Damon Heta (born 10 August 1987) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked No. 9 in the world. He won the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters and also, in pairs with Simon Whitlock, the World Cup of Darts in 2022. His nickname is "The Heat", a play on letters within his surname.
| Damon Heta | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Heta at the 2024 PDC World Cup of Darts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "The Heat" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 August 1987[1] Perth, Western Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts | 23 Gram Harrows Signature | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Walk-on music | Various | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2008– (Tour Card: 2020-) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | 11  2 (17 November 2024)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 16: 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Matchplay | Quarter Final: 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Last 32: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Semi Final: 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam | Quarter Final: 2020, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| European Ch'ship | Last 16: 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PC Finals | Quarter Final: 2020, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Masters | Quarter Final: 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Series Finals | Last 16: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DPA Pro Tour
European Tour Events
Players Championships
World Series of Darts
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career
editA roofer by trade, Heta has mainly played on the Dartplayers Australia (DPA) Tour. His first big exposure was qualifying for the 2014 Sydney Darts Masters, where he was whitewashed 6–0 in the first round by Dave Chisnall. Heta qualified for the 2016 Auckland Darts Masters where he lost in the first round to Michael van Gerwen 6–3.
He qualified for the 2018 Melbourne Darts Masters, where he defeated his good friend Kyle Anderson 6–5 in the first round, before losing 10–7 to Gary Anderson in the quarter-finals. Gary would then defeat Heta 6–5 in the first round of the 2018 Brisbane Darts Masters a week later.
Amongst his titles achieved Down Under are the 2011 Pacific Masters, the 2014 DPA Australian Singles, the 2015 West Coast Classic, and the 2016 DPA Australian Open.
On 3 August 2019, Damon won the first ever DFA Australian Open Darts, beating top BDO players such as Jim Williams 8–1 in the semi-final and former World Champion Scott Mitchell 10–9 in the final to take the $15,000 first prize.
Heta qualified for all three PDC World Series events in Australia and New Zealand in 2019.
At the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters Heta reached his first PDC final by beating former major winners James Wade, Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock, before defeating former World Champion Rob Cross 8–7 in the final to win his first World Series title. Damon become the first ever non-tour cardholder to win a world series event and the first to win a world series event on home soil. He became the first non-tour cardholder to win a PDC televised event since Scott Waites in 2010.
Heta beat James Wade once again in the first round of the 2019 Melbourne Darts Masters, but lost 8–3 to Rob Cross in the quarter-finals. He lost 6–1 to Peter Wright in the first round of the 2019 New Zealand Darts Masters.
On 19 January 2020, Heta won a two-year PDC Tour Card by finishing fourth on the UK Q School Order of Merit. He played on the ProTour in 2020 and 2021. He won his first PDC ranking event at the PDC Autumn Series in Niedernhausen, beating Joe Cullen 8–4 in the final.[3]
Heta, in conjunction with Simon Whitlock, beat Wales in the 2022 PDC World Cup of Darts on 19 June 2022 to claim the title for Australia for the first time since Whitlock and Paul Nicholson lost in the grand final in 2012 to England.[4]
Heta won the 2022 Gibraltar Darts Trophy on the PDC European Tour in October 2022, where along the way, he defeated Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final and Peter Wright in the final.[5]
At the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, Heta qualified for the knockout rounds by finishing second in Group H with 5–4 wins over Ricardo Pietreczko and Beau Greaves respectively and a 5–2 loss to Nathan Aspinall. In the second round, Heta shocked Michael van Gerwen with a 10–7 victory.[6] In the third round Heta was knocked out by Rob Cross 6–16.[7]
At the 2024 UK Open, Heta reached the semi-finals for the first time. Heta achieved wins over Simon Whitlock 10–8 and Nathan Aspinall 10–9, before defeating Gian van Veen and Luke Littler both 10–8.[8] Heta was drawn to play Dimitri Van den Bergh in the semi-finals, who he lost to 11–6.[9]
World Championship results
editPDC
edit- 2020: Second round (lost to Glen Durrant 0–3)
- 2021: First round (lost to Danny Baggish 2–3)
- 2022: Third round (lost to Peter Wright 2–4)
- 2023: Third round (lost to Joe Cullen 0–4)
- 2024: Fourth round (lost to Scott Williams 1–4)
Career finals
editPDC world series finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)
edit| Legend |
|---|
