Former Lakeside Champion Steve Beaton made a fine start to his PDC return on day one of Q School 2026. The Bronzed Adonis, still chiselled, still unflustered, still very much alive in the fight, after reaching the day’s final match up before being edged out by another former WDF World champion.
32 players, including Shane McGuirk, Jamie Hughes and Jimmy Van Schie secured their places through to the Final Stage of their respective Qualifying Schools on Monday, after coming through Day One of Stage One, as the PDC’s Annual Qualifying School began in Milton Keynes and Kalkar, Germany.
The PDC’s Annual Qualifying School is split into two stages, with the opening stage taking place from January 5-7 and sees over 800 players compete across two separate fields and attempt to qualify for the Final Stage, where Tour Cards will be on offer from January 8-11 as players get the opportunity to join the PDC circuit for the next two years.
UK Q School
2024 WDF World Champion Shane McGuirk was amongst the first 16 automatic qualifiers through to the Final Stage of UK Q School, as the Irishman recorded victories on the day against Michael Finch, Mike Warburton, Kevin McDine, Justin Bradshaw and Steve Beaton to take a step closer to securing a two-year Tour Card for the first time in his career.
Jamie Hughes, a former European Tour Event Winner and a PDC Tour Card Holder between 2019-2024, took a step closer to securing his return to the professional circuit, as ‘Yozza’ recorded victories on the day against Thomas Gater, Travis Baur, Nick Cocks and Paul Lewis.
Elsewhere, the further automatic qualifiers included Former World Youth Champion Arron Monk, Former PDC Tour Card Holder Simon Stevenson as well as the likes of Tom Sykes, Derek Coulsen and Englishman Jamie Chaplin, who whitewashed ‘The Highlander’ John Henderson in his final match of the day.
European Q School
The newly crowned WDF World Champion Jimmy Van Schie was amongst the first 16 automatic qualifiers through to the Final Stage of European Q School, as the Dutchman recorded victories against Jessy Guyot, Barna Krekacs, Jozsef Szlanyina, Lennert Faes and Kris Mievis, with the 32-year-old looking to join the PDC circuit for the first time in his career.
Arno Merk, who reached the Last 32 of the 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship, was also another automatic qualifier that made it through to the Final Stage, as the German recorded victories against Claudio Dolcetti, Jaimy Van de Weerd, Raoul Hendriks, David Jeske and Michael Hurtz.
Elsewhere, the further automatic qualifiers included Former Players Championship Event Winner Danny Jansen, a trio of Former Tour Card Holders in Daniel Klose, Paul Krohne and Pascal Rupprecht as well as the likes of Romeo Grbavac, Teemu Harju and Benjamin Pratnemer, who are all searching for a two-year Tour Card for the first time.
Should players from both Qualifying Schools not progress through to the Final Stage automatically during the remaining two days of Stage One, spots will be given out via separate Order of Merits, by which players can build up points from winning games.
47 spots are available via the UK Order of Merit, whereas there are 53 spots available via the European Order of Merit. This will then create a 128-player field across both Qualifying School’s, heading into the opening day of the Final Stage, which begins on Thursday 8 January.
2026 PDC Qualifying School continues on Tuesday, in the UK and in Europe, with a further 32 players progressing through to the Final Stage, with play commencing in Europe at 12:00 CET and in the UK at 12:00 GMT. All live scores and results can be viewed at tv.dartconnect.com.
2026 UK Qualifying School
Monday 5th January
Stage One (Day One)
Last 32
Tommy Lishman 5-3 James Evans-Bradford
Martin Grearson 5-2 Lloyd Walker
Arron Monk 5-2 Daniel Ayres
Jamie Chaplin 5-0 John Henderson
Robbie Martin 5-0 Keelan Kay
Derek Coulsen 5-4 Killian McCormack
Shaun Fox 5-3 Joe Croft
Simon Stevenson 5-0 Damien Grimes
Tom Lonsdale 5-3 Jake Eichen
Shane McGuirk 5-4 Steve Beaton
Danny Goddard 5-1 Charlie Large
Tom Sykes 5-2 Joseph Heywood
Lewis Pride 5-1 Jamie Tilley
Jamie Hughes 5-2 Paul Lewis
James Welding 5-1 Jamie Kelling
Llew Bevan 5-2 James Howard Hughes
2026 European Qualifying School
Stage One (Day One)
Last 32
Patrick Maat 5-3 Michael De Meyer
Benjamin Pratnemer 5-4 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Jimmy Van Schie 5-1 Kris Mievis
Danny Blom 5-1 Luitsen Elzinga
Stefan Dees 5-2 Jarno Bottenberg
Arno Merk 5-3 Michael Hurtz
Pascal Rupprecht 5-0 Mitja Gustorf
Danny Jansen 5-1 Tomislav Rosandic
Florian Preis 5-0 Jiri Brejcha
Romeo Grbavac 5-2 Gilbert Van der Meijden
Simon Teysen 5-4 Brian Raman
Marvin Kraft 5-4 Sietse Lap
Filip Bereza 5-0 Michael Van de Ven
Daniel Klose 5-1 Jose Justicia
Teemu Harju 5-4 Jeffrey Keen
Paul Krohne 5-2 Dennis Van Bergen
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
