Sporting Life
Ryan Searle (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)
Ryan Searle (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

World Martchplay qualification latest: How much players need to earn in the final Players Championship event of the PDC Summer Series

By Chris Hammer
21:39 · SAT July 11, 2020

We take a look at the World Matchplay qualification picture with just one more PDC Summer Series tournament remaining before the cut-off.

The World Matchplay draw takes place on Sunday night but there's still plenty of balls without a name assigned to them following four days of Players Championship drama at Milton Keynes.

Just 32 of the 128 Tour Card holders will return to the Marshall Arena next weekend for the sport's second biggest major and while all 16 seeds on the PDC Order of Merit are now safe - as well as the majority on the one-year ProTour list - there are still plenty of those outside the current qualification spots who could earn a spot with a lengthy run during the concluding event of the Summer Series.

Of course the majority languishing down the rankings really need to go the full distance and bag the £10,000 top prize to stand a chance but others on the cusp could sneak in should they reach the semi-final or quarter-finals.

There's been a total of £300,000 shared out over the first four days, with Michael van Gerwen currently leading the Summer Series Order of Merit with £21,000 having won two of the events, and now there's 'just' £75,000 left to be split as follows;

  • Winner £10,000
  • Runner-Up £6,000
  • Semi Final £3,000
  • Quarter Final £2,250
  • Last 16 £1,500
  • Last 32 £1,000
  • Last 64 £500
  • Last 128 £0

Here's the latest PDC Order of Merit and ProTour Order of Merit rankings for you to see where the players stand in the race to reach the World Matchplay while the top 10 on the Summer Series Order of Merit is also below, with the table-topper sealing a spot at the Grand Slam of Darts.

PDC Order of Merit: Top 16

The following players will be seeded for the World Matchplay although as you can see, several positions could change towards the bottom end. Krzysztof Ratajski, who began the week at 15, has now moved up to 13th and improving his chances of avoiding a potential second-round meeting with Michael van Gerwen at the World Matchplay while Adrian Lewis, Glen Durrant and Simon Whitlock are also involved in the same scrap.

Stephen Bunting is ranked 17th on this list but he's over £10,000 behind and therefore unable to climb into the seeding positions. The Bullet is also in danger of missing out completely via the ProTour Order of Merit.

  1. Michael van Gerwen £1,526,750
  2. Peter Wright £918,000
  3. Gerwyn Price £800,000
  4. Rob Cross £546,750
  5. Michael Smith £520,250
  6. Nathan Aspinall £473,750
  7. Daryl Gurney £448,250
  8. Gary Anderson £435,250
  9. James Wade £418,750
  10. Dave Chisnall £381,750
  11. Ian White £358,000
  12. Mensur Suljovic £317,2500
  13. Krzysztof Ratajski £248,750
  14. Adrian Lewis £248,750
  15. Glen Durrant £246,500
  16. Simon Whitlock £245,750

ProTour Order of Merit: Top 40 excluding those on the above list

You can view the full 12-month ProTour Order of Merit on the PDC's website by clicking here but the below list does not include those players who have already assured a spot at the World Matchplay as seeds via the main Order of Merit above.

The top 16 after Sunday's final Players Championship event will be in the hat as unseeded players and, as you can see, there's plenty who can mount a last-gasp climb with a decent run and earn a return to the Marshall Arena next weekend.

However, with the top prizes being £10,000 for the winner and £6,000 for the runner-up, anyone from Devon Peterson and below simply must win the title to stand a chance and, in some cases, that might still not be enough when you consider those above them will be picking up smaller amounts of money too. It's going to be a compelling day to follow - like the final day of a golf major - but www.dartsrankings.com have live qualification tables to follow.

Although only players from eight-placed Jamie Hughes and above are now mathematically assured a spot, you'd be almost safe to assume everyone from Justin Pipe upwards should be OK - which might be some relief for the Force unless the arm injury that forced him out of Saturday's event prevents him playing in the World Matchplay.

For 12th-placed Pipe to miss out, five players would need to overtake him but he holds a £2,500 lead over 17th-placed Ryan Searle. There's only four prizes higher than that amount - with losing semi-finalists getting £3,000 apiece, while a run that ends in the quarter-final is worth £2,250.

