# Andy Boulton

Andrew Boulton (born 25 February 1973) is a Scottish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "X-Factor", he is a three-time qualifier for both the BDO World Darts Championship and the PDC World Darts Championship. He has won 4 titles on the PDC Challenge Tour.

## Career
### BDO, UK Open appearances

Boulton made his PDC major debut at the 2005 UK Open, starting in the preliminary round and reaching the third round. He was eliminated after a 5–1 loss to Colin Osborne. He made his BDO World Championship debut at the 2008 edition, eliminating 10th seed Martin Atkins in the first round. He lost to Ted Hankey in the second round. In March 2008, he won the North Lanarkshire Open by beating Robert Thornton 4–1 in the final.
Boulton qualified for the 2009 UK Open as a pub qualifier. He beat Darren Latham 6–5 in the first round but lost 6–4 to Wes Newton in the second round. Later that year, he claimed the Granite City Open title in Aberdeen by beating former world champion John Walton in the final.
Boulton suffered first-round defeats at the 2011 and 2012 BDO World Championships, losing to Robbie Green and Scott Waites. However, in the PDC, Boulton reached the last 16 of the 2011 UK Open.

### PDC

After years of mainly playing in the BDO, Boulton officially crossed over to the PDC in 2015, winning a PDC Tour Card at Q-School by topping the Q-School Order of Merit. He qualified for the 2015 Grand Slam of Darts, getting through the PDC Qualifier that was held to fill the last eight spots. He was drawn into Group E with Gary Anderson, Raymond van Barneveld and Larry Butler, but failed to win a match. Boulton qualified for the 2016 PDC World Championship through the PDPA Qualifier, which saw him enter the preliminary round of the tournament. After beating Per Laursen to progress to the first round, he lost 3–0 to defending champion Gary Anderson.
He reached his first PDC European Tour semi-final at the 2018 European Darts Matchplay – defeating Cristo Reyes, Steve Beaton, Jelle Klaasen and Gerwyn Price en route. In his semi-final match, he lost 7–3 to William O'Connor.
After losing his Tour Card at the end of 2017, Boulton regained it at 2019 Q-School. He returned to Alexandra Palace at the 2020 PDC World Championship, but was defeated 3–2 by debutant Danny Baggish in the first round.
At the 2021 PDC World Championship, Boulton was drawn to play three-time women's world finalist Deta Hedman in the first round. He defeated Hedman 3–2, reaching the second round of the competition for the first time. He was eliminated after losing to Stephen Bunting. The same year, Boulton switched his allegiance from England to Scotland on residency grounds after previously living in England for many years.
After losing his Tour Card again at the end of 2022, Boulton saw success on the PDC Challenge Tour. He won two titles on the 2023 Challenge Tour at event 3 and event 23. On 16 March 2024, Boulton claimed two Challenge Tour titles on the same day, winning events 8 and 9.
Boulton won his Tour Card back at 2025 Q-School after finishing eighth on the UK Q-School Order of Merit.

## World Championship performances
### BDO

* 2008: Second round (lost to Ted Hankey 1–4)
* 2011: First round (lost to Robbie Green 0–3)
* 2012: First round (lost to Scott Waites 1–3)

### PDC

* 2016: First round (lost to Gary Anderson 0–3)
* 2020: First round (lost to Danny Baggish 2–3)
* 2021: Second round (lost to Stephen Bunting 2–3)

## Performance timeline

| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| PDC Ranked televised events ||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | BDO | 1R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 1R | 2R | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ |
| PDC World Masters | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | BDO | BDO | BDO | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Prel. |
| UK Open | 3R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 2R | DNQ | 5R | DNQ | 3R | 3R | 2R | 3R | DNQ | DNQ | 3R | 5R | 4R | 4R | DNQ | 1R | 2R |
| Grand Slam of Darts | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | RR | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |
| Players Championship Finals | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 1R | DNQ | 1R | 2R | 2R | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |
| BDO Ranked televised events ||||||||||||||||||||||
| BDO World Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | 2R | DNQ | DNQ | 1R | 1R | DNQ | DNQ | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | NH | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | PDC |
| Winmau World Masters | DNP | 5R | DNP | 3R | 4R | 4R | 4R | 5R | 4R | 5R | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | NH | NH | DNP | NH | DNP | PDC |
| Finder Darts Masters | DNP | NH | DNP | RR | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| Career statistics ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking (PDC) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 72 | 58 | 62 | 104 | 81 | 51 | 56 | 82 | 107 | 112 | |
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 2015 | GDC 2R | GDT DNQ | GDM 1R | DDM DNQ | IDO DNQ | EDO DNQ | EDT DNQ | EDM DNQ | EDG DNQ |
| 2016 | DDM DNQ | GDM DNQ | GDT DNQ | EDM DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDO 2R | IDO 1R | EDT 1R | EDG 1R | GDC 1R |
| 2017 | GDC DNQ | GDM DNQ | GDO DNQ | EDG DNQ | GDT DNQ | EDM DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDO DNQ | DDM DNQ | GDG 1R | IDO DNQ | EDT QF |
| 2018 | EDO DNQ | GDG DNQ | GDO DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDG 1R | DDM DNQ | GDT 3R | DDO DNQ | EDM SF | GDC 1R | DDC 1R | IDO DNQ | EDT DNQ |
| 2019 | EDO DNQ | GDC 2R | GDG DNQ | GDO DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDG DNQ | DDM 1R | DDO DNQ | CDO DNQ | ADC DNQ | EDM DNQ | IDO 1R | GDT DNQ |
| 2020 | BDC 1R | GDC DNQ | EDG DNQ | IDO DNQ |
| 2021 | HDT DNQ | GDT DNQ |
| 2022 | IDO 1R | GDC DNQ | GDG DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDO DNQ | CDO DNQ | EDG DNQ | DDC 1R | EDM DNQ | HDT DNQ | GDO DNQ | BDO DNQ | GDT DNQ |
| 2023 | BSD DNQ | EDO 2R | IDO 1R | GDG 1R | ADO DNQ | DDC 1R | BDO DNP | CDO DNQ | EDG DNP | EDM DNP | GDO DNP | HDT 1R | GDC DNQ |
Performance Table Legend :
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | NYF | Not yet founded |