The race for a place in the unique World Grand Prix in Dublin draws to a close this weekend in Barnsley with Players Championship 15 and Players Championship 16.
This will be the last chance players have to add to their prize money in the PDC Order Of Merit and the ProTour Order Of Merit and claim a place in Dublin before the cut-off following the conclusion of Players Championship 16 on Sunday.
The top sixteen players in the PDC OOM automatically qualify and the top fourteen players outside of the top sixteen in the PDC OOM can qualify via the ProTour OOM. The other two players will be the top two Irishmen that haven’t already qualified, currently Daryl Gurney and William O’Connor. Mickey Mansell could steal one of their places with a good run this weekend.
The big battle this weekend comes at the ProTour cut-off where Jamie Caven – just outside of the qualifying spots – will be battling with Mark Webster, Jamie Lewis, Keegan Brown, Joe Murnan and Andrew Gilding for a place in Dublin, all five are within £1,000 of ‘Jabba’.
Raymond van Barneveld is hanging on