Category: Rankings

Peter Wright can move up to number two in the world with run to semi-finals in Dublin this week

Peter Wright has the chance to move up to a career-high of number two in the world in Dublin this week.

The world number three begins his Unibet World Grand Prix campaign in the first round against former world champion Stephen Bunting tonight.

Following Gary Anderson’s withdrawal from the tournament yesterday, a run to the semi-finals for Wright this week would see him leapfrog his World Cup partner and into second on the PDC Order of Merit.

Elsewhere, Dave Chisnall’s first-round win against Jelle Klaasen has seen him open up a gap of £8,750 on Mensur Suljovic in sixth spot.

The recent Unibet Champions League of Darts winner is defending £23,500 in prize money this week after reaching the semi-finals in Dublin two years ago, while Chisnall only reached the second round of the 2015 World Grand Prix.

Alan Norris has provisionally moved into the top 16 for the first time following his comeback win over Justin Pipe last night.

The former World Championship finalist battled back from a set down to edge past Pipe in a deciding set, with the victory provisionally moving him above Ian White and into 16th place.

Robert Thornton has began his climb back up the rankings after knocking out Kim Huybrechts in the first round yesterday.

The 2015 World Grand Prix champion is defending £100,000 in prize money this week, and the Scot only got into the tournament this year following Phil Taylor’s decision not to compete.

Thornton, who was 17th in the Order of Merit heading to Dublin, is provisionally down in 24th place, but the Scot can move up another spot were he to defeat Chisnall in the second round tomorrow.

Provisional PDC Order of Merit (Players in green are still in the World Grand Prix) (as of 02/10/2017)

Pos  Player Prize Money
1 Michael van Gerwen £1,632,750
2 Gary Anderson £748,250
3 Peter Wright £738,000
4 Adrian Lewis £403,000
5 Phil Taylor £399,250
6 Dave Chisnall £348,750
7 Mensur Suljovic £340,000
8 Raymond van Barneveld £320,250
9 James Wade £309,250
10 Jelle Klaasen £297,750
11 Michael Smith £294,250
12 Daryl Gurney £287,250
13 Kim Huybrechts £273,500
14 Benito van de Pas £265,250
15 Simon Whitlock £255,250
16 Alan Norris £253,000
17 Ian White £251,000
18 Gerwyn Price £235,250
19 Joe Cullen £210,750
20 Mervyn King £186,000
21 Stephen Bunting £179,500
22 Steve Beaton £172,500
23 Darren Webster £158,750
24 Robert Thornton £158,000

Challenge Tour Order of Merit: Wayne Jones and Mark Dudbridge lead the race for tour cards heading into final day

Former major finalists Wayne Jones and Mark Dudbridge hold the two spots for tour cards onto the main PDC circuit heading into the final day of this year’s Unicorn Challenge Tour tomorrow.

The last two events of the season take place at the Robin Park Tennis Centre, in Wigan, on Sunday, with a total of £20,000 in prize money up for grabs on the day.

And with a £2,000 top prize available in each tournament, it means there are 20 players who could mathematically finish in the top two on the tour’s final Order of Merit following the completion of the last event (Note: Nathan Aspinall is in the field for the final day of the HappyBet German Darts Grand Prix tomorrow).

Wolverhampton’s Jones, a runner-up in the 2010 European Championship, lost his tour card at the end of last season and was unsuccessful in winning it back at Qualifying School in January.

But the 52-year-old is in pole position to win a tour card for 2018 and 2019 as he sits at the top of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit going into the final day, and with a £2,950 gap over third place.

Bristol’s Dudbridge, who reached the final of the PDC World Championship in 2005, fell off the main tour at the end of the 2015-16 season, but is in a handy position to regain his tour card tomorrow.

The former World Master has a £1,100 lead over third place, but the three players in hot pursuit of him, Aaron Dyer, Peter Jacques and Luke Humphries, have all won on the Challenge Tour this year.

