The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players have gone on to win at least 30 titles on the PDC Pro Tour. Michael van Gerwen has won the most Pro Tour titles winning 86. Phil Taylor is second on the list winning 70 events. Gary Anderson is in third winning 34 events and Peter Wright in fourth winning 33 events, as of October 2023.

PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit:[1]

RankPlayerEarnings
1England Luke Humphries£190,000
2England Dave Chisnall£141,500
3Netherlands Michael van Gerwen£126,250
4Australia Damon Heta£125,500
5Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode£121,750
6England Rob Cross£120,250
7England Michael Smith£108,750
8England Nathan Aspinall£104,750
9Netherlands Danny Noppert£93,000
10Scotland Peter Wright£92,500
Correct as of 6th March 2023

Pro Tour Card

Since 2011, the PDC Pro Tour has operated a Tour Card system. 128 players are granted Tour Cards, which enables them to participate in all Players Championships.

In 2011, Tour Cards were awarded to:

Tour Cards were also offered to the four semi-finalists from the 2011 BDO World Championship, although none of the players took up the offer.

From 2012 to 2014, the PDC Tour Cards were awarded to:

  • Top 64 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the World Championship (having competed in at least ten events)
  • Tour Card holders from previous year's Qualifying School
  • Tour card holders from previous year's invitations (BDO World Championship & World Youth Championship)
  • 4 semi-finalists from the 2012 BDO World Championship
  • 2 finalists from the 2012 World Youth Championship
  • At least 16 qualifiers from a four-day Qualifying School (more places will be awarded via this method if not all the above spaces are filled)

From 2015 onwards, the PDC withdrew the Tour Cards awarded to BDO semi-finalists. The new distribution of Tour Cards is as follows:

  • Top 64 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the World Championship (having competed in at least ten events)
  • Tour Card holders from previous year's Qualifying School
  • Four tour card holders from previous year's invitations (PDC Challenge Tour & PDC Development Tour)
  • Two highest qualifiers from the PDC Challenge Tour, a series of tournaments for non-Tour Card holders
  • Two highest qualifiers from the PDC Development Tour, a series of tournaments for youth players
  • At least 16 qualifiers from a four-day Qualifying School (more places will be awarded via this method if not all the above spaces are filled)

Players Championships

Players Championships, originally known as PDPA Players Championships, are organised by the Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) and have increased in number in recent years. They are known as "floor tournaments", because they usually feature 16 darts boards in close proximity on an arena floor where the tournament is played in the space of a day. Televised events differ by having just one main board on a stage with the audience and cameras situated around it.

Order of Merit

The prize money won in Players Championships count towards the PDC Order of Merit, which contributes to each player's world ranking.

After each completion of each year's Players Championship season (30 events as of 2023), the top 64 money-earners compete in the Players Championship Finals, in which they are seeded purely on this basis with 1 v 64, 2 v 63, etc.

During 2007, the PDC and PDPA added further importance to Players Championships by changing qualification criteria for major televised events. A separate Players Championship Order of Merit was introduced which calculates players earnings for these tournaments only each calendar year. The players who won the most money (without qualifying automatically via the PDC Order of Merit) were awarded qualifying places at major tournaments, such as the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and World Championship.

Previously, a sudden-death knockout qualifying tournament decided the players which meant players could miss out on tournaments because of unlucky matches or unlucky draws. The World Championship, however, still maintains an additional qualifying tournament – from which Kirk Shepherd emerged and went on to reach the world final itself in 2008. This was dropped for the 2010 running of the event, however it was reinstated for 2011.

Entries

PDPA members must enter events through the PDC's online entry system, while non-PDPA members must enter through the local organiser for the relevant event. The entry fee for all Players Championships is £100 for Tour Card holders.

In addition, seedings for Players Championship events are determined by a one-year rolling Players Championship Order of Merit, consisting of prize money won in Players Championships over the 12 months before that event. The top 32 players in the Order of Merit that have entered the tournament are seeded.

Players Championship events have a 128-player draw.

If fewer than 128 Tour Card holders enter a Players Championship event, places are awarded to PDC Challenge Tour players based on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.

