Robert Thornton and Chris Landman headlined the final automatic qualifiers for Final Stage of the 2022 PDC Qualifying Schools on Tuesday, as Fallon Sherrock also progressed to compete for a PDC Tour Card.
Former World Grand Prix and UK Open champion Thornton was one of the eight players to secure automatic qualification from the UK Qualifying School in Milton Keynes to compete in Final Stage over the next four days.
He was joined in progressing by fellow countryman Jim McEwan, Welsh pair Mike Warburton and Justin Smith, England’s George Killington, Dan Read and David Pallett and Canada’s Jacob Taylor – who is competing outside of north America for the first time.
Dutch ace Landman, who recently reached the second round of the World Championship, headlined the four players who won through from Group A in the European Qualifying School to secure an automatic place in Final Stage.
Landman was joined by fellow Dutchmen Arjan Konterman, Danny Jansen and Martijn Dragt in progressing from Group A.
Patrick van den Boogaard and Vincent van der Meer made it six Dutch players to progress automatically with their success in Group B, alongside Austria’s Michael Rasztovits and Denmark’s Andreas Toft Jorgensen, who competed in the Nordic Darts Masters last year.
The Order of Merit qualifiers from First Stage in Milton Keynes include 2021 Nordic Darts Masters finalist Sherrock and former World Youth Champion Arron Monk, while emerging American Danny Lauby topped the rankings on eight points alongside Simon Stevenson, Kevin Burness and Darren Johnson.
Former JDC junior stars Leighton Bennett and Josh Richardson, experienced Richie Burnett and Andy Jenkins, Brazil’s Diogo Portela and former World Championship semi-finalist Jamie Lewis also progressed.
Ben Robb, who competed in the World Championship last month, missed the bull for victory against Connor Scutt on Tuesday in a decisive clash which would have put the New Zealander through to Final Stage alongside fellow countryman Haupai Puha.
Three-time World Champion John Part was amongst those who missed out in First Stage, alongside former TV event finalists Wes Newton, Mark Dudbridge, Colin Osborne and Barrie Bates.
The Order of Merit qualifiers in Europe included former PDC ranking event winner Benito van de Pas and World Cup finalist Ronny Huybrechts, as well as Christian Kist and former World Championship qualifiers Nico Kurz and Rene Eidams.
Sweden’s Johan Engstrom topped the rankings with ten points, ahead of Alexander Merkx, Jimmy Hendriks and Maikel Verberk.
The Qualifying School action now sees PDC Tour Cards issued over the next four days (January 12-15) to each day’s winner in the UK and Europe, with ranking points awarded to other players throughout each event.
A total of four two-year PDC Tour Cards will be secured automatically in the UK and Europe, with a further 13 players coming from the UK Q School Final Stage Order of Merit and 11 coming from the European rankings.
UK Qualifying School Final Stage Field
Players exempt to Final Stage
Players who lost PDC Tour Card: Scott Waites, Mickey Mansell, Ryan Murray, Nick Kenny, Matthew Edgar, Lisa Ashton, Wayne Jones, Ted Evetts, Andy Hamilton, James Wilson, Alan Tabern, Darren Webster, Peter Jacques, Ciaran Teehan, Kai Fan Leung, Josh Payne, Steve Brown, Aaron Beeney, Gary Blades, Mark McGeeney, Darren Penhall
Players 2-8 from 2021 UK Development Tour OOM: Nathan Rafferty, Keelan Kay, Dom Taylor, Reece Colley, Liam Meek, Jarred Cole
Players 2-8 from 2021 UK Challenge Tour OOM: Shaun McDonald, Martin Thomas, Darren Beveridge, Cameron Menzies, Reece Robinson
First Stage Qualifiers
Automatic Qualifiers from First Stage: Haupai Puha, Nick Fullwell, Michael Flynn, Graham Usher, Conor Heneghan, Michael Barnard, Josh Rock, Robert Rickwood, Ryan Hogarth, Shaun Wilkinson, Kevin Garcia, John O’Shea, Greg Ritchie, Shaun Griffiths, Matthew Dennant, Joshua Burksfield, Jacob Taylor, Robert Thornton, Jim McEwan, George Killington, Dan Read, David Pallett, Mike Warburton, Justin Smith