Unicorn Challenge Tour Order of Merit (Top 20 and ties only) after 18 of 20 events

Position Name Prize Money
1 Wayne Jones £8,250
2 Mark Dudbridge £6,400
3 Aaron Dyer £5,300
4 Peter Jacques £5,250
5 Luke Humphries £5,150
6 Mark Frost £4,000
7 Kevin McDine £3,900
8 Lee Evans £3,700
9 Robert Rickwood £3,600
10 Paul Milford £3,400
11 Warrick Scheffer £3,350
12 Nick Fullwell £3,150
= Alan Tabern £3,150
14 Ryan Harrington £3,050
15 Nathan Aspinall £2,850
= Kevin Dowling £2,850
= Matthew Edgar £2,850
18 Kevin Edwards £2,600
= Jason Wilson £2,600
20 Barrie Bates £2,500
= Andy Smith £2,500

World Series of Darts Order of Merit: James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld both move into top four with three events to go

James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld have hauled themselves into the top four of the World Series of Darts Order of Merit, following the completion of the Auckland Darts Masters yesterday.

Wade made it three successive semi-finals in Auckland this past weekend before bowing out to eventual winner Kyle Anderson, and has moved up to third in the Order of Merit.

Van Barneveld lost out to Phil Taylor in a last-leg decider in the quarter-finals but his run to the last eight has pushed him up from sixth to fourth.

Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen saw his lead at the top cut by two points to 10 from 12. The world number one is skipping all three World Series events in Australasia this month to spend time with his wife and new-born daughter.

Taylor’s run to the semi-finals has seen him climb into the top eight, while Daryl Gurney continues to move up the rankings as he now sits in sixth place.

Auckland Darts Masters champion Kyle Anderson is joint eighth with Peter Wright, while runner-up Corey Cadby is in 11th spot.

World Series of Darts Order of Merit (as of August 14, 2017)

Pos  Player Points
1 Michael van Gerwen 32
2 Gary Anderson 22
3 James Wade 19
4 Raymond van Barneveld 17
5 Phil Taylor 16
6 Daryl Gurney 14
7 Gerwyn Price 13
8 Peter Wright 12
= Kyle Anderson 12
10 Dave Chisnall 11
11 Corey Cadby 8
12 Simon Whitlock 3
= Michael Smith 3
= Dawson Murschell 3
= Dave Richardson 3
16 Rob Szabo 1
= Rob Modra 1
= Warren Parry 1
= Cody Harris 1
= Mark Cleaver 1
= Darren Herewini 1
= Max Hopp 1
= Chris White 1
= Willard Bruguier 1
= Jayson Barlow 1
= David Cameron 1
= Shawn Brenneman 1
= Dennis Sayre 1
= Paul Lim 1
= Royden Lam 1
= Haruki Muramatsu 1
= Hyun Chul Park 1
= Cheng An Liu 1
= Xiao Chen Zong 1
= Wei Hong Li 1
= Hai Long Chen 1

RACE TO DUBLIN: Four events left before the cut-off for the 20th World Grand Prix

The race to qualify for this year’s World Grand Prix is hotting up, with just four events left before the cut-off on September 11.

The top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit on September 11 will be joined by the next 16 highest ranked players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit to make up the 32-player line-up for Dublin.

This weekend sees Players Championships 17 and 18 take place in Barnsley, and for some, it will be the last opportunity to earn some prize money towards trying to qualify for the major tournament.

Following this weekend’s Pro Tour double-header there will be two European Tour events held in early September, with the 32-player field for what will be the 20th staging of the World Grand Prix to be confirmed once both have been played.

As there have been no Pro Tour events held since the World Matchplay, the current Pro Tour Order of Merit is identical to the one which came after the cut-off for Blackpool, but the main Order of Merit has seen some changes.

Daryl Gurney has moved into the top 16 for the first time, with Simon Whitlock dropping out, and Alan Norris is on the verge of joining him as he looks to knock out Robert Thornton from 16th spot this weekend.

