GRAB YOUR SEAT

SIMON Whitlock was 15 when he knew he wanted to be a professional darts player. It just took him another 25 years to finally become one.

“My dad said ‘Don’t be silly, go get a job’,” the man they call ‘The Wizard’ recalled ahead of tonight’s inaugural International Pro Darts Showdown Series at the Gold Coast Turf Club.

“I started in a photo framing factory but I got sick of that and one day my dad said ‘Do you want to do some brickie labouring?’ because he was a brickie and so was my uncle.

“I could hardly push a wheelbarrow when I started but I got a lot stronger and fitter and then I turned to bricklaying two years later.

“That carried me through until my dad passed away and then I decided I didn’t really The International Pro Darts Showdown Series is on tonight and tomorrow night. For tickets, visit www.prodartsshowdownser ies.com.au

want to do bricklaying anymore. Even though I loved it, it just wasn’t the same without Dad.

“He never actually got to see me win a tournament. Then within the next 10 years I won over 300 and turned pro.”

Whitlock did more than turn pro. He became a sporting legend in a sport where Aussie legends are few and far between.

For a decade from 2000, he made a name for himself on the Australian darts circuit.

Then, at the 2010 World Championships in London, he stormed his way to the