A NEWCOMER to the McCoy's Premier League Darts in 2013, Wes Newton has established his status amongst the world's elite over the past two years by moving to within touching distance of his first major title.
A former accounts clerk from Fleetwood, Wes has now spent a decade on the professional circuit, although his career has taken a huge upturn since leaving his job to concentrate full-time on darts in the summer of 2009.
Having fallen out of the world's top 32 at the time, he won his first ranking title later in 2009 and was ranked inside the top eight within two years after emerging as one of the circuit's most consistent performers.
Wes also won through to his first major title in the summer of 2011 at the UK Open, where he was defeated by James Wade, and he was also the runner-up in the European Championship last September against Simon Whitlock.
Those losses, though, have only strengthened Wes' resolve to lay his hands on major honours, and he has been consistently amongst the challengers for the big titles in recent years - reaching 11 televised quarter-finals.
The most recent came at the World Championship, when Wade was again victorious at the end of December, and Wes was also a semi-finalist in October's World Grand Prix only weeks after his European Championship success.
He also wrote his name into the record books last summer with his first televised nine-dart finish - which came at the World Matchplay in front of his home crowd at the Winter Gardens.
Wes, whose brother Dale has also competed on the PDC circuit, has also hit perfect legs in Players Championships in Germany and Las Vegas in recent years.
He has also enjoyed success in Las Vegas by reaching his first two televised semi-finals at the Desert Classic event in 2005 and 2006 - but it's in the McCoy's Premier League Darts where he is hoping to hit the jackpot!