Nathan Rafferty
Wikipedia - Nathan Rafferty
Nathan Rafferty (born 17 January 2000) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "The Natural", Rafferty's best PDC major performance is reaching the last 16 at the 2021 Grand Slam.
In his youth career, he finished as the runner-up at the 2021 PDC World Youth Championship and won twelve Development Tours.
History
Rafferty made his TV debut at the 2018 UK Open where he beat Jason Mold in the second round, before defeating the defending champion Peter Wright in the third round. He lost to Robert Owen 10–9 in the fourth round.
In 2021, Rafferty picked up his first PDC Challenge Tour title at Event 10. At the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts, Rafferty was drawn into a group with Gerwyn Price, Martin Schindler and Krzysztof Ratajski. He qualified for the knockout stage with wins over Schindler and Ratajski, but was eliminated after a 10–2 loss against Jonny Clayton. Rafferty was the runner-up at the 2021 PDC World Youth Championship, losing 6–4 to Ted Evetts.
Rafferty qualified for his first PDC World Championship after topping the 2022 Development Tour Order of Merit. He won his first round game at the 2023 World Championship 3–2 against Jermaine Wattimena before losing in the next round to Michael Smith.
Rafferty won twelve titles in total on the PDC Development Tour, with his final coming at event fourteen of the 2024 PDC Development Tour series, where he defeated Marvin van Velzen 5–3 in the final.