# Leonard Gates

Leonard Gates (born November 26, 1970) is an American professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is 2023 WSDT Champion of Champions, 2023 World Seniors Darts Masters winner and the former PDC North American champion. He is also a former baseball player, playing for Abilene Prairie Dogs, Massachusetts Mad Dogs, Catskill Cougars and Nashua Pride.

## Career

Gates started to play in WDF in 2007, winning numerous American darts tournaments, including exhibition ones. His first appearance in major BDO tournament was in 2017 World Masters, where he lost in the last 272 to Paul Coughlin.
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.
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. 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, 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.
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, then losing to James Wade 4–6 in the next one.
In 2023, Gates and Jules van Dongen represented the United States on the World Cup of Darts, but they lost in the group stage.
In 2024, Gates qualified for his first PDC major of 2024, qualifying for the UK Open. 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.
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.

## 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)

### WSDT

* 2023: Semi-finals (lost to Richie Howson 1–3)
* 2024: First round (lost to Colin McGarry 1–3)

## Performance timeline

| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| PDC Ranked televised events ||||
| PDC World Championship | DNQ | 2R | DNQ |
| UK Open | DNP | 4R |
| Grand Slam of Darts | RR | DNQ | RR |
| PDC Non-ranked televised events ||||
| World Cup of Darts | DNP | RR | DNP |
| WDF Ranked televised events ||||
| WDF World Championship | 2R | 3R | DNP |
| WSDT Televised events ||||
| World Seniors Darts Championship | DNP | SF | 1R |
| World Seniors Champion of Champions | NH | W | QF |
| World Seniors Darts Masters | DNP | W | DNP |
| World Seniors Darts Matchplay | DNP | W | F |
| Career statistics ||||
| Year-end ranking | 106 | - | 130 |

## Nine-dart finishes

Leonard Gates televised 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 | – |