Order of Merit Qualifiers from First Stage: Danny Lauby, Simon Stevenson, Kevin Burness, Darren Johnson, Connor Scutt, Alex Long, Robert Owen, Jamie Clark, Kevin McDine, Jason Hogg, Christopher Gilliland, Adam Atkinson, Andrew Hyland, Richie Burnett, Darryl Pilgrim, Scott Campbell, Stu Wilson, Graham Hall, Sean Fisher, Tom Lonsdale, Thomas Lovely, Adam Mould, Chris Quantock, Lee Budgen, Matt Clark, Nathan Girvan, David Wawrzewski, Ian Mackenzie, Ben Quenby, Stephen Burton, Josh McCarthy, Lee Cocks, Niall Culleton, Owen Emmett-Bowden, Joshua Richardson, Shane McGuirk, Davie Kirwan, Mike Gillet, Callum Francis, Jordan Brooks, Michael Huntley, Arron Monk, Ben Hazel, Chris Hurds, Ross Montgomery, Fallon Sherrock, Scott Taylor, Paul Nesbitt, Diogo Portela, Leonard Gates, Leighton Bennett, Sam Cankett, Scott Williams, Carl Beattie, Chas Barstow, Gavin Carlin, Andy Jenkins, David Ladley, Jamie Lewis, Lewis Dare, Robert Collins, Nathan Treadgold, Mark Layton, Richard North, Scott Marsh, Gary Stone, Ryan Furness, Daniel Day, Adrian Gray, Rhys Hayden, Shaun Carroll, Kevin Lane
European Qualifying School Final Stage Field
Players exempt to Final Stage
Players who lost PDC Tour Card: Karel Sedlacek, Jelle Klaasen, Derk Telnekes, Krzysztof Kciuk, Jesus Noguera, Steffen Siepmann, Harald Leitinger, Cristo Reyes
Players 2-8 from 2021 European Development Tour OOM: Fabian Schmutzler, Sebastian Bialecki, Jurjen van der Velde, Niko Springer, Kevin Doets
Players 2-8 from 2021 European Challenge Tour OOM: Steven Noster, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Jose Justicia, Toni Alcinas, Kenny Neyens, Luc Peters
First Stage Qualifiers
Automatic Qualifiers from First Stage: Mario Vandenbogaerde, Stefan Bellmont, Andreas Harrysson, Damian Mol, Thibault Tricole, Daniel Klose, Wesley Plaisier, Ricardo Pietreczko, Jens Ziegler, Bent Lambertsen, Lukas Wenig, Dragutin Horvat, Ryan De Vreede, Paulo Ferreira, Kai Gotthardt, Mario Schulze, Tony Martinez, Martijn Dragt, Danny Jansen, Arjan Konterman, Chris Landman, Michael Rasztovits, Andreas Toft Jorgensen, Vincent van der Meer, Patrick van den Boogaard
Order of Merit Qualifiers from First Stage: Johan Engstrom, Alexander Merkx, Jimmy Hendriks, Maikel Verberk, Ronny Huybrechts, Radek Szaganski, Jeremy van der Winkel, Erik Tautfest, Jan de Weerdt, Gillian Koehoorn, Jules van Dongen, Jani Keskinarkaus, Mario Schulze, Vladimir Andersen, Kevin Blomme, Nico Kurz, Robin Beger, Michael Hurtz, Tomas Houdek, Max de Jong, Willem Mandigers, Owen Roelofs, Tobias Scheifl, Franz Roetzsch, Markus Kessler, Jose Marques, Patrik Kovacs, Perry Noordermeer, Danny van Trijp, Andrew Beeton, Jamai van den Herik, Roxy-James Rodriguez, Kristiaan de Boer, Jacques Labre, Wouter Vaes, Davy Proosten, Pero Ljubic, Andreas Winterling, Jeroen Mioch, Stefan Schroder, Fabian Maier, Patrick Peters, Davyd Venken, Francois Schweyen, Robbie Knops, Mindaugas Barauskas, Sebastian Steyer, Christian Schmidt, Barry Zander, Tomas Hajek, Stephan Griese, Patrick Maat, Frank Peters, Brian Raman, Roy van de Griendt, Nauris Gleglu, Michael Ringoet, Tom Heldt, Jerry Hendriks, Niels Heinsoe, Thomas Klausmayer, Carlo van Peer, Christian Kist, Donnie Olde Kalter, Jamie Lawrence, Fabian Stutz, Remo Mandiau, Maikel Mossou, Patrick Bulen, Gian van Veen, Benito van de Pas, Michael Ostrode, Roemer Mooijman, Gijsbert Van Malsen, Veysal Ozdemir, Stefaan Henderyck, Pavel Jirkal, Daniel Vogt, Swen Seifert, Andy Bless, Rene Eidams, Alex Flohr, Sebastian Keine, Danny Tessmann, Christian Reiter, Robin Radloff
NB: Philipp Hagemann and Niko Springer, who would have been amongst the Order of Merit qualifiers, have withdrawn from the remainder of Qualifying School.
Ranking points in Final Stage are awarded as one point per win from the Last 64 onwards in each event.
Any ties in the respective Q School Orders of Merit will be split as follows based on all match results: Leg Difference, Legs Won, then DartConnect average. If players still cannot be split, a play-off would be organised.
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Words: Editorials, Images: PDC
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