In the electrifying arena of professional darts, where the sharp crack of darts hitting the board echoes like thunder and the crowd’s roar can turn the tide of a leg, Stephen Bunting has emerged as a force of nature. The 40-year-old Englishman, known to fans as “The Bullet” for his lightning-quick releases and unerring precision, has been on a tear throughout 2025, transforming from a perennial contender into a finals magnet. His latest triumph at the Swiss Darts Trophy—a commanding 8-3 demolition of Luke Woodhouse in the Basel final—did more than just pad his trophy cabinet. It catapulted him into a milestone that underscores the depth of his resurgence: ten finals appearances in a single year, a feat matched only by the indomitable Welshman Gerwyn Price. In a season defined by the meteoric rises of young guns like Luke Littler and the steady grind of veterans, Bunting’s consistency stands as a testament to experience triumphing over youth, hunger over hype.
Picture the scene in St. Jakobshalle last weekend: the air thick with anticipation under the Swiss lights, Bunting striding to the oche with that trademark swagger, his walk-on track—a pulsating remix of classic rock—pumping through the speakers. Woodhouse, the unheralded qualifier who’d already stunned a few big names en route, put up a valiant fight early on, but Bunting’s arsenal proved too vast. A blistering 112 average in the opener set the tone, followed by a clinic in checkouts that included a ruthless 121 finish to break throw midway through. By the eighth leg, it was over; The Bullet sealed it on double 16, his fist pumping the air as confetti rained down. “This one feels extra special,” Bunting beamed post-match, his Scouse accent laced with raw emotion. “I’ve been knocking on the door for so long, and to finally kick it down here in Switzerland—it’s massive for the confidence going into the big ones.” That victory, his second on the European Tour this year after a dominant run at the International Darts Open back in March, netted him £30,000 and rocketed him to fourth on the world rankings, just behind the untouchable trio of Littler, Humphries, and Aspinall.
But the Swiss Darts Trophy was merely the exclamation point on a narrative that’s been building all season. Bunting’s 2025 odyssey kicked off with fireworks in the Middle Eastern desert at the Bahrain Darts Masters, the curtain-raiser to the World Series calendar. Seeded high after a solid end to 2024, he carved through the draw like a hot knife: a whitewash of Chris Dobey (6-0) in the quarters, where his 111.33 average left commentators speechless, followed by a gritty 7-6 semi-final escape against world No. 1 Luke Humphries. The decider against Price was a heavyweight clash—two warriors trading 180s like punches in a ring. Price, fresh off dismantling Littler 6-2 with a scorching 115 average and seven maximums, entered as the favorite. Yet Bunting, drawing on reserves of mental steel, pulled ahead 8-4, clinching on double eight amid a chorus of cheers. “It is even more satisfying because what an absolutely lovely trophy this is,” Bunting said, hoisting the gleaming prize with tears welling. That win marked his first World Series title, a long-overdue breakthrough that silenced doubters who’d pegged him as a “nearly man” after years of semi-final heartbreaks.
The momentum snowballed from there. In June, under the midnight sun of Copenhagen at the Nordic Darts Masters, Bunting avenged an earlier defeat to Rob Cross—the man who’d edged him 8-5 in the Dutch Darts Masters final months prior. Dispatching Jonny Clayton 6-3 in the quarters and Nathan Aspinall 7-5 in the semis, where he converted an 11th match dart after blowing a 6-1 lead, Bunting stormed to an 8-4 final victory over Cross. Five legs on the spin, capped by a 104 checkout, turned the tide; Cross, runner-up for the second straight year, graciously conceded, “Credit to Stephen, he was absolutely brilliant and I just didn’t have it in the end.” That triumph made Bunting the first player since Phil Taylor to bag multiple World Series titles in a calendar year, adding another £30,000 to his coffers and padding his lead on the dedicated World Series Order of Merit—46 points clear of Price by August.
Nor has Bunting’s fire dimmed on the domestic front. The Players Championship series, those gritty floor tournaments that test a player’s mettle in unflashy leisure centers across the UK, have been his playground. He’s racked up three finals there alone, including a nail-biter against Humphries in July where he averaged 102 in the decider. The European Tour has yielded two more deep runs, blending with World Series hauls to hit that magic double-digit mark. Only Price, the “Iceman” whose ice-cool demeanor hides a fiery competitive streak, has matched him—ten finals, including a hat-trick of European Tour wins and a semi at the World Matchplay. “Dat laat zien hoe breed de top in het huidige darts is,” one analyst noted, highlighting the thrilling parity at the summit. With nine for the likes of Humphries and Aspinall, and Littler— the teenage phenom—lurking on seven despite his world title defense, the race for season-end supremacy is anyone’s game.
What makes Bunting’s milestone so compelling is the man behind the moniker. At 40, he’s no overnight sensation; darts has been his lifeblood since boyhood in St. Helens, where he honed his craft amid factory hums and rainy evenings. A 2014 BDO World Masters crown kicked off his pro career, but the PDC switch in 2018 brought turbulence—relegations, form slumps, and the sting of watching peers like Price soar to world No. 1. Personal battles, too: the 2023 suicide of a close friend rocked him, yet he channeled grief into grit, quitting alcohol and rededicating to family—wife Shelley and their three kids—who travel the circuit like a nomadic cheer squad. “To be in the same company as the likes of Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson would be amazing,” Bunting reflected ahead of August’s New Zealand Darts Masters, where he eyed a historic hat-trick of World Series wins in a year—a feat even Michael van Gerwen hasn’t achieved. Though he fell short there, losing in semis to Price in a 7-5 thriller, the hunger endures.
As October unfolds, the World Grand Prix beckons from October 6-12 in Leicester—a double-in, double-out marathon that favors the tacticians. Bunting enters as a top seed, his ranking secured, but with majors still eluding him this year—no finals at the UK Open or Grand Slam yet—the pressure mounts. A deep run could propel him past Price in the finals count, etching his name deeper into lore. In a sport bursting with narratives—from Littler’s prodigy glow to Humphries’ cool command—Bunting’s story is the slow-burn epic: proof that persistence pays, that the oche rewards those who reload after every miss. With ten finals locked in and the calendar flipping toward Ally Pally’s magic in December, The Bullet isn’t just hitting milestones—he’s reloading for the kill shot. The darts world, breathless, watches on.
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