Simon Whitlock - the darting wizard who blew the roof off the Alexandra Palace in 2010 with his blockbusting high checkout finishes and devastating power scoring is a man on a mission.

After mostly plying his trade in his native Australia, Simon is now fully committed to playing the full PDC tour. Great news for dart fans - who will now get to see more of this highly talented and explosive player, but not so good news for opposition players - who will no doubt soon be wishing that this brilliant darting wizard would walk up the yellow brick all the way back to the land of Oz.

Winmau is delighted to announce the signing of one of the hottest names in world darts - Simon "The Wizard" Whitlock!

The 42 year old Australian (who is now based in the UK), capped a stunning week of darts by defeating the world's number 2, 3, and 4 seed on his way to the PDC World Championship Final on his first attempt, and joins Winmau on an exclusive 3-year contract.

"The sponsorship deal marks a great year for me", revealed Simon, "I'm really happy to join Winmau. I love their passion for darts and for providing the best equipment in the business. It's great to be able to switch between any set of darts and not get stuck with one match set, as all my Winmau darts are exactly the same."

Simon who recently switched over to the PDC, is one of the few players who has shot into the PDC's top 16 within a year of entering. He has already made his mark winning 3 Pro Tour events.

Winmau head of marketing, Simon Hall, said "I've watched Simon's darts for many years and have always been a big fan of his amazing finishing power and will to win. It's great that Simon has chose to work with us and we'll be doing all we can to help him win many more major titles in the future."

Mitchell's Dad started him in the game of darts aged 10, and by the age of 13 soon he’d soon racked up over 100 maximums.

A self-taught player Mitchell learned the game by throwing old brass darts for hours on end after school. “I’d sneak down into the garage when I was meant to be studying where we had a real old Nodor board and I’d hammer away playing 501 legs imagining I was in the Australian Singles Championship final.

I learned to hit treble twenties first from both sides of the oche before switching to hammer the 19’s, so instead of playing with computer games I’d be hitting the dartboard as much as I could”

Mitchell has just signed with Nodor and he plans to be a full time darts professional. I’m sure you’ll join us wishing him every success.