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Cliff Lazarenko
Lazarenko in 1985
Personal information
Nickname	"Big Cliff"
Born	(1952-03-16) 16 March 1952 (age 71) Liss, Hampshire, England
Home town	Wellingborough, England
Darts information
Darts	20 gram Golden Unicorn
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"All Right Now" by Free
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1977–1993
PDC	1993–2007 (founding member)
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Third Place: 1981
World Masters	Third Place: 1978
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Final: 1999
World Matchplay	Semi Final: 1995
World Grand Prix	Last 32: 2001, 2002
UK Open	Last 16: 2003
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
British Matchplay British Open Denmark Open Flowers Dartsathlon WDF Europe Cup Pairs WDF World Cup Pairs	1979 1980, 1984 1981, 1983 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 1984 1981

Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952^[1]) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "Big Cliff" due to his height (193 cm / 6'4") and weight (over 127 kg at his peak), he is known for being a colourful character on and off the stage.^[2]

Biography

Lazarenko was born in Liss, Hampshire, growing up in Greatham, where his parents ran a garage.^[1] He honed his darts skills in his local pub, The Queen.^[1] He later moved to Wellingborough. Before becoming a professional darts player in 1975, he worked as a labourer.^[2]

Lazarenko first appeared in a televised match on the show Indoor League in the 1970s.^[1] He went on to win several singles and pairs titles.^[1] He won the British Open in 1980, winning it again later in the decade, and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship four times.^[1]^[2]^[3] In 1980, he lost out to Bobby George; the next year he gained revenge on George by beating him in the quarter-finals, eventually losing to world champion Eric Bristow. In 1985, he reached the semi-finals again, this time without losing a single set en route, winning the opening round against Singapore's Paul Lim (2–0), the second round against the Swede Stefan Lord (3–0), and the quarter-finals against Northern Irish player Fred McMullan (4–0), but was narrowly defeated in the semi-finals by fellow Englishman John Lowe 5–3. He reached the semis again in 1990, but once again fell short of the final, losing 5–0 to eventual winner Phil Taylor.

Big Cliff made a habit of winning the Dartsathlon (an event made up of having 15 darts at various doubles, trebles, Bullseyes, 25s, and 501 legs) in the early–mid 80s winning the event four times in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986. He also won the Autumn Gold Masters in 1984 and 1986, the British Matchplay in 1979, British Gold Cup in 1984, Jersey Open in 1982 and 1983, and the Danish Open in 1981 and 1983. He came to the fore, however, with his 1977 win in the Marlboro Masters.

Lazarenko was one of the sixteen players who defected from the BDO to form the PDC. Although he managed to maintain his popularity with the fans, he never managed to repeat his performances in the PDC World Darts Championship, with several first-round exits to his name, and only managing a quarter-final at best in 1999. In other PDC tournaments, however, Lazarenko showed great promise: he reached the semi-finals of the 1995 World Matchplay, beating Dennis Smith, Shayne Burgess, and Nigel Justice along the way, before losing to Dennis Priestley. He was also a Matchplay quarter-finalist in 2001.

In the mid-2000s, Lazarenko suffered from ill health, losing a lot of weight, and ceased competing in darts tournaments.^[1] However, in the 2007 UK Open Darts at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton, Lazarenko made a return to the big stage, and won two matches in one night, en route to the second round. He then won another game the next night, before falling in the third round. In 2008 it was announced that Lazarenko would compete in the BetFred League of Legends along with players including Bristow, Lowe, George, and Bob Anderson. Lazarenko reached the semi-finals of the tournament, losing to Keith Deller.

In popular culture

In the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London, a darts match between Rab Smith and Lazarenko is featured on TV in the flat of the character played by Jenny Agutter.

World Championship performances

BDO

1978: First round (lost to Hillyard Rossiter)
1979: First round (lost to Terry O'Dea)
1980: Semi-final (lost to Bobby George)
1981: Third place (beat Tony Brown, lost to Eric Bristow in semi-finals)
1982: Second round (lost to Nicky Virachkul)
1983: Quarter-final (lost to Jocky Wilson)
1984: First round (lost to Ceri Morgan)
1985: Semi-final (lost to John Lowe)
1986: First round (lost to Dave Lee)
1987: Quarter-final (lost to John Lowe)
1988: Second round (lost to Paul Reynolds)
1989: First round (lost to Wayne Weening)
1990: Semi-final (lost to Phil Taylor)
1991: Second round (lost to Dave Whitcombe)

PDC

1994: Group stage (lost both group games to Alan Warriner and Richie Gardner)
1995: Group stage (beat Graeme Stoddart but lost to Peter Evison)
1996: Group stage (lost both group games to Shayne Burgess and Phil Taylor)
1997: Group stage (lost both group games to Peter Evison and Steve Raw)
1999: Quarter-final (lost to Shayne Burgess)
2000: First round (lost to Dennis Smith)
2001: Second round (lost to Roland Scholten)
2002: First round (lost to Roland Scholten)
2003: First round (lost to John Part)
2004: Second round (lost to Steve Maish)

Career finals

BDO major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
World Matchplay (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score^{[N 1]}
Runner-up	1.	1984	MFI World Matchplay	John Lowe	3–5 (s)

^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline

Tournament	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
BDO World Championship	NYF	DNQ	1R	SF	SF	2R	QF	1R	SF	1R	QF	2R	1R	SF	2R	DNQ	DNQ	No longer a BDO Member
Winmau World Masters	1R	SF	2R	3R	QF	QF	2R	2R	3R	3R	QF	1R	4R	2R	Did not participate
British Professional	Not held				2R	QF	QF	QF	QF	2R	1R	1R	Not held
MFI World Matchplay	Not held							F	SF	QF	QF	1R	Not held
PDC World Championship	Not yet founded																	RR	RR	RR	RR	DNQ	QF	1R	2R	1R	1R	2R	Did not qualify
World Matchplay	Not yet founded																	1R	SF	2R	1R	1R	1R	DNQ	QF	2R	1R	Did not qualify
World Grand Prix	Not held																					Did not qualify			1R	1R	Did not qualify
UK Open	Not held																										5R	4R	5R	1R	3R

Performance Table Legend
DNP	Did not play at the event	DNQ	Did not qualify for the event	NYF	Not yet founded	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF	lost in the quarter-finals	SF	lost in the semi-finals	F	lost in the final	W	won the tournament