This article was originally published in the September 2019 edition of the Darts Planet TV magazine.
Ever since he lifted that Cambridgeshire Open title – bursting onto the scene like a beagle puppy at a family gathering unsure of whose face to lick and which plate of chicken drumsticks to pounce on first, 13-year-old Leighton Bennett has had astounding success, that cannot be rivalled for someone of his young age.
Leighton Bennett is a darting phenomenon. Leighton Bennett is the real deal, and it’s safe to say that, in spite of him being just 13-years of age, and only having been throwing tungsten for five years.
A Japanese sensation in Tomokazu Harimoto lifted the prestigious table tennis World Tour Grand Finals in December, becoming the youngest to do so, at just 15 years and 172 days. He too stunned the professionals in his chosen sport, and at the same time caused their downfall.
Harimoto sent shockwaves through the table tennis fraternity at just 12 years of age also, in a similar way to Leighton Bennett when ‘Boom Boom’ lifted the Cambridgeshire Open crown.
He saw off distinguished PDC tour card holder, Ricky Evans, in the semi-finals, before falling to his knees in disbelief. The then 12-year-old schoolboy found himself in a British Darts Organisation major open final.
Another generally known PDC player in Rhys Hayden, who competes on the Development Tour, was brushed aside in the final as Bennett trousered £1,000.
Most teenagers would squander such a drastic amount of cash in seconds. Leighton however, decided to deposit the cheque straight into a savings account, just in case, he wasn’t fortunate enough to receive a sponsor further down the line.
His Monday morning encounter with his teacher would have been exciting also. ‘What did you get up to at the weekend, Leighton?’ the teacher would casually question, with Leighton’s abrupt response being ‘I won a grand playing darts, Miss’.
She wouldn’t believe his reply until she would unlock her phone, punch ‘Leighton Bennett’ in the search engine and articles from national newspapers would materialise on her screen.
That was only the beginning of Leighton Bennett’s extortionate growth.
Impressive triumphs over Dutch youngsters, Pim van Bijnen, Lars Plaisier, Lerena Rietbergen and Levy Frauenfelder, sealed Bennett’s place in the 2019 BDO World Youth Championship final.
He would be mentored by world champion at the time, Rob Cross, and supported by Target Darts, Nevada Management and SAP before the biggest match of his career.
Two-time youth champion, Justin van Tergouw, hit a 170 checkout a year before Bennett’s appearance, but the Lincolnshire youngster produced an even more extraordinary showing. He averaged 86.65 and pinned a 121 checkout to clinch the prestigious World Youth Championship honour at the tender age of 13, becoming the youngest player to do so in the tournament’s five-year history.
A cheque for £5,000 was handed to Bennett who threw quick-fire brilliance on the historic Lakeside stage and was a deserved 3-0 winner over Scotland’s Nathan Girvan, before producing some wild celebrations to say at the least.
The Lincoln-based thrower would then, months later, experience huge crowds and streaming cameras watching upon him. The Tower of London would host a unique, one-off struggle between himself and the retired 16-time world champion, Phil Taylor.
Bennett led 5-4 against ‘The Power’, but failed to get over the line, eventually losing out 10-7. The exciting affair was streamed live across the world with thousands tuning in, and by this point, the whole darting world had heard of 13-year-old Leighton – is destined for bigger things.
Months after his loss to ‘The Power’, Bennett would meet the greatest of all time once again. This time, he would reign victorious. He would defeat Taylor at an SAP exhibition in Frankfurt, before quite literally jumping for joy.
His success didn’t terminate. A well-documented first competitive nine-darter was pinned at the inaugural Darts Planet TV Tournament in Norwich before his relentless, unprecedented prosperousness resumed on the BDO circuit.
German Open, Polish Open and Welsh Open semi-finals elevated Rob Cross’ protege up the BDO rolling table, and he now stands tall in a seeded position ahead of the BDO World Championship – which will take place at the Indigo at the O2 in January.
Another scenario was propounded by Barry Hearn a matter of weeks ago: should the BDO put forward their youth champion for the Grand Slam of Darts?
We witnessed 14-year-old Ben Mertens cause a mammoth upset at the Snooker Shoot-Out earlier this year as he defeated former world number three, James Wattana. Could Bennett follow suit? There is no doubting his quality, but the question lies in the BDO’s hands and if they see him an option.
Whether he is or isn’t selected, it will be a year that goes down in the record books for ‘Boom Boom’ Bennett. He’s set to become the youngest arrowsmith to grace the World Championship stage and could defend his world youth title also.
He’ll be off to Gibraltar this month for the JDC World Championship, and come January he could conceivably be a world champion in three different ways.