Prize money

The prize money for PDC Pro Tour events has increased steadily over the years. Prize money is awarded to all players who reach at least the last 64 of a Pro Tour event. In the past, Players Championships held outside of Europe awarded less prize money than those held in the United Kingdom or Europe.

In 2011, all Players Championship events and UK Open qualifiers awarded £34,600 each, but from 2013 on Players Championship events awarded £50,000.

Up to 2013 on the Pro Tour, there was also a rolling jackpot for nine-dart finishes. £500 (Players Championship events) / £400 (UK Open qualifiers) per event was reserved for any player who hit a nine-dart finish, with the money rolling over to the next event if the feat was not achieved. If more than one player hit a nine-darter in an event, the jackpot was shared.

Prize funds for Pro Tour events over the years:

YearWinnerRunner-upSemi-FinalistsQuarter-FinalistsLast 16Last 32Last 64Total
2004–2008[2]£5,000£2,500£1,250£600£300£150£75£19,600
2009£6,000£3,000£1,500£800£400£300£200£29,600
2010£6,000£3,000£1,500£1,000£500£300£200£31,200
2011–2012[3]£6,000£3,000£2,000£1,000£600£400£200£34,600
2013[4]£10,000£5,000£2,500£1,500£1,000£500£250£50,000
2014–2015[5]£10,000£5,000£2,500£2,000£1,500£750£250£60,000
2016–2021[6]£10,000£6,000£3,000£2,250£1,500£1,000£500£75,000
2022–present£12,000£8,000£4,000£3,000£2,000£1,250£750£100,000

PDC European Tour

In 2012, the PDC introduced a series of five tournaments held across Europe known as the European Tour. The number of events has steadily risen with eight held in 2013 and 2014, nine in 2015, ten in 2016, twelve in 2017, and as of 2018, there are thirteen events.[7] These events see the top players on the PDC Order of Merit compete against players from a UK qualifier, European qualifier and home nations qualifier (the country where the event is held). Currently the prize fund for each tournament is £140,000, with £25,000 going to the winner.[8] These events differ from others held on the Pro Tour as they are played on one board in front of an audience. They are not televised, but selected events have been available on the PDC's YouTube channel in the past.[9] All events are now shown live on the PDC's PDCHD-TV website.

UK Open Qualifiers

The UK Open is a major tournament that takes place each year in March at Butlin's Minehead.[10][11] From 2003 to 2013 the tournament took place at Bolton's Reebok Stadium each year in June. Prior to the televised event, there were eight UK Open Qualifiers (originally named Regional Finals), where the prize money won was collated into a UK Open Order of Merit table which determined the 96 qualifiers for the UK Open finals in Bolton. From 2003 to 2015 there were ties and a preliminary round would be used to reduce the field to 96. In 2016 ties were scrapped and countback was used to separate players who were level.[12]

The tournaments were organised similarly to the Players Championships in that 32 boards were in operation for a non-televised "floor tournament", completed in one day. During the 2007–08 UK Open, sponsors Blue Square streamed live coverage of these Regional Finals on the internet.

From 2011 until 2013, the UK Open Qualifiers were held on four double-header weekends instead of being held on eight Sundays. From 2014 onwards there were only 6 UK Open Qualifiers.[11] UK Open Qualifiers were abolished in 2019, as all tour card holders were invited to the UK Open from then on.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "ProTour Order of Merit Live".
  2. ↑ "Example prize fund for Ireland Players Championship". dartsdatabase.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  3. ↑ "Order of Merit Explanation". PDC. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  4. ↑ "Players Championship Prize Funds boosted". PDC.tv. 18 March 2013. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  5. ↑ "ProTour Prize Funds Increased". PDC.tv. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Prize Fund Boosts Announced". PDC. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "2015 European Tour Update". PDC. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Record Prize Money On Offer In 2017". PDC. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "ET1 Live & Free on YouTube". PDC. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Information about UK Open". Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  11. 1 2 "PDC event list". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  12. ↑ "Coral UK Open Field Confirmed". Professional Darts Corporation. 21 February 2015. Archived from the original on 23 February 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  13. ↑ Allen, Dave. "New Format & Prize Fund For Coral UK Open". PDC. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
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