If he earns nothing, Searle reaches the semi-final and those ranked 13th to 16th all reach the last 16 (£1,500) then he's out. If Searle fails to reach the last four or better then someone else between 18th-placed Kim Huybrechts (£20,250) and 22nd placed John Henderson (£18,250) will need to reach the final at least. If they can't do that then a player from Devon Petersen (£16,250) down to Ross Smith (£14,500) in 30th must win to make him sweat. Hope that makes some sense!

If that wasn't interesting enough, then it really does get fascinatingly complicated when you go a little further down to Steve Beaton, who has never missed a World Matchplay since he joined the PDC in 2001. At 15th in the ranking, he only holds a £500 cushion over Ricky Evans on the bubble point of 16th and £1,500 over Searle.

'Heavy Metal', who won his maiden ProTour title by defeating MVG back in February, must therefore reach the last 16 by winning three games just to stand a chance of forcing his way into the final field while Huybrechts needs a minimum of a quarter-final run and Stephen Bunting the semi-finals.

The trio of Steve West (£19,000), Luke Humphries (£18,500) and Henderson all need to reach the final while the rest must claim the title.

In terms of the genuine contenders outside the top 16 who have shown most promise over the past four days that they can do something special to sneak in at the 11th hour, Stephen Bunting (£4,250), Jeff Smith (£4,000), Chris Dobey (£3,750), James Wilson (£3,500) and Darren Webster (£3,500) and Devon Petersen (£3,000) have been the highest earners but apart from the Bullet, they now find themselves in a position where they simply must win the title.

  1. Joe Cullen £56,250
  2. Brendan Dolan £39,000
  3. Jose de Sousa £38,500
  4. Danny Noppert £35,500
  5. Jermaine Wattimena £33,000
  6. Gabriel Clemens £29,250
  7. Jonny Clayton £29,000
  8. Jamie Hughes £26,500
  9. Jeffrey de Zwaan £26,000
  10. Ryan Joyce £25,750
  11. Dimitri van den Bergh £24,500
  12. Justin Pipe £24,000
  13. Vincent van der Voort £23,750
  14. Keegan Brown £23,250
  15. Steve Beaton £23,000
  16. Ricky Evans £22,500 **** Last qualification spot for World Matchplay
  17. Ryan Searle £21,500
  18. Kim Huybrechts £20,250
  19. Stephen Bunting £19,750
  20. Steve West £19,000
  21. Luke Humphries £18,500
  22. John Henderson £18,250
  23. Devon Petersen £16,250
  24. Mervyn King £16,000
  25. Ron Meulenkamp £16,250
  26. Willie O'Connor £15,750
  27. Michael Mansell £15,500
  28. Chris Dobey £15,000
  29. Dirk van Duijvenbode £15,000
  30. Ross Smith £14,500
  31. Steve Lennon £13,500
  32. Darren Webster £13,000
  33. Maik Kuivenhoven £13,000
  34. James Wilson £12,750
  35. Luke Woodhouse £12,750
  36. Jeff Smith £12,500
  37. Rowby-John Rodriquez £12,500
  38. Andy Boulton £12,250
  39. Josh Payne £12,000
  40. Joe Murnan £12,000

* I've included 40 players purely just to have a round number but obviously those towards the very foot have no chance of getting into the World Matchplay.

Summer Series Order of Merit

The Order of Merit winner will receive an invitation for the Grand Slam of Darts but with a selection of players already assured of a spot, including Michael van Gerwen, the runner-up spot could end up being just as priceless.

  1. Michael van Gerwen £21,000
  2. James Wade £14,000
  3. Peter Wright £12,000
  4. Ryan Joyce £10,500
  5. Dave Chisnall £9.250
  6. Jose de Sousa £8,000
  7. Rob Cross £8,000
  8. Krzysztof Ratajski £6,750
  9. Daryl Gurney £6,250
  10. Ian White £6,250
  11. Glen Durrant £6,000
  12. Mensur Suljovic £5,750
  13. Nathan Aspinall £5.500
  14. Gabriel Clemens £5,000
  15. Jonny Clayton £4,750
  16. Martijn Kleermaker £4,750

Summer Series Odds

You'll be able to bet on the winner of Sunday's Players Championship as well as in-play matches with Sky Bet by clicking here. The draw will be made tomorrow morning and the action begins at 1100 BST.

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