For many of the wide-eyed, road-weary dreamers who rolled into Milton Keynes clutching flights of fancy and well-thumbed dart cases, the credits have begun to roll on their 2026 PDC UK Q-School adventure. As Hollywood would say, that’s a wrap – or at least very nearly so. There is, as ever in this merciless proving ground, one final footnote. But we’ll come to that twist in due course.
Today was judgement day. The reckoning. The moment where hope either crystalised into confirmation or dissolved into calculator-fuelled anxiety. Sixteen players marched directly into the Final Stage, while the next forty-seven on the Order of Merit clambered aboard the last lifeboats, all reuniting when the circus reconvenes on Thursday.
For many, the morning alarm clock rang with a sense of inevitability. Enough points banked. Enough graft already done. Names either safely parked in the green or hovering nervously until the Darts Rankings page flickered into confirmation. Relief, not celebration, was the emotion of the hour.
Towering above the rest was John Henderson. The Highlander. A World Cup winner at 52 and still swinging like a man half that age. No rust. No sentimentality. Just cold, durable competence. Appetite intact. Tungsten still venomous. When prizes are eventually handed out, Henderson will not be a passenger.
Safely navigating the opening minefield alongside him was Scott Mitchell, a former Lakeside king who may be three years Henderson’s senior but shows no sign of handing in the crown. The fire still burns. The hands still obey. The threat remains very real.
But the day’s most cinematic subplot belonged to a name etched deep into darts folklore. Slipping through the trapdoor with millimetres to spare was John Part. Darth Maple himself. Three-time World Champion. Survivor by the thinnest of margins. Part edged English duo Lewis Gurney and Kevin McDine by just two legs, clinging onto the final qualifying spot like a man refusing to surrender his seat at history’s table. It could not have been tighter without snapping altogether. Canadian nerves. Canadian resolve. Canadian ice.
By the time the dust settled inside Arena MK, another sixty-three names had punched their tickets into the Final Stage. They now join the thirty-two who handled their business earlier in the week, before the exempt heavy artillery finally arrives to turn the difficulty dial all the way to eleven.
And yet… it isn’t quite curtains for everyone left behind.
In a subtle but seismic tweak to tradition, the 2026 Q-School format offers a last gasp of oxygen. Both finalists from each of the four Final Stage days automatically receive a PDC Tour Card. Which means those finishing immediately beneath John Part – six men who technically fell short today – are not done. Not yet.
Yes, the odds are slimmer. Yes, they’ve missed at least one day of action. But darts has never been a sport that respected probability tables. Among those granted this narrow backdoor stands another former Lakeside monarch – The Prince of Wales himself, Richie Burnett. Mercurial. Volatile. Capable of conjuring brilliance from chaos. Two days to weave his magic is all he’ll get. But then again… you just never know.
Top 16 (Stage one – final day)
- John Henderson (SCO)
- Graham Usher (ENG)
- Christopher Wickenden (ENG)
- Wayne Jones (ENG)
- Ultan McDyer (IRE)
- Jack Faragher (IRE)
- Lee Evans (ENG)
- Steve Haggerty (ENG)
- Keith Rooney (IRE)
- Callum Goffin (WAL)
- Derek Maclean (SCO)
- Chris Hurds (ENG)
- Martin Thomas (WAL)
- Kirk De Ruyter (ENG)
- Scott Mitchell (ENG)
- Geoffrey Murray (ENG)
Top 47 (outside those receiving automatic qualification)
Killian McCormack, Tommy Morris, Jake Eichen, Jarred Cole, Darren Armstrong, James Richardson, Lloyd Walker, Aden Kirk, Jamie Kelling, Dale Gadsby, Joe Croft, Danny Trueman, Ronan McDonagh, Charlie Large, Jack Male, Keelan Kay, William O’Toole, Kelvin O’Keefe, John Brown, Ben Townley, Daryl Hunt, James Howard Hughes, James Evans-Bradford, Andrew Cass, Paul Lewis, Connor Arberry, Patrick Quinn, Adam Leek, James Parkin, Sam Jackson, Nathan Girvan, Ryan O’Connor, Craig Lewis, Luke Smith, Peter Burgoyne, Jonathan Kavanagh, Kevin Lane, Mark Crutchley, Keenan Thomas, Justin Bradshaw, Nick Brandon, Sean Taylor, Martin Tonks, Rex Cole, Mark McGeeney, Jasper Scarrott and John Part.
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
