A PDC Tour newcomer Richard Veenstra, who once lost to a Scotland international footballer, has vowed not to give up his swish day job.
The 41-year-old secured his place on the Tour after coming through the recent Q-School. As a result, he could take on fellow Dutchmen and legends of darts, Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld.
Veenstra, a former BDO World Championship semi-finalist, is best known to many darts fans for losing to former Sunderland and Rangers striker Kevin Kyle at a tournament.
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Kyle entered the 2016 BDO Scottish Masters, surprisingly defeating the ninth seed Veenstra, a talented footballer himself in his younger days before he suffered a serious knee injury in his mid-20s.
Veenstra, a former Dutch Open winner, has combined his darting career with his job in the purchasing department of a luxury aircraft manufacturing company. And despite the extensive travelling that comes with playing on the PDC Pro Tour, he has no intention of handing in his notice, at least until he can secure a place in the top 32.
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Asked if he would be able to make a living from darts, Veenstra told AD.nl: “At the moment, not yet. For that you have to get to the top 32 of the PDC anyway, then it really starts to be fun. But I have to get there first. My goal is to get to the top 64 within two years.”
He added: “I'm having a super good time at work. It is also easy to combine because I get the space for darts. For the time being, I want to keep doing it that way, you do have a bit of structure.
“But I do have to train a lot. I now have that Tour Card for the PDC for two years, so that will be a lot of work, but we'll see how it goes.”
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