By Darts Weekly Staff
27 MARCH 2017 •12:29PM
Peter Wright tops the early PDC European Tour Order of Merit after winning the HappyBet German Darts Championship yesterday.
The world number three defeated Michael van Gerwen 6-3 in the final in Hildesheim last night, and pocketed £25,000, while van Gerwen took home £10,000.
The German Darts Championship was the first of a record 12 events taking place on the European Tour this year, with prize money earned from those events going towards the European Tour Order of Merit.
Following the completion of the 12th and final European Tour event, the top 32 players on the Order of Merit will qualify for the European Championship in Hasselt, Belgium.
A change to the PDC rules this year now means that if a seeded player loses their first match (second round) in any of the 12 European Tour events, their £2,000 in prize money will not go towards the Order of Merit, but they will still receive the money.
James Wade, Michael Smith and Simon Whitlock were the only seeded players to lose in the second round at the weekend, and thus their £2,000 earnings do not go towards the Order of Merit.
| Pos | Name | Prize Money |
| 1 | Peter Wright | £25,000 |
| 2 | Michael van Gerwen | £10,000 |
| 3 | Jelle Klaasen | £6,000 |
| = | Gerwyn Price | £6,000 |
| 5 | Kim Huybrechts | £4,000 |
| = | Mensur Suljovic | £4,000 |
| = | Benito van de Pas | £4,000 |
| = | Ian White | £4,000 |
| 9 | Stephen Bunting | £3,000 |
| = | Dave Chisnall | £3,000 |
| = | Joe Cullen | £3,000 |
| = | Jan Dekker | £3,000 |
| = | Darren Johnson | £3,000 |
| = | Alan Norris | £3,000 |
| = | Kevin Painter | £3,000 |
| = | Cristo Reyes | £3,000 |
| 17 | Jamie Bain | £2,000 |
| = | John Bowles | £2,000 |
| = | Richie Corner | £2,000 |
| = | Paul Harvey | £2,000 |
| = | Mervyn King | £2,000 |
| = | Christian Kist | £2,000 |
| = | Mick McGowan | £2,000 |
| = | Paul Nicholson | £2,000 |
| = | David Pallett | £2,000 |
| = | Diogo Portela | £2,000 |
| = | Krzysztof Ratajski | £2,000 |
| = | Dimitri van den Bergh | £2,000 |
| = | Jermaine Wattimena | £2,000 |
| 30 | Robert Allenstein | £1,000 |
| = | Stephen Burton | £1,000 |
| = | Chris Dobey | £1,000 |
| = | Ryan de Vreede | £1,000 |
| = | Adam Hunt | £1,000 |
| = | Ryan Meikle | £1,000 |
| = | John Michael | £1,000 |
| = | Chris Quantock | £1,000 |
| = | Michael Plooy | £1,000 |
| = | Michael Rasztovits | £1,000 |
| = | Bernd Roith | £1,000 |
| = | Martin Schindler | £1,000 |
| = | Ryan Searle | £1,000 |
| = | Kirk Shepherd | £1,000 |
| = | Stefan Stoyke | £1,000 |
| = | Veijo Viinkka | £1,000 |
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