Zoran Lerchbacher (born 30 May 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player from Graz, currently playing in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
| Zoran Lerchbacher | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "The Hypercane" | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 30 May 1972 Graz, Austria | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Knittelfeld, Austria | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Darts | 21g Target | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Wake Me Up" by Avicii | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO | 2008–2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2011–2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | 179  (31 October 2024)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||
| World Masters | Last 128: 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 32: 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Last 64: 2017, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PC Finals | Last 64: 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Career
editLerchbacher qualified for the 2014 PDC World Darts Championship and won 4–1 in the preliminary round against Ben Ward.[2] He then went out in a 3–0 loss to Michael van Gerwen.[3] Lerchbacher was able to score a slightly higher average than Van Gerwen,[3] but was only able to win one leg in the match.[2][3] He entered Q School to try and win a tour card to compete on the PDC tour and lost in the final round of the fourth day 5–1 to Joe Murnan.[4] Nevertheless, Lerchbacher had done enough to finish tied second on the Q School Order of Merit to seal his place on the PDC for 2014 and 2015.[5] He had a disappointing first year on tour as his deepest runs were three last 64 defeats.[6]
In 2015 Lerchbacher, attempted to qualify for six European Tour events and was successful at the final attempt in the European Darts Matchplay, but lost 6–1 to Darren Johnson.[7] After his tour card expired Lerchbacher again entered Q School, but one last 32 exit over the four days was not enough to stay on tour.[8]
Lerchbacher qualified for three European Tour events in 2016, losing 6–5 from 3–0 up in the first round of the Dutch Darts Masters to James Richardson.[9] At the Austrian Darts Open he beat Jeffrey de Zwaan 6–4, before being whitewashed 6–0 in the second round by Jelle Klaasen.[10] Lerchbacher advanced to the same stage of the European Darts Trophy by seeing off Joe Murnan 6–2 and lost 6–5 to Terry Jenkins.[11]
A 10–1 thrashing of Dietmar Burger in the final of the East European Qualifier saw Lerchbacher play in the 2017 World Championship.[12] He saw off Simon Stevenson 2–1 in the preliminary round and then lost 3–0 to Robert Thornton in the first round.[13]
His best professional run came at the 16th Players Championship on the 2017 PDC Pro Tour: Six (four of them 6–5) wins en route saw him reaching his first PDC final. Players Lerchbacher beat included Mark Webster, Robert Thornton and Steve Beaton, before he fell to Joe Cullen 6–4 in the final.
At the 2018 World Championship he reached the second round after beating Mervyn King 3–2 in sets.
Lerchbacher fell off the Pro Tour at the end of 2019, and after a year without a Tour Card in 2020, he was successful at European Q School in February 2021 to turn professional again.
World Championship results
editPDC
edit- 2014: First round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–3)
- 2017: First round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–3)
- 2018: Second round (lost to Keegan Brown 2–4)
- 2020: Second round (lost to Krzysztof Ratajski 1–3)
Performance timeline
editBDO
| Tournament | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| BDO World Championship | DNP | DNQ |
| World Masters | 2R | DNP |
PDC
| Tournament | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC World Championship | DNQ | DNP | 1R | DNQ | 1R | 2R | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | ||
| UK Open | DNP | 2R | DNS | 3R | DNP | 1R | 3R | ||||
| Players Championship Finals | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | DNP | DNQ | ||||||
| Non-major televised events | |||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | DNP | NH | DNP | 1R | QF | DNP | |||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | 185 | 108 | 126 | 206 | 92 | 61 | 61 | 76 | - | 89 | 133 |
References
edit- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
- ^ a b "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Five". PDC. 17 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ a b c "2014 World Championship NetZone".
- ^ "Record Entry For 2014 Qualifying School". PDC. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ "2014 PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ "Zoran Lerchbacher 2014". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
- ^ "2015 PDC European Matchplay Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "2016 PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Dutch Darts Masters Day One". PDC. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- ^ "2016 PDC Austrian Darts Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- ^ "HappyBet European Darts Trophy Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
- ^ "2016 PDC World East European Qualifying Event Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
- ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Seven". PDC. Retrieved 22 December 2016.