualify
Championship League Darts Not held RR W RR RR RR RR Not held
European Championship Not held 1R 2R 1R Did not qualify
Grand Slam of Darts Not held DNQ RR 2R Did not qualify
Players Championship Finals Not held 1R SF 1R 1R Did not qualify
Performance Table Legend
DNP Did not play at the event DNQ Did not qualify for the event NYF Not yet founded #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament

References
  1. Osborne Adopts New Nickname Archived 16 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
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