Leonard Gates
American darts player (born 1970)
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Leonard Gates (born November 26, 1970) is an American professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Darts Federation (WDF) events. In World Seniors Darts (WSD) he won three televised titles in 2023; the WSDT Champion of Champions, World Seniors Matchplay and the World Seniors Masters. He was the 2022 PDC North American champion and has won 11 titles on the CDC Pro Tour. Gates has been ranked as WDF world number one.
| Leonard Gates | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gates at the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts | |||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Nickname | "Soulger"[1] "Soldier"[2] | ||||||||||
| Born | November 26, 1970 San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Home town | Houston, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2007 | ||||||||||
| Darts | 21g Winmau Signature | ||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Too Hot ta Trot" by Commodores | ||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||
| BDO | 2007–2020 | ||||||||||
| PDC | 2016– | ||||||||||
| WDF | 2007– | ||||||||||
| Current world ranking | (WDF) 2  1 (16 March 2026)[3] | ||||||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||||
| World Championship | Last 16: 2023 | ||||||||||
| World Masters | Last 272: 2017 | ||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||
| World Championship | Last 64: 2023, 2025, 2026 | ||||||||||
| UK Open | Last 64: 2024 | ||||||||||
| Grand Slam | Group Stage: 2022, 2024 | ||||||||||
| World Series Finals | Last 16: 2022 | ||||||||||
| WSDT major events – best performances | |||||||||||
| World Championship | Semi-final: 2023 | ||||||||||
| World Matchplay | Winner (1): 2023 | ||||||||||
| World Masters | Winner (1): 2023 | ||||||||||
| Champions | Winner (1): 2023 | ||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||||
CDC Pro Tour (x11) | |||||||||||
He is also a former baseball player, playing for Abilene Prairie Dogs, Massachusetts Mad Dogs, Catskill Cougars and Nashua Pride.[4]
Career
Gates started to play in WDF in 2007, winning numerous American darts tournaments, including exhibition ones.[4] His first appearance in major BDO tournament was in 2017 World Masters, where he lost in the last 272 to Paul Coughlin.[5]
In 2022, Gates qualified as a seed for the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, but he lost in the second round to Steve Hine of England.[5]
In June, Gates took part in the 2022 US Darts Masters, where he was one of the eight North American qualifiers. He defeated Fallon Sherrock 6–2 in the first round before losing to Peter Wright 3–8 in the quarter-finals.[5] At the same time, he played in the 2022 PDC North American Championship, where he went on to defeat Jules van Dongen and David Cameron,[5] before beating Danny Baggish in the final and securing his first PDC title, which meant he qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship and 2022 Grand Slam of Darts as well.[6]
In September, Gates took a part in the 2022 World Series of Darts Finals, where he reached the second round, defeating Devon Petersen 6–4 in the first round,[5] then losing to James Wade 4–6 in the next one.[5]
In 2023, Gates and Jules van Dongen represented the United States on the World Cup of Darts, but they lost in the group stage.[5]
In 2024, Gates qualified for his first PDC major of 2024, qualifying for the UK Open.[7] In round 1, he narrowly beat Conan Whitehead in a close game, in the second round he faced Rhys Grffin whom he beat 6-3, in the third round he faced former World Championship finalist Jim Williams who Gates went on to beat 6-2 with an average of 92 per three darts, in the next round he faced a very experienced player in Martin Lukeman, it was a very long and competitive game but Gates was knocked out of the tournament with Lukeman beating him 10-5.[5]
Also apart from steeltip darts, Gates plays in darts tournaments of the World Soft Darts Association (WSDA) as well, being one of the most popular soft-tip contenders.[8]
World Championship results
WDF
- 2022: Second round (lost to Steve Hine 0–3)
- 2023: Third round (lost to Danny Lauby 0–3)
PDC
- 2023: Second round (lost to Stephen Bunting 1–3)
- 2025: Second round (lost to Nathan Aspinall 1–3)
- 2026: Second round (lost to Nathan Aspinall 0–3)
WSDT
- 2023: Semi-finals (lost to Richie Howson 1–3)
- 2024: First round (lost to Colin McGarry 1–3)
- 2025: Quarter-finals (lost to Graham Usher 1–3)
Performance timeline
Source:[5]
PDC
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | 2R | 2R | |||||||||||||||
| UK Open | DNP | 4R | DNP | |||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam of Darts | RR | DNQ | RR | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
| PDC Non-ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | DNP | RR | DNP | |||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season-end ranking (PDC) | 106[9] | - | 93[10] | |||||||||||||||||
WDF
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDF Ranked major/platinum events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF World Championship | 2R | 3R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF World Masters | 2R | DNP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WSD
Nine-dart finishes
| Date | Opponent | Tournament | Method | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 25, 2023 |  Martin Thomas |
MODUS Super Series | 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 | – |