PDC Order of Merit (Only top 16 qualify) (as of July 31, 2017)

Pos  Player Prize Money
1 Michael van Gerwen £1,660,750
2 Gary Anderson £760,000
3 Peter Wright £715,250
4 Phil Taylor £409,250
5 Adrian Lewis £408,000
6 Dave Chisnall £356,500
7 Mensur Suljovic £346,000
8 Raymond van Barneveld £324,500
9 Michael Smith £312,750
10 James Wade £312,500
11 Jelle Klaasen £312,250
12 Daryl Gurney £279,500
13 Kim Huybrechts £279,250
14 Ian White £272,000
15 Benito van de Pas £265,750
16 Robert Thornton £255,750
17 Alan Norris £251,250
18 Simon Whitlock £250,000
19 Gerwyn Price £226,500
20 Mervyn King £189,000

PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit (Excluding players already in the top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit) (Only top 16 qualify) (as of July 31, 2017)

Pos  Player Prize Money
1 Simon Whitlock £94,000
2 Alan Norris £77,250
3 Joe Cullen £71,250
4 Rob Cross £63,250
5 Mervyn King £61,000
6 Gerwyn Price £58,750
7 Cristo Reyes £57,500
8 Stephen Bunting £47,500
9 Darren Webster £44,750
10 Steve Beaton £43,500
11 James Wilson £42,250
12 Steve West £40,250
13 John Henderson £37,500
14 Kyle Anderson £37,000
15 Christian Kist £36,000
16 Justin Pipe £35,000
17 Chris Dobey £33,750
18 Jonny Clayton £32,750
19 Ronny Huybrechts £31,750
20 Vincent van der Voort £30,750

PDC Order of Merit: 16th World Matchplay triumph propels Phil Taylor up to fourth in the world

Phil Taylor has moved back up to fourth on the PDC Order of Merit following his triumph in the World Matchplay last night.

The 16-time world champion captured his 16th World Matchplay title this past weekend after beating Peter Wright 18-8 in the final at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Taylor pocketed £115,000 for winning the tournament, with his latest earnings propelling him back up to fourth in the world.

World number three Wright would have climbed above Gary Anderson into second spot had he defeated Taylor in the final last night, but his £55,000 runners-up prize has closed the gap on his World Cup of Darts partner to less than £50,000.

Elsewhere, James Wade has dropped out of the world’s top eight for the first time in 10 years after his early exit in Blackpool.

The former World Matchplay champion was knocked out by Darren Webster in the first round and, with his runners-up earnings from two years ago at the Winter Gardens coming off, has dropped from sixth to 10th in the rankings.

Raymond van Barneveld’s run to the second round was enough to push him back into the top eight, while Adrian Lewis and Dave Chisnall have both dropped one place each to fifth and sixth respectively.

Daryl Gurney’s run to the semi-finals, his best ever performance at the World Matchplay, has seen him climb four places from 16th to 12th, while Alan Norris’ quarter-final appearance in Blackpool has moved him on the verge of breaking into the top 16 for the first time.

After climbing two places from 19th to 17th, Norris now trails Robert Thornton in 16th spot by just £4,500.

Lower down the rankings, Darren Webster (29th to 26th) and Steve West (39th to 35th) have also gone higher up following their efforts in Blackpool, while rising star Rob Cross has now cracked the top 40 in his first year on the professional circuit.

Andrew Gilding, Joe Murnan and Andy Hamilton suffered the biggest drops in the rankings, with Gilding slipping from 40th to 48th, Murnan falling to 49th from 44th, and former World Championship finalist Hamilton dropping from 55th to 61st.

