Back in the day: ONE HIT WONDERS: Aden Kirk - The man who beat Phil Taylor and Peter Wright at the 2014 UK Open

Originally posted on Dartsnews.com | Last updated Aug 19, 2025 6:29 AM ET

In this column, we highlight "One Hit Wonders," players who achieved one remarkable feat but then disappeared from the big stage just as quickly. Today it is the turn of Aden Kirk, the Englishman who caused a big stunt at the 2014 UK Open by winning consecutively from Phil Taylor and Peter Wright.

Aden Kirk was born on March 3, 1992, in Nottingham, England. Kirk, nicknamed "Captain," joined the PDC in 2010. Yet it took until 2014 for him to make his presence felt. And how! He reached the last 64 in two of the six qualifying tournaments for the UK Open, allowing him to enter the first round of the main table.

Stunt victories against Phil Taylor and Peter Wright

Kirk successively defeated Conan Whitehead 5-4 and Gerwyn Price 5-2 to face living legend and defending champion Phil Taylor in the third round. But what no one thought possible happened anyway, Kirk won 9-7 over Taylor in his first ever TV match.

As a reward, he faced Peter Wright, a losing finalist at the World Darts Championship a few months earlier, in the last 32. Kirk soon found himself trailing 5-3, but helped by two 100+ finishes, among other things, he turned the situation around. Kirk won as many as six legs in a row and prevailed 9-5.

At the last 32, a duel with Brendan Dolan awaited. For a long time it remained particularly exciting, but at 7-7, Dolan won two legs in a row to eventually prevail 9-7. For his performance, Kirk received a check worth 5,000 pounds, by far the highest amount he had ever captured.

Success on Development Tour

Later that year, Kirk reached the final of the twelfth Challenge Tour tournament of the year. In it, he eventually lost 5-4 to Brett Claydon. A year later, Kirk won his first PDC tournament. In the final of the third Development Tour tournament, he defeated Benito van de Pas 4-1. Later that year, although he did not have a PDC Tour Card, he was also allowed to participate in several Players Championships. For example, he reached the last sixteen at the fifteenth Players Championship of the year. After wins against successively William O'Connor, Justin Pipe and Ronny Huybrechts, he lost 6-1 to Peter Wright.

Kirk won his second Development Tour title in 2016 thanks to a win against Keegan Brown in the 11th tournament of the year. He finished third in the final Development Tour standings that year, capturing a PDC Tour Card for the next two years as the number one ranked player, Dean Reynolds, chose to stay with the BDO.

In the first round of the 2019 World Darts Championship, Kirk lost 3-0 to Gabriel Clemens, it is still his only appearance at a World Championship. Kirk also lost his PDC Tour Card again and has since been mostly active on the Challenge Tour, where he managed to win another tournament last year.

At now 33 years old, Kirk is still quite young and hasn't given up on his dream of eventually becoming more than a "One Hit Wonder" after all.