About John Walton (darts player)
John Michael Walton (born 10 November 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. He is best known for winning the 2001 BDO World Darts Championship. He adopted the nickname John Boy and used the song "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex as his walk-on theme. == BDO career == === 1993–2000: Early career === Walton picked up some small tournament victories in the early stages of his career, including the Websters 150 Championship in 1993 and the Highlands Open Championship in 1996 but didn't manage to qualify for the World Championship until 1999 when he lost 0–3 to Roland Scholten on his first round debut. He failed to qualify for the World Championship in 2000, but in the autumn of that year he won the prestigious Winmau World Masters. Despite that success, he was 50/1 with the bookmakers to win the World title in the New Year, and his Masters form possibly led to him being tipped by darts pundit Bobby George at the start of the BBC televised coverage as a possible winner. === 2001–05: World title === Walton opened his 2001 campaign with a 3–1 first round win over Ritchie Davies and averaged an excellent 100.62 during the match. He then beat Mervyn King 3–0 with another high average of 99.00. His quarter-final was a 5–0 whitewash over Marko Pusa, in which Walton won 14 consecutive legs. Walton then beat Wayne Mardle 5–3 in the semi-final and Ted Hankey 6–2 in the final to become World Champion.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.