Position Name Value
1 Michael van Gerwen £1,660,750
2 Gary Anderson £760,000
3 Peter Wright £715,250
4 Phil Taylor £409,250
5 Adrian Lewis £408,000
6 Dave Chisnall £356,500
7 Mensur Suljovic £346,000
8 Raymond van Barneveld £324,500
9 Michael Smith £312,750
10 James Wade £312,500
11 Jelle Klaasen £312,250
12 Daryl Gurney £279,500
13 Kim Huybrechts £279,250
14 Ian White £272,000
15 Benito van de Pas £265,750
16 Robert Thornton £255,750
17 Alan Norris £251,250
18 Simon Whitlock £250,000
19 Gerwyn Price £226,500
20 Mervyn King £189,000
21 Joe Cullen £187,750
22 Stephen Bunting £175,250
23 Mark Webster £164,000
24 Steve Beaton £157,250
25 Terry Jenkins £156,250
26 Darren Webster £150,000
27 Cristo Reyes £144,500
28 Vincent van der Voort £135,500
29 Justin Pipe £134,500
30 Kyle Anderson £130,250
31 Brendan Dolan £125,500
32 John Henderson £108,750
33 James Wilson £106,250
34 Jamie Caven £100,750
35 Steve West £99,750
36 Christian Kist £99,250
37 Jamie Lewis £93,000
38 Robbie Green £92,750
= Chris Dobey £92,750
40 Rob Cross £80,750
41 Max Hopp £79,250
42 Jermaine Wattimena £77,750
= Ronny Huybrechts £77,750
44 Rowby-John Rodriguez £75,000
45 Kevin Painter £74,250
46 Dimitri Van den Bergh £74,000
47 Jonny Clayton £72,000
48 Andrew Gilding £71,500
49 Joe Murnan £70,500
50 Ricky Evans £66,000
51 Josh Payne £63,500
52 David Pallett £52,500
53 Devon Petersen £52,250
54 Jeffrey de Graaf £49,750
55 Keegan Brown £49,500
56 Jan Dekker £48,750
57 Dirk van Duijvenbode £47,000
58 James Richardson £44,750
59 Ron Meulenkamp £43,250
60 Mick McGowan £42,000
61 Andy Hamilton £40,250
62 Andy Boulton £38,500
63 Andy Jenkins £33,500
64 Wes Newton £33,000
65 John Michael £32,500
66 Jeffrey de Zwaan £31,750
67 William O’Connor £31,000
68 Simon Stevenson £26,500
69 Ted Evetts £23,750
70 Mark Walsh £23,500
71 Mike De Decker £23,250
72 Matt Clark £22,250
= Berry van Peer £22,250
74 Richard North £21,750
75 Zoran Lerchbacher £21,000
76 Vincent Kamphuis £20,500
77 Darren Johnson £20,000
= Richie Corner £20,000
79 John Bowles £18,750
80 Peter Jacques £17,500
81 Ryan Meikle £17,250
= Yordi Meeuwisse £17,250
83 Kim Viljanen £17,000
84 Ryan Searle £16,250
85 Tony Newell £15,750
86 Steve Lennon £14,500
= Chris Quantock £14,500
= Peter Hudson £14,500
89 Robert Owen £14,000
90 Martin Schindler £13,750
= Mark Barilli £13,750
92 Jamie Bain £13,250
= Jonathan Worsley £13,250
94 Krzysztof Ratajski £13,000
= Paul Nicholson £13,000
96 Kirk Shepherd £12,750
97 Wayne Jones £11,500
= Jimmy Hendriks £11,500
99 Matthew Dennant £10,750
100 Mick Todd £10,500
101 Alan Tabern £10,000
102 Steve Hine £9,250
103 Mickey Mansell £9,000
104 Ryan Palmer £8,500
= Stuart Kellett £8,500
= Dennis Smith £8,500
107 Ritchie Edhouse £8,250
= Brian Woods £8,250
109 Adam Hunt £8,000
= Shaun Griffiths £8,000
111 Nathan Aspinall £7,750
= Aden Kirk £7,750
= Ronnie Baxter £7,750
= Darron Brown £7,750
= Martin Lukeman £7,750
116 Scott Taylor £7,250
117 Terry Temple £6,500
118 Ricky Williams £6,250
= Antonio Alcinas £6,250
120 Harry Robinson £6,000
= Paul Rowley £6,000
= Richie Burnett £6,000
123 Warrick Scheffer £5,500
= Ross Smith £5,500
125 Steffen Siepmann £5,000
= Simon Preston £5,000
127 Maik Langendorf £4,750
= Stephen Burton £4,750
= Paul Harvey £4,750
130 Ross Twell £4,500
131 Bernd Roith £4,250
132 Barrie Bates £4,000
= Magnus Caris £4,000
134 Lee Bryant £3,750
= Diogo Portela £3,750
136 Bryan de Hoog £3,250
= Rob Hewson £3,250
138 Robert Allenstein £3,000
= Dragutin Horvat £3,000
= Michael Plooy £3,000
= Vincent van der Meer £3,000
= Rene Eidams £3,000
= Marko Kantele £3,000
= Ulf Ceder £3,000
145 Ray Campbell £2,750
= Dick van Dijk £2,750
147 Terry Roach £2,500
= Sven Groen £2,500
149 Jerry Hendriks £2,000
= Christian Kallinger £2,000
= Rusty-Jake Rodriguez £2,000
= Michael Rasztovits £2,000
= Rene Berndt £2,000
= Nico Blum £2,000
= Daniel Larsson £2,000
= Andy Parsons £2,000
157 Michael Barnard £1,750
= Ryan De Vreede £1,750
159 Kevin McDine £1,500
= Callan Rydz £1,500
= Scott Darbyshire £1,500
162 Callum Loose £1,250
= Matthew Edgar £1,250
= Adrian Gray £1,250
= Dyson Parody £1,250
= Luke Woodhouse £1,250
= Kai Fan Leung £1,250
= Madars Razma £1,250
= Mario Robbe £1,250
170 Christian Bunse £1,000
= Roxy-James Rodriguez £1,000
= Justin Broton £1,000
= Dylan Duo £1,000
= Manuel Vilerio £1,000
= Matt Padgett £1,000
= Haruki Muramatsu £1,000
= Royden Lam £1,000
= Ryan Murray £1,000
= Prakash Jiwa £1,000
= Robert Marijanovic £1,000
= John Norman Jnr £1,000
= Antony Lopez £1,000
= Gabriel Clemens £1,000
= Stefan Stoyke £1,000
= Craig Gilchrist £1,000
= Veijo Viinikka £1,000
187 Ryan Harrington £750
= Mark Frost £750
= John Part £750
= Paul Milford £750
= Joe Davis £750
= Colin Roelofs £750
193 Mareno Michels £500
= Kurt Parry £500
= Ian Lever £500
= Jim Brown £500
197 Dawson Murschell £250
= Willy van de Wiel £250
= Steve Brown £250
= Nick Fullwell £250
= James Young £250
= Kevin Dowling £250
= Stuart Bousfield £250
= Adam Smith-Neale £250
= Dean Stewart £250
= Jon Jukes £250
= Jay Foreman £250
= Tim Hope £250
= Curtis Hammond £250
= Mark Forman £250
= Scott Rollings £250
= James Hubbard £250
= Kevin Thomas £250
= Eddie Dootson £250
= Scott Dale £250
= Nathan Derry £250
= Richard Baillie £250
= Nolan Arendse £250
= Nigel Daniels £250
= Allan Candlish £250
= Yuki Yamada £250
= Greg Ritchie £250
= Martin Thomas £250

