Angus darts ace Alan Soutar has been confirmed as 51st in the world after a stunning debut year as a professional.
Soots reached the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship after an epic run at the Alexandra Palace event.
He beat Diogo Portela, Mensur Suljovic and world number 7 Jose de Sousa before losing to English star Callan Rydz.
Soutar netted a £35,000 cheque and rose a staggering 26 places in the rankings.
Here Courier Sport looks back on Soots’ pro circuit debut and ask what does 2022 hold for the Dundee firefighter?
Alan Soutar: Dramatic debut
Soutar only gained his PDC card in February after a successful trip to Q School.
But what an impact he made after making the switch from 20 years on the BDO and WDF circuits.
Soots was the only player out of 128 to win his first ten opening round games in the Players Championship.
He took the scalps of Peter Wright, Nathan Aspinall, Dave Chisnall, Stephen Bunting and Adrian Lewis.
Soots also beat five-times world champion Raymond van Barneveld on his run to the last 16 of the UK Open.
With earnings of £67,000 on the PDC Order of Merit for 2021, he has already secured his place on the tour until at least 2023.
Best newcomer?
At 51st in the world, Soutar is the highest-placed new tour card holder.
His humble attitude and incredible work ethic saw him complete a 30-hour stint as a Dundee firefighter over the Ally Pally Christmas break.
Soutar’s Twitter account has gone from just over 2,000 followers to 11.5k in just two weeks.
▪️ Ally Pally debut @SkySportsDarts
▪️ Messages from Andy Robertson & John McGinn
▪️ The day job as a firefighter
▪️ @ArbroathFC's chances of reaching the PremiershipWe caught up with @soots180 at Gayfield Park today to discuss all that and more🎯🏴👇 pic.twitter.com/MTQQ9HfpBR
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 2, 2022
He has also impressed PDC bosses with his slick media-handling, including a live Christmas Day interview on Sky Sports News.
That is likely to put him in pole position for the Best Newcomer award in the coming weeks.
Scotland star Alan Soutar?
Sent me hamewards…….Tae think again 🏴💙🇱🇻 Superb Jackson Smith, just incredible mate. 🏴💙🇱🇻🎶 pic.twitter.com/6ct4y3c6Lb
— Alan Soutar (@soots180) December 31, 2021
Soots has never hidden his fiercely patriotism towards Scotland.
Capped 50 times at BDO/WDF level, he won the four-man 2013 World Cup team event.
He would love to replicate that at PDC level with Scotland the current World Cup of Darts holders.
Newly-crowned world champion Wright team up with John Henderson to beat Austria in the 2021 final.
But Hendo narrowly escaped losing his tour card as he plummeted to 63rd in the rankings and Soots could well team up with Wright in Frankfurt this June.
Ally Pally return and World Matchplay
Soutar will be aiming to build on his Ally Pally exploits.
And it’s highly likely Soutar will pick up enough ranking money to reach the World Darts Championship again this year.
Soots qualified comfortably for Ally Pally last year by finishing seventh out of 32 Pro Tour qualifiers.
He could also feature in the World Matchplay at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in July.
With six months of ranking money left before the Matchplay deadline, Soutar is just four places and £1,250 adrift of the top 16 cut-off.
