Tony started playing darts at the age of 16, following in his father's footsteps by playing at Walton Comrades Club in Walton on Thames. Tony was club champion three times. Tony also played for Hersham Royal British Legion and started playing in the Surrey Super League in 1992 for Walton Comrades Club. From 1993-1999 Tony played county darts for Surrey and went on to play for Sussex during the 2006/7 season.

Although Tony had won local competitions it wasn't until 2007 that he decided to enter bigger events. His first big prize came when winning the Dorset Open in the same year from a field of 228 entries. The Chichester Open title soon followed as did the Crawley Open where he beat PDC players Martin Burchell and Lionel Sams.

Tony then entered the Grand Slam of Darts ITV Wildcard Qualifier in Wolverhampton where he made the last 32 from 230 entries, losing out to PDC ranked number 18, Dennis Ovens 5-2.  

Tony also won the Sussex Super League Champion of Champions title and he then decided to join the PDPA (backed by sponsor Masons Megamix) and enter the Qualifiers for the World Championships in Wolverhampton. Unfortunately Tony was beaten in the First Round against Hampshire's Robbie Newland 5-1.

Tony's first win on the PDC circuit came at the Blue Square UK Open North-East Regional Final in Gateshead in early 2008, beating Dave Honey 5-2. 

The first full year on the PDC circuit for Tony saw him qualify for the World Championships and the Blue Square UK Open. Along the way he beat top 20 players Dennis Ovens, Roland Scholten, Kevin Painter, Colin Osborne as well as the 2007 World Championship runner-up Kirk Shepherd.

Tony qualified for the World Championships with five victories at the Telford International Centre. These came against former teammate Aaron Turner, Tony Blundell, Martin Burchell, number one seed Mick McGowan and Jim Withers.

In the World Championships at Alexandra Palace, Tony made it through to the Second Round with a three sets to two victory against Andy 'The Pie Man' Smith. 'T-Man' put in a superb display against world number seven Andy 'The Hammer' Hamilton in the Second Round and with the score at 2-2 in sets and 1-1 in legs with Tony left on 60 Hamilton checked out on 170 to go in front for the first time in the match. Although Tony continued to fire in good scores Hamilton won the set and then went on to victory by taking the sixth set 3-1 that included a 12 dart final leg. In this match Tony averaged an impressive 90.01.

During 2008 Tony also retained the Crawley Open beating Jim Withers in the final. He also had a hat-trick of Sussex Grand Prix Singles wins and won the Easter Open and S & B Singles at the Crawley Labour Club, won a Three Bridges Open competition and helped Crawley become Sussex Super League champions.

Tony's highlights of 2009 have been a 6-4 win against World number two James Wade in Coventry, a 6-3 win against Gary Anderson in Austria and a 6-5 win against Michael van Gerwen in Dublin. These were all in Players Championship events. In local events Tony has won the Peter Norris Singles at the Victoria Club in Coulsdon, a Surrey Grand Prix Singles at New Haw as well as the June Singles and the S & B Singles for the second year running at the Crawley Labour Club.     
Tony Ayres
T-Man