Paul Lim leads the Soft Darts World Championship rankings at the halfway stage

Paul Lim leads the way in the annual rankings at the halfway stage of this year’s Soft Darts World Championship – The World.

The 63-year-old, who starred for Singapore in the recent World Cup of Darts, sits at the top of the pile with 114 points after the first three stages.

Lim has been in good form so far in this year’s Soft Darts World Championship, with a semi-final appearance in stage one followed by victory in stage two last month.

The veteran then made it to the quarter-finals of stage three in Taiwan this past weekend, before he was beaten by eventual winner Prussian Arceno.

Arceno’s maiden stage title success has seen him enter the rankings at 29th place, with stage three runner-up Kenichi Ajiki moving up to 16th.

Yesterday’s beaten semi-finalists Harith Lim and Cyril Blot are now ranked second and seventh respectively.

Soft Darts World Championship – The World Annual Ranking (as of 31/07/2017)

Pos  Player Points
1 Paul Lim 114
2 Harith Lim 106
3 Alex Reyes 94
4 Royden Lam 78
= Yuji Eguchi 78
6 Boris Krcmar 77
7 Cyril Blot 75
8 Minoru Inaba 68
9 Alan Ljubic 67
10 Sho Katsumi 66
11 Hyunchul Park 63
12 Scott Kirchner 61
= Randy van Deursen 61
= Chris Lim 61
15 Daisuke Fujii 60
16 Kenichi Ajiki 59
17 Mike Valentin 58
= Mitsumasa Hoshino 58
19 Yuta Kazama 57
= Chris White 57
21 Daisuke Akamatsu 56
= Leonard Gates 56
23 Hideki Aizono 55
= Darin Young 55
25 Adrian Gray 54
= Mikuru Suzuki 54
27 Haruki Muramatsu 53
28 Ali Ho 51
29 Howei Tsai 50
= Prussian Arceno 50

For the full rankings click here (external site)

Picture: Soft Darts World Championship – The World

PDC ORDER OF MERIT: Daryl Gurney provisionally up to career-high 12th after World Matchplay quarter-final win last night

Rising star Daryl Gurney is provisionally up to a career-high of number 12 on the PDC Order of Merit, following last night’s thrilling 16-13 win against Mensur Suljovic in the World Matchplay quarter-finals.

