Rick Hofstra
Encyclopedia
Rick Hofstra is a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...

 player.

Hofstra reached the quarter finals of the 2001 Belgium Open and the 2002 Swiss Open before making his major debut in the 2003 International Darts League
International Darts League
The Topic International Darts League was a darts tournament held at the Triavium in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Raymond van Barneveld dominated the tournament, held in his home country, winning it on three of the five occasions it was held...

, where he beat Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

's Bob Taylor
Bob Taylor (darts player)
Bob Taylor is a Scottish darts player who played in the British Darts Organisation.Taylor made eleven appearances in the BDO World Darts Championship, losing in the first round in seven of his first eight showings with his one win coming in 1994 against American Tony Payne before losing in the...

 in his opening group game before losing to Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...

. Hofstra then beat Co Stompé
Co Stompé
Jacobus Wilhelm "Co" Stompé , is a Dutch professional darts player who currently plays in the Professional Darts Corporation. Stompé is nicknamed The Matchstick because of his almost bald head and very thin appearance making him look like a matchstick...

 to qualify for the second group stage where he lost all three group games to Andy Fordham
Andy Fordham
Andy "The Viking" Fordham is an English darts player. He won the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship, beating Mervyn King in the final...

, Tony David
Tony David
Tony David is a darts player and is the only Australian player to have been a senior singles world champion. David won the 2002 Embassy World Championship. He plays under the nickname The Deadly Boomerang.-Career:David started playing darts at the age of 25 and progressed into the Queensland State...

 and Jarkko Komula
Jarkko Komula
Jarkko Komula is a Finnish darts player who plays for the Professional Darts Corporation and formerly played in British Darts Organisation events. He is nicknamed Smiley because ironically he rarely smiles.-BDO:...

. He then lost in the first round of the 2003 World Darts Trophy
World Darts Trophy
The World Darts Trophy was a darts tournament held each September at De Vechtsebanen in Utrecht, Netherlands between 2002 and 2007. The tournament has a playing format comparable with the two World Championships, the BDO World Darts Championship and the PDC World Darts Championship...

, losing to Tony West
Tony West
Anthony Shaun West is an English professional darts player who competes in British Darts Organisation tournaments.-Wins:...

 and then lost in the first round of the 2003 Winmau World Masters
Winmau World Masters
The Winmau World Masters is one of the longest running and most prestigious professional darts tournaments, which began in 1974 - even before the current World Professional Championship...

 to Martin Adams
Martin Adams
Martin Adams is an English international darts player. Nicknamed Wolfie or Mr BDO, he is BDO world ranked number one, three-time and reigning BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion...

.

Hofstra qualified for the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship, losing 3-1 to Mervyn King in controversial circumstanes. With the match tied at one set all, King complained that the oche was not the correct length. With the players off the stage, officials checked the length and the match resumed with King taking the next two sets to win 3-1. After first round exits in the 2004 International Darts League and the World Darts Trophy, Hofstra reached the quarter finals of the 2004 World Masters, beating Paul Hanvidge
Paul Hanvidge
Paul Albert Hanvidge is a Scottish darts player who lives in Barrhead, Glasgow. His best achievement is twice reaching the quarter finals of the Lakeside World Championship.-Darts career:...

 and then upsetting van Barneveld before losing to David.

Hofstra returned to the Lakeside for the 2005 BDO World Darts Championship
2005 BDO World Darts Championship
-Women:Women's bracket:-External links:* *...

, this time taking one of the automatic places meaning he avoided having to qualify. He was beaten in the first round by 4th seed West 3-2. Since then however, Hofstra has not done well in the circuit with only a semi final place in the unranked Spring Cup in 2005 to his credit. In 2007, Hofstra began playing in PDC events, reaching the last 32 of the second PDPA Players Championship Holland event. He currently plays in the Nederlandse Darts Bond, an affiliation of the BDO and won the Open Zuid Netherland in 2008.

External links

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