Entries confirmed for upcoming ProTour events

Entries have been confirmed ahead of some of the bumper ProTour action that the PDC circuit has to offer in the coming weeks.

The gruelling schedule means that some players have opted to pull out of some events, while others are still struggling with injuries, or visa problems in the case of Corey Cadby. This weekend sees six events take place, four European Tour qualifiers on Friday afternoon and evening and then the regular double-header of Players Championship action on Saturday and Sunday. The headline news is that Michael van Gerwen, winner of two of the four ProTour events so far this year, has withdrawn from Players Championship 5 & 6, giving plenty of players a great chance to get on the board for 2019, or perhaps for Glen Durrant or Dave Chisnall to extend their tally.

However, ‘Mighty Mike’ has entered the first two European Tour events in Leverkusen and Hildesheim as was expected after his dominance on that particular circuit recently, winning eight out of the thirteen Euro Tours last year to take his total up to 28. Due to his dominance at the top of the ProTour Order of Merit, Van Gerwen is top seed for both those events, followed by Ian White, Peter Wright and Mensur Suljović. Max Hopp is strangely not entered in either event, either down to an administrative error or by choice, which means Jermaine Wattimena comes into the seeds.

Simon Whitlock has also chosen to withdraw from the German Darts Championship, meaning that Stephen Bunting will take his place in the seeds. Although those tournaments themselves don’t take place for over a month, the entries were confirmed today as some of the qualifiers are played out this Friday. Madars Razma, Kim Viljanen, Pavel Jirkal and Boris Koltsov had already qualified via regional routes, although Razma’s qualification would now be invalid due to the new rule that all Tour Card holders must play in the main qualifiers before ProTour weekends.

Razma qualified due to the Nordic & Baltic qualifiers taking place in October of last year, but he is entered into ET2 qualification as he attempts to secure a double. Razma’s PDCNB counterparts Marko Kantele and Darius Labanauskas are entered into Friday’s tournaments, while Krzysztof Ratajski while be amongst the seeds in Barnsley. There will be several players trying to secure a European Tour debut via the same route, including Niels Zonneveld, José de Sousa, and Geert Nentjes, while five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld is entered in both qualifiers as he attempts to seal a return to the European stage for the first time since September 2016 and some much-needed ranking points.

The aforementioned Ratajski while be joined in the seeds for the European qualifiers by Danny Noppert, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler and Jelle Klaasen as 37 players vie for 6 places in the two tournaments. Before that, however, the UK qualifiers will take place slightly earlier than previous years due to the increased number of matches. Unlike the European qualifiers, Challenge Tour players are permitted to try their hand at a spot in a big stage tournament with the top 32 UK players from the Order of Merit eligible.

For European players without a Tour Card, they can enter the qualifiers that take place the evening before the Euro Tours get underway with two spots available for non-host nation players and four for host nation players. The Challenge Tour players entered for Friday include Andy Hamilton, Andrew Gilding, and Ritchie Edhouse, while there are some lesser-known dartists such as Jason Askew, Stu Wilson and Daniel Ayres in with a chance of a place on the European Tour.

With 18 places available in both UK qualifiers, there are plenty of seeds, including Stephen Bunting (for ET1 only), James Wilson, Mervyn King and Robert Thornton, while the likes of Glen Durrant, Scott Baker, Mark McGeeney and Gavin Carlin will all be aiming to seal a debut in Europe. After all those qualifiers, Saturday and Sunday sees Players Championships Five and Six. As mentioned, Michael van Gerwen has withdrawn as well as Gary Anderson, Corey Cadby and Christian Kist. They will be replaced by Challenge Tour winners Ritchie Edhouse, Boris Koltsov, Shaun Carroll and Stephen Burton.

As well as opting not to play in ET2, Simon Whitlock has also pulled out of PC5, allowing Dave Prins another chance to test himself against the best in the world. That’s all of the big stories from today’s two announcements, and it’s only a matter of time until the ProTour season continues. If it’s anything like what we’ve seen so far, we’re in for a treat.

Players Championship 5
Tour Card Skipping
Gary Anderson
Corey Cadby
Christian Kist
Michael van Gerwen
Simon Whitlock

Players Championship 5
Non-Tour Card Entered
Stephen Burton
Shaun Carroll
Ritchie Edhouse
Boris Koltsov
Dave Prins

Players Championship 6
Tour Card Skipping
Gary Anderson
Corey Cadby
Christian Kist
Michael van Gerwen

Players Championship 6
Non-Tour Card Entered
Stephen Burton
Shaun Carroll
Ritchie Edhouse
Boris Koltsov

Jamie Cameron

 

 

About The Author

Jamie Cameron @wwfcofficial and darts. Write for @the92blog and @TheMaximum180.

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