The recent US Darts Masters runner-up has beaten Benito van de Pas, Gary Anderson, and now Suljovic, to reach the semi-finals in Blackpool for the first time in his career.

The Northern Irishman will take home a minimum of £30,000 for his efforts this week, a figure which sees him currently sit in 12th place on the provisional PDC Order of Merit.

Suljovic, who could have climbed up to fifth on the Order of Merit had he beaten Gurney last night, is provisionally set to move up to a career-high of sixth and has already secured his debut in the Champions League of Darts in September.

Last night’s other quarter-final saw world number three Peter Wright come from behind to knock out Darren Webster 16-12.

The UK Open champion could leapfrog Anderson into second spot if he were to go all the way and lift the World Matchplay title on Sunday night.

As it stands, the world number three’s win yesterday has cut the gap on his World Cup of Darts partner to £69,750.

Webster’s run to the quarter-finals this week has seen him climb three places on the Order of Merit from 29th to 26th, with the Norwich thrower now just over £100,000 adrift of the top 16.

Provisional PDC Order of Merit (Players in green are still in the World Matchplay) (as of 27/07/2017)

Pos  Player Prize Money
1 Michael van Gerwen £1,660,750
2 Gary Anderson £760,000
3 Peter Wright £690,250
4 Adrian Lewis £395,500
5 Dave Chisnall £356,500
6 Mensur Suljovic £346,000
7 Raymond van Barneveld £324,500
8 Michael Smith £312,750
9 James Wade £312,500
10 Jelle Klaasen £312,250
11 Phil Taylor £311,750
12 Daryl Gurney £279,500
13 Kim Huybrechts £279,250
14 Ian White £272,000
15 Benito van de Pas £265,750
16 Robert Thornton £255,750
17 Alan Norris £251,250
18 Simon Whitlock £250,000
19 Gerwyn Price £226,500
20 Mervyn King £189,000
21 Joe Cullen £187,750
22 Stephen Bunting £175,250
23 Mark Webster £164,000
24 Steve Beaton £157,250
25 Terry Jenkins £156,250
26 Darren Webster £150,000

RACE TO CARDIFF: Mensur Suljovic seals Champions League debut + one spot left to be decided

Mensur Suljovic will make his debut in the Champions League of Darts in September after securing the penultimate spot in the invitational event this week.

The world number seven takes on Daryl Gurney in the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay tonight, with his place in the BBC-televised Champions League having now been secured.

Suljovic joins defending champion Phil Taylor, who qualified automatically, and Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Adrian Lewis and Dave Chisnall in the second staging of the Champions League, which will take place in September.

Raymond van Barneveld, who currently occupies the final qualifying spot, exited the World Matchplay after losing 11-3 to Taylor last night.

But the Dutchman is hopeful of clinging on to the final place, with only Daryl Gurney or Alan Norris able to overtake him by winning the World Matchplay on Sunday night.

Provisional PDC Order of Merit (Phil Taylor + the next top seven qualify) Players in green are still in the World Matchplay (as of 26/07/2017)

Pos  Player Prize Money
1 Michael van Gerwen (Q) £1,660,750
2 Gary Anderson (Q) £760,000
3 Peter Wright (Q) £677,750
4 Adrian Lewis (Q) £395,500
5 Dave Chisnall (Q) £356,500
6 Mensur Suljovic (Q) £346,000
7 Raymond van Barneveld £324,500
8 Michael Smith £312,750
9 James Wade £312,500
10 Jelle Klaasen £312,250
11 Phil Taylor (Q) £311,750
12 Kim Huybrechts £279,250
13 Ian White £272,000
14 Daryl Gurney £267,000
15 Benito van de Pas £265,750
16 Robert Thornton £255,750
17 Alan Norris £251,250

PDC ORDER OF MERIT: Rob Cross cracks the top 40 after World Matchplay debut win + Simon Whitlock closes back in on top 16

Rob Cross has provisionally moved into the top 40 on the PDC Order of Merit after winning on his World Matchplay debut last night.