| World Series of Darts (1–2) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2019 | Brisbane Darts Masters |  Rob Cross
|
8–7 (l) |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2023 | New South Wales Darts Masters | Rob Cross
|
1–8 (l) |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2024 | New Zealand Darts Masters | Luke Humphries
|
2–8 (l) |
PDC team finals: 1 (1 title)
edit| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Country | Teammate | Opponents in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2022 | World Cup of Darts |  Australia
|
Simon Whitlock |  Wales – Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton
|
3–1 (m) |
Performance timeline
editPDC
| Tournament | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC World Championship | DNQ | 2R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 4R | ||||||||||||||
| UK Open | DNP | 1R | 3R | QF | 4R | SF | ||||||||||||||
| World Matchplay | DNP | DNQ | 1R | 1R | QF | 1R | ||||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | DNP | DNQ | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | ||||||||||||||
| European Championship | DNP | DNQ | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam of Darts | DNP | QF | DNQ | RR | QF | DNQ | ||||||||||||||
| Players Championship Finals | DNP | QF | 3R | 1R | QF | |||||||||||||||
| Non-ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Masters | DNP | Did not qualify | 1R | QF | ||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | DNP | QF | QF | W | QF | 2R | ||||||||||||||
| World Series of Darts Finals | 2R | 2R | 2R | DNQ | 2R | 1R | 2R | |||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | - | - | 56 | 29 | 16 | 11 | ||||||||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | BDC 2R |
GDC DNQ |
EDG 1R |
IDO DNQ | |||||||||
| 2021 | HDT 3R |
GDT 3R | |||||||||||
| 2022 | IDO 3R |
GDC 2R |
GDG SF |
ADO 2R |
EDO 2R |
CDO 2R |
EDG SF |
DDC 3R |
EDM QF |
HDT 2R |
GDO 3R |
BDO 2R |
GDT W |
| 2023 | BSD 3R |
EDO QF |
IDO QF |
GDG SF |
ADO 3R |
DDC SF |
BDO 3R |
CDO SF |
EDG SF |
EDM 2R |
GDO 2R |
HDT QF |
GDC QF |
| 2024 | BDO 3R |
GDG 2R |
IDO 3R |
EDG QF |
ADO 2R |
BSD 3R |
DDC 2R |
EDO SF |
GDC QF |
FDT 2R |
HDT 2R |
SDT 2R |
CDO 3R |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | BAR 2R |
BAR 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
WIG 3R |
WIG 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 2R |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
MIL DNP |
NIE 1R |
NIE W |
NIE QF |
NIE 3R |
NIE 1R |
COV QF |
COV 3R |
COV F |
COV QF |
COV 1R | |||||||
| 2021 | BOL 4R |
BOL 2R |
BOL 2R |
BOL F |
MIL 4R |
MIL 2R |
MIL 3R |
MIL 4R |
NIE 3R |
NIE 1R |
NIE QF |
NIE 3R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 3R |
MIL 4R |
MIL 1R |
COV 4R |
COV 3R |
COV 1R |
COV 1R |
BAR F |
BAR 4R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 2R |
BAR QF |
BAR 1R |
BAR SF |
BAR 4R |
| 2022 | BAR 2R |
BAR SF |
WIG F |
WIG 1R |
BAR W |
BAR 3R |
NIE 4R |
NIE 4R |
BAR 2R |
BAR SF |
BAR 1R |
BAR SF |
BAR 3R |
WIG SF |
WIG QF |
NIE 4R |
NIE 4R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 4R |
BAR SF |
BAR DNP |
BAR DNP |
BAR DNP |
BAR SF |
BAR W |
BAR 1R |
BAR SF |
BAR 4R |
BAR 3R |
| 2023 | BAR 3R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 1R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 1R |
HIL 3R |
HIL 3R |
WIG 2R |
WIG QF |
LEI 3R |
LEI SF |
HIL SF |
HIL W |
LEI 4R |
LEI W |
HIL 2R |
HIL 2R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 3R |
BAR 1R |
BAR SF |
BAR 3R |
BAR QF |
BAR 1R |
BAR 2R |
BAR 3R |
BAR F |
BAR SF |
BAR SF |
| 2024 | WIG 1R |
WIG 2R |
LEI 4R |
LEI W |
HIL 3R |
HIL 4R |
LEI 4R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 3R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 4R |
HIL 2R |
MIL 1R |
MIL QF |
MIL SF |
MIL 3R |
MIL 2R |
MIL W |
MIL 2R |
WIG 4R |
WIG QF |
MIL 3R |
MIL QF |
WIG 2R |
WIG 4R |
WIG 4R |
WIG QF |
WIG 1R |
LEI QF |
LEI QF |
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. |
Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round |
DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded | ||
References
edit- ^ "Damon Heta". Mastercaller.com. 10 August 1987. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 17 November 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
- ^ "Heta lands maiden title on Autumn Series Day Two". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ^ "Wayne Mardle applauds Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock as Australia lifted the World Cup of Darts". Sky Sports. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
- ^ "Heta secures maiden European Tour title at Gibraltar Darts Trophy". PDC. 16 October 2022.
- ^ "Grand Slam of Darts: Damon Heta shocks Michael van Gerwen to ensure new winner as Stephen Bunting and Rob Cross progress". Sky Sports. 17 November 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Gorton, Josh (18 November 2023). "Cross and Bunting complete semi final line up in Wolverhampton". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023.
- ^ Stanley, Lawrence (3 March 2023). "Damon Heta comes through magnificent quarter-final clash against Luke Littler at UK Open". Darts News. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ^ Gorton, Josh (3 March 2024). "Van den Bergh topples Humphries to claim UK Open glory". PDC. Retrieved 3 March 2024.