Dave Whitcombe and Lazarenko ending in a draw, Whitcombe slumped to fifth and failed to reach the semi final stage. Whitcombe failed to qualify for the 2010 Lakeside World Darts Championship and the 2009 Winmau World Masters. Dave Whitcombe Dave Whitcombe (born 27 June 1954 in Kent) is an English retired professional darts player who won several major tournaments and reached two World Championship Finals. He had a long professional career between 1980 and 1992. Whitcombe was twice a winner of the Winmau World Masters (1982 and 1985) and lost to Eric Bristow in the World Championship finals of 1984 and 1986.
2018 PDC World Darts Championship record of 28 appearances he jointly held with John Lowe. Jamie Lewis became the first player to reach the semi-finals after entering the championship through a preliminary round event, first introduced at the 2004 Championship. Lewis eventually fell to Taylor in the semi-final, by a score of 6–1. The 2018 PDC World Darts Championship is the 25th World Darts Championship to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation; and the tenth to be held at Alexandra Palace, London. It was held between 14 December 2017 and 1 January 2018, the culmination of the 2017 Professional Darts Corporation season. 72 players