Straight out of the gate in 2025, Stephen Bunting started the 12 months in fashion by securing the Bahrain Darts Masters title with a formidable 8-4 victory towards Gerwyn Value.
Bunting’s first World Sequence win comes after the Ally Pally crowd appeared to fall in love with ‘The ‘Bullet’ over again throughout the festive interval, together with his social media presence and iconic walk-on making him the Folks’s Champion on the ‘Folks’s Palace’.
Earlier this month, it was introduced that Bunting would return to the Premier League in 2025 – dwell on Sky Sports activities – and be part of the likes of Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen throughout the 17 venues all through the competitors.
1000’s of followers throughout the UK and Europe will probably be bellowing out Bunting’s David Guetta walk-on monitor ‘Titanium’ for the following few months, with the world no 5’s loyal followers hoping to be going ‘Bunting psychological’ all the best way to the play-offs at The O2 in Could.
“He’s a gentleman, he’s everything you want in a darts player,” Sky Sports activities Darts presenter Michael Bridge remarked. “He has an engaging nature”.
However the place did all of it begin within the PDC for the ‘The Bullet’?
Stephen Bunting’s stats since December fifteenth 2023
Bunting’s swap to the PDC
Bunting roars again in his BDO days.
Simply over a decade in the past, in late January 2014, then-current BDO world champion Bunting switched allegiances and agreed to take part within the PDC after receiving a Tour Card. Since then, it has been a wild trip for the St Helens man.
Later that 12 months Bunting started life within the PDC with a bang on the 2015 World Darts Championship, with emphatic victories towards Robert Marijanović, James Wade and Michael Smith, earlier than in the end succumbing to a slender defeat to darting legend Raymond van Barneveld.
Barney praises an emotional Bunting after epic 2015 quarter-final.
After their gruelling battle, which ended 5-4, the Dutchman said Bunting was ‘the most effective of the perfect’ in entrance of an upstanding Ally Pally crowd. This now iconic speech highlighted that Bunting had cemented himself within the PDC by gaining respect from a darting icon.
Maybe, this was an indication that there was extra within the tank for Bunting.
The subsequent decade of PDC occasions had some ups and downs, together with a disappointing first-round exit towards Darren Webster in 2017 after Bunting unbelievably missed seven match darts.
Nonetheless, a semi-final run in 2021 and an unlucky 5-3 defeat by the hands of eventual winner Michael Smith in 2023 have been notable instances the place eyes have been on Bunting once more on the World stage.
Stephen Bunting and Luke Littler have already had a number of battles in 2025.
How the darts world has gone ‘Bunting psychological’
It was maybe December 2024, in the beginning of the 2025 World Darts Championship, the place Bunting started to shine brightest since becoming a member of the PDC over a decade in the past.
On his option to the semi-final, Bunting put Luke Woodhouse to the sword in a 4-0 rout and cruised previous two-time world champion Peter Wright to arrange a conflict towards teenage sensation Luke Littler, the place Bunting would in the end bow out of the event.
Stephen Bunting walks out to play Michael van Gerwen again in 2023.
“Obviously, in that semi-final, he played Luke Littler and it’s genuinely one of the first times where I was unsure which person this crowd is going to support more,” Sky Sports activities digital journalist Megan Wellens revealed.
“He has absolutely learned how to get the crowd in the palm of his hand, because you can even see him following his little routine that he does, where he knows exactly what he’s doing at each moment”.
Alongside Bunting himself, darts followers have turn into accustomed to seeing Tobias – Bunting’s eldest son – cheering him on from the side-lines. This apparent household bond showcases the down-to-earth relatability that has helped The Bullet appeal his approach into the hearts of many darts followers.
“He represents the normal working class and I think he is the epitome of that. But he’s so open and lovely with fans,” Wellens added.
Michael Bridge echoed this sentiment.
“You can tell he’s a nice person. He’s also a very good player,” he emphatically exclaimed.
So, with the start of the 2025 Premier League simply across the nook, we’ll quickly discover out if the Bunting practice will proceed full steam forward and attain much more dizzying heights.
Sky Sports activities will as soon as once more be residence of the Premier League in 2025, with each evening solely dwell together with the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and extra! Not received Sky? Get Sky Sports activities or stream with no contract on NOW.
