Jimmy van Schie: From Forgotten Talent to 2025 WDF World Champion

When Jimmy van Schie lifted the WDF World Championship trophy at Lakeside, it felt like the final step in a road that began almost fifteen years ago.

The 6ft 9 Dutchman arrived at Frimley Green as the world No.1 and heavy favourite, and despite an edgy start, he delivered the redemption story he has spent the last two seasons building.

Trailing 3-0 in sets to 15-year-old WDF Boys World Champion Mitchell Lawrie, ‘The Dutch Sequoia’ showed exactly why he has become the dominant force in the WDF system, reeling off six straight sets to seal a 6-3 victory and complete a remarkable resurgence.

Jimmy van Schie holding the WDF World Championship trophy

A Dominant Two Years in the Making

This triumph was no surprise. It was the result of two career-defining seasons on the WDF circuit. Since the start of 2024, van Schie has claimed 11 ranked titles, firmly establishing himself as the standout player of the last two years.

His consistency carried him to world No.1 by the end of 2024, and he entered 2025 targeting the major honours that had previously eluded him.

Although he suffered a Last 32 exit at the WDF Dutch Open to eventual finalist David Fatum, van Schie responded in perfect fashion. Just a month before Lakeside, he captured his first major at the 2025 WDF World Masters in Budapest, dispatching Jeff Smith 7-2 in a dominant final that underlined his status as the man to beat.

Learning From Last Year’s Slip

His first experience on the famous Lakeside stage just twelve months earlier had been very different. Van Schie entered as one of the firm favourites but fell in the third round to fellow Dutchman Jarno Bottenberg 3-1 in sets.

It was a tough exit to take for a player whose form suggested a deep run was likely; however, it proved to be all a part of the learning curve rather than a deep-rooted setback.

The 2025 Campaign

Throughout the week, van Schie played like a man determined to put things right. He breezed into the quarter-finals, dropping just one set across commanding wins over Alex Williams and Paul Krohne, respectively.

In the last eight, he made his biggest statement yet, producing the tournament’s highest average of 97.36 in a 4-1 victory over reigning champion Shane McGuirk.

He followed that up with a comfortable 5-1 semi-final win against Sybren Gijbels, ending a fairytale run for the Belgian, who had only entered the event via the reserve list after several withdrawals.

The final, however, was far from straightforward. Fifteen-year-old prodigy Mitchell Lawrie, fearless and riding the momentum of his own remarkable campaign, stormed into a 3-0 lead in sets.

But van Schie showed immense grit and composure to claw his way back. After getting a set on the board with an 86 checkout on the bull, he turned to the crowd with a gesture that signalled defiance, and he was not going down without a fight.

The Lakeside crowd were firmly behind Lawrie and broke into chants of “There’s only one Mitchell Lawrie,” as the teenager soaked up the moment with a beaming smile.

Yet the 32-year-old from Breda refused to be overawed. His confidence grew, his pace lifted, and the heavy scoring power began to cause damage. He even came within the width of a wire of a nine-darter, missing double 18 as both he and Lawrie reacted with hands on heads, a classy moment from his young opponent in the heat of battle.

From there, van Schie was relentless. He began to look more settled, focused and was brimming with confidence. He reeled off six consecutive sets to complete the biggest win of his career and one of the most dramatic turnarounds the Lakeside stage has witnessed in years.

From Teenage Prodigy to Darts’ Missing Man

What makes van Schie’s world title story so compelling is how close he once came to slipping out of the sport entirely. As a youth player, he showed enormous promise and looked destined for a professional career.

As a teenager, he even appeared in a PDC Players Championship event back in 2010, an impressive feat on its own, made all the more remarkable by the fact that it happened two months before Mitchell Lawrie, the boy he would later face in the Lakeside final, was even born.

He was also part of the Dutch boys' team that won gold at the 2011 WDF Europe Youth Cup, lining up alongside Jeffrey de Zwaan, Mike Zuydwijk and Jimmy Hendriks. All three of those teammates would go on to earn PDC Tour Cards and carve out professional careers with varying degrees of success.

Van Schie, though, drifted away. While his compatriots pushed forward, he faded into the background, spending years away from the competitive circuit. For a long time, it seemed his early promise would become just another story of a talented youngster who drifted out of the game before ever truly making his mark.

A Return Built on Patience and Hard Work

What followed would become one of the most impressive career rebuilds in recent darts history.

After almost a decade away from the competitive scene, van Schie returned in 2021. He entered the European Q-School that year without success, but refused to let that be the endpoint. Instead, he committed himself to the PDC Challenge Tour and the WDF circuit, slowly sharpening his game with every passing event.

His steady progression began to show real results in 2024. He finished 10th on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit while simultaneously gathering momentum in WDF events, collecting titles and restoring his confidence.

A significant part of his resurgence came through the Modus Super Series. Competing weekly against some of the best players in the world without a tour card became a crucial barometer of his improvement. He won multiple weekly titles, built a loyal fanbase, and proved repeatedly that his ceiling was far higher than many had assumed.

In August 2024, he captured a PDC Challenge Tour title, and that success earned him several call-ups to the main PDC Pro Tour. In one of those opportunities, he reached the quarter-finals of Players Championship 22 earlier this year, narrowly losing to Danny Noppert. It was a run that showed he wasn’t just a dominant force in the WDF; he could mix it with the PDC professionals, too.

What Comes Next?

With a WDF World Championship and a World Masters title already in 2025, the natural next step for the world No.1 is the elusive PDC Tour Card.

His performances over the last two seasons, both in WDF events and PDC appearances, suggest he is more than capable of making the transition. Should he enter Q-School in January, he would instantly be among the favourites to secure a Tour Card.

Even if he does not earn it immediately, van Schie has all the tools to make an impact on the main circuit through more call-ups or by building further momentum on the PDC Challenge Tour should he choose to focus on that path alongside his WDF commitments.

Final Thoughts

For van Schie, this Lakeside triumph is the culmination of a comeback few ever expected, a reminder that talent can return stronger than ever when applied correctly.

From teenage prodigy to forgotten name, and now WDF World Champion and World Masters winner, his journey reads as one of the most compelling stories in modern darts.

If this resurgence proves anything, it’s that Jimmy van Schie is far from finished; his career reborn may only just be beginning.