Jimmy van Schie has been crowned world champion with the World Darts Federation (WDF). The 32-year-old from Breda defeated the 15-year-old talent Mitchell Lawrie from Scotland on Sunday and took his first world title. “This means a lot to me,” he said afterwards in front of the WDF camera.
Van Schie was seeded first, but had never been in a World Cup final before. This year he did, but in the final he fell behind 0-3 against the Scottish super talent.
The 2.07 meter tall Breda native made a huge comeback and won 6-3. After the win, Van Schie’s emotions were visible, who also added 57,000 euros to his bank account.
In 2012, Christiaan Kist was the last Dutchman to win the famous tournament at the Lakeside Country Club. Jelle Klaassen won in 2006 and Raymond van Barneveld previously won four world titles.
It is striking that Van Schie had actually already stopped playing darts, but took up darts again at the age of 26 on the advice of his girlfriend. “She motivated me to start throwing again and I was given the space to spend a lot of time on it. I still had the feeling that I could reach the top, but then I had to go for it completely,” he previously told Omroep Brabant. The world title is now the absolute highlight of his career.
His next goal as a darts player is to win a Tour Card for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). But first he takes time for a little vacation and for his dogs. “My dog has had puppies, but I haven’t seen her in about ten weeks because of the tournaments. They deserve my attention now.”