Last year’s Challenge Tour Order of Merit winner has enjoyed a remarkable rise through the ranks after joining the main tour this year, winning two Players Championship events and qualifying for Blackpool in his first season.

In the final game of this year’s first round of the World Matchplay, Cross saw off 13th seed Ian White 10-7, to set up a clash with two-time world champion Adrian Lewis in the second round tomorrow night.

Yesterday’s win has moved Cross up to 40th in the provisional Order of Merit on £80,750, and it would take a run to the final this week to push him into the top 32.

Elsewhere, Simon Whitlock moved to within one more win in Blackpool this week of getting back into the top 16.

Whitlock, the 16th seed in this year’s World Matchplay but 17th on the current Order of Merit, knocked out fellow Australian Kyle Anderson 10-5 in the first round last night.

With Robert Thornton, provisionally in 16th, losing out to Cristo Reyes in his first game on Sunday, it means that Whitlock will provisionally move back into the top 16 if he beats world number one Michael van Gerwen when the two meet in the second round tomorrow night.

Provisional PDC Order of Merit (Players in green are still in the World Matchplay) (as of 24/07/2017)

Pos  Player Prize Money
1 Michael van Gerwen  £1,654,250
2 Gary Anderson  £760,000
3 Peter Wright  £671,250
4 Adrian Lewis  £389,000
5 Dave Chisnall  £356,500
6 Mensur Suljovic £339,500
7 Raymond van Barneveld £324,500
8 Michael Smith £312,750
9 James Wade £312,500
10 Jelle Klaasen £312,250
11 Phil Taylor £305,250
12 Kim Huybrechts £279,250
13 Ian White £272,000
14 Benito van de Pas £265,750
15 Daryl Gurney £260,500
16 Robert Thornton £255,750
17 Simon Whitlock £250,000
18 Alan Norris £244,750
19 Gerwyn Price £226,500
20 Mervyn King £189,000
21 Joe Cullen £187,750
22 Stephen Bunting £175,250
23 Mark Webster £164,000
24 Steve Beaton £157,250
25 Terry Jenkins £156,250
26 Cristo Reyes £144,500
27 Darren Webster £143,500
28 Vincent van der Voort £135,500
29 Justin Pipe £134,500
30 Kyle Anderson £130,250
31 Brendan Dolan £125,500
32 John Henderson £108,750
33 James Wilson £106,250
34 Jamie Caven £100,750
35 Steve West £99,750
36 Christian Kist £99,250
37 Jamie Lewis £93,000
38 Chris Dobey £92,750
= Robbie Green £92,750
40 Rob Cross £80,750

RACE TO CARDIFF: Dave Chisnall secures Champions League of Darts debut as just two spots are left to be decided

Dave Chisnall has become the sixth player to qualify for the Champions League of Darts, following the completion of the first round of the World Matchplay.

The world number five defeated Mervyn King 10-7 in his first round game in Blackpool on Sunday night, and he joins reigning champion Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Adrian Lewis in qualifying for the BBC-televised event.

Mensur Suljovic and Raymond van Barneveld still occupy the last two qualifying places, and after the early departures of the likes of Michael Smith, James Wade and Jelle Klaasen in Blackpool at the weekend, they are close to securing their Champions League debuts along with Chisnall.

For one of Suljovic or van Barneveld to now miss out, one of Daryl Gurney, Simon Whitlock and Alan Norris will have to go and win the World Matchplay this week to have a chance of moving into the top seven.

Provisional PDC Order of Merit (Phil Taylor + the next top seven qualify) Players in green are still in the World Matchplay (as of 24/07/2017)

Pos  Player Prize Money
1 Michael van Gerwen (Q) £1,654,250
2 Gary Anderson (Q) £760,000
3 Peter Wright (Q) £671,250
4 Adrian Lewis (Q) £389,000
5 Dave Chisnall (Q) £356,500
6 Mensur Suljovic £339,500
7 Raymond van Barneveld £324,500
8 Michael Smith £312,750
9 James Wade £312,500
10 Jelle Klaasen £312,250
11 Phil Taylor (Q) £305,250
12 Kim Huybrechts £279,250
13 Ian White £272,000
14 Benito van de Pas £265,750
15 Daryl Gurney £260,500
16 Robert Thornton £255,750
17 Simon Whitlock £250,000
18 Alan Norris £244,750