For those whose lives orbit beyond the safety net of the PDC Pro Tour, the beginning of January doesn’t bring resolutions or rest – it brings a reckoning. Back to school. Not the comforting kind either, but PDC Q-School.
A brutal reset where hope is repackaged as tungsten and hundreds of careers teeter on the edge of oblivion. As the calendar turns, those who slipped quietly off the tour at the end of 2025 will once again shoulder their dart cases and join the annual pilgrimage to either Milton Keynes or Kalkar, chasing one of the most precious commodities in the sport – a golden ticket back to potential glory.
We took a glance in the rear-view mirror, revisiting the 2024 Q-School intake and comparing the fortunes of the thirty-one players who emerged clutching a two-year tour card. What we found was sobering. Stark. Almost cruel.
From Milton Keynes, only one single player who celebrated qualification is still on the tour today. James Hurrell is the sole arrow-smith who at this moment in time, is guaranteed his spot amongst the 128 Pro Tour field. Yes, two fell to exceptional circumstances – Leighton Bennett receiving a ban for match fixing and Dom Taylor relegated to the drop zone after being stripped of his World Championship prize money following a positing dope test.
Yet even with those caveats applied, the message is unmissable. Securing a tour card is brutally difficult. Keeping hold of it? That’s where the real war begins. The German chapter offers only marginally brighter reading. From the successes at Kalkar, just four players are guaranteed to line up on the PDC Pro Tour when 2026 begins.
Dutch-born Swede Jeffrey de Graaf has fared best, sitting relatively comfortably at world number 51 as the new year dawns. Alongside him, Lukas Wenig, Thibault Tricole and on the eleventh hour, Mario Vandenbogaerde (who benefitted from Dom Taylor’s penalty), all managed to stay above the drop zone, completing a quartet of survivors from that entire cohort. Four out of thirty. Let that sink in.
So to those packing their bags this year, full of belief and buoyed by possibility, remember this: finding the golden ticket is only the opening chapter.
The real challenge begins the moment the celebrations fade. You must cling to it with both hands, white-knuckled and unrelenting, because the Pro Tour is not a reward – it’s a relentless proving ground.Q-School doesn’t hand out careers. It merely opens the door.
Staying inside? That’s the hardest part of all.
2024 UK Q-SCHOOL – Milton Keynes, England
Day One Winner: Steve Lennon (IRE) – LOST TC (76th on OOM)
Day Two Winner: Robert Grundy (ENG) – LOST TC (96th on OOM)
Day Three Winner: Leighton Bennett (ENG) – LOST TC (banned for match fixing)
Day Four Winner: Dom Taylor (ENG) – LOST TC (68th on OOM)
Matthew Dennant (ENG) – LOST TC (77th on OOM)
Willie Borland (SCO) – LOST TC (108th on OOM)
Joshua Richardson (ENG) – LOST TC (136th on OOM)
James Hurrell (ENG) – RETAINED (48th on OOM)
George Killington (ENG) – LOST TC (112th on OOM)
Danny Lauby (USA) – LOST TC (105th on OOM)
Rhys Griffin (WAL) – LOST TC (92nd on OOM)
Brett Clayton (ENG) – LOST TC (111th on OOM)
Darren Beveridge (SCO) – LOST TC (70th on OOM)
Adam Hunt (ENG) – LOST TC (86th on OOM)
2024 EUROPEAN Q-SCHOOL – Kalkar, Germany
Day One Winner: Martijn Dragt (NED) – LOST TC (102nd on OOM)
Day Two Winner: Jelle Klaasen (NED) – LOST TC (101st on OOM)
Day Three Winner: Andy Baetens (BEL) – LOST TC (78th on OOM)
Day Four Winner: Jeffery De Graaf (SWE) – RETAINED TC – (51st on OOM)
Haupai Puha (NZ) – LOST TC (89th on OOM)
Jules van Dongen (USA) – LOST TC (187th on OOM)
Radek Szaganski (POL) – LOST TC (99th on OOM)
Chris Landman (NED) – LOST TC (69th on OOM)
Patrick Geeraets (NED) – LOST TC (95th on OOM)
Jitse Van der Wal (NED) – LOST TC (98th on OOM)
Paul Khrone (GER) – RETURNED TC in January 2024
Benjamin Drue Reus (DEN) – LOST TC (109th on OOM)
Mario Vandenbogaerde (BEL) – RETAINED TC (64th on OOM)
Lukas Wenig – RETAINED TC (62nd on OOM)
Thibault Tricole (FRA) – RETAINED TC (61st on OOM)
Michelle Turetta (ITA) – LOST TC (129th on OOM)
Tim Wolters (GER) – LOST TC (173rd on OOM)
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC
