PDC Pro Tour

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (July 2017)

The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Since 2019, the Pro Tour has comprised Players Championships and European Tour events; UK Open Qualifiers were previously a part of the tour until they were discontinued. Pro Tour events mainly consist of professional darts players who hold a PDC Tour Card, with the exception of amateur call-ups and European Tour regional qualifiers. Prize money won in these events counts towards players' ranking on the PDC Order of Merit, the main world ranking system used by the PDC. It also counts towards the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and separate European Tour and Players Championship rankings.

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:

• 101 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2011 World Championship
• 2 finalists from the 2010 PDC Women's World Championship
• 25 qualifiers from a four-day Qualifying School in Wigan (4 semi-finalists from each day, plus the top 9 players from the Q School Order of Merit)

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 the previous year's Qualifying School
• Tour card holders from the 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 the previous year's Qualifying School
• Four tour card holders from the 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, 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.

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 (34 events as of 2025), 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.

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. There was previously an entry fee for all Players Championship events of £100 for Tour Card holders. The entry fee has subsequently been abolished.

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.

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:

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,^[9] ten in 2016, twelve in 2017, thirteen from 2018 to 2024, fourteen in 2025 and fifteen in 2026. These events see the top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit and PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit compete against players from a Tour Card qualifier, regional qualifiers and home nations qualifier (the country where the event is held). Currently the prize fund for each tournament is £175,000, with £30,000 going to the winner.^[10] 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.^[11] All events are now shown live on PDC TV.

The UK Open is a major tournament that takes place each year in March at Butlin's Minehead.^[12][13] 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.^[14]

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.^[13] UK Open Qualifiers were abolished in 2019, as all tour card holders were invited to the UK Open from then on.^[15]

The PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit is based on based on prize money won in Players Championship events and PDC European Tour events over a rolling 12-month period.

For the 2025 PDC Pro Tour and 2025 in PDC season, the rankings are used to determine the following:

• The top 32 players are seeded for Players Championship events
• The top 16 not-yet qualified players qualify for PDC European Tour events^[16][17]
• The top 16 not-yet qualified players qualify on the cut-off date for each qualify for the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix^[18]
• The top 40 not-yet qualified players qualify for the PDC World Darts Championship^[19]

PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit as of 25 September 2025.^[20]

Players ranked 1 - 32
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
1	1	Martin Schindler	£176,500
2	1	Stephen Bunting	£172,500
3	1	Gerwyn Price	£172,000
4		Josh Rock	£153,000
5	7	Luke Humphries	£150,000
6	3	Jonny Clayton	£142,000
7	1	Gian van Veen	£135,500
8		Damon Heta	£135,000
9	3	Ross Smith	£134,500
10	1	Wessel Nijman	£130,500
11	2	Luke Littler	£127,500
12	2	Gary Anderson	£125,000
13	2	James Wade	£122,500
14	3	Cameron Menzies	£118,500
14	1	Chris Dobey	£118,500
16	6	Danny Noppert	£114,000
17	2	Nathan Aspinall	£112,500
18	2	Jermaine Wattimena	£105,000
19	4	Mike De Decker	£101,000
20	2	Ryan Searle	£99,500
21		Dirk van Duijvenbode	£99,250
22	12	Dave Chisnall	£89,000
23	1	Daryl Gurney	£84,000
24	1	Luke Woodhouse	£82,000
25	10	Joe Cullen	£81,250
26		Andrew Gilding	£79,000
27	11	Michael van Gerwen	£78,000
28	20	Niko Springer	£77,750
29	1	Raymond van Barneveld	£77,500
30	3	Ryan Joyce	£76,750
31	1	Rob Cross	£75,000
32	2	William O'Connor	£72,000
32		Krzysztof Ratajski	£72,000
*Change since 2 September 2025.

PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit as of 25 September 2025.^[20]

Players ranked 33 - 64
Rank	Change	Player	Earnings
34	3	Niels Zonneveld	£69,000
35	3	Michael Smith	£66,000
36	7	Ricardo Pietreczko	£64,250
37	1	Peter Wright	£58,500
38		Kevin Doets	£58,250
39	2	Martin Lukeman	£57,750
40		Scott Williams	£53,000
41	2	Ritchie Edhouse	£52,500
42	4	Kim Huybrechts	£51,000
43	2	Callan Rydz	£50,500
44	2	Madars Razma	£49,250
45	3	Brendan Dolan	£46,500
45	2	Karel Sedláček	£46,500
47	3	Ian White	£45,500
48	2	Mickey Mansell	£43,750
49	4	Bradley Brooks	£43,250
50	1	Jeffrey de Graaf	£42,750
51	6	Alan Soutar	£41,500
52	4	Sebastian Białecki	£40,750
53	1	Mensur Suljović	£40,000
54		Dom Taylor	£39,500
55	2	Thibault Tricole	£38,250
56	14	Gabriel Clemens	£37,250
57	3	Richard Veenstra	£37,000
58	3	Connor Scutt	£35,750
59	1	Mario Vandenbogaerde	£34,250
60	4	James Hurrell	£32,750
61	3	Lukas Wenig	£32,000
61	2	Ryan Meikle	£32,000
63	3	Matthew Dennant	£31,750
64	3	Darren Beveridge	£30,500
64	4	Stephen Burton	£30,500
64	2	Cam Crabtree	£30,500
*Change since 2 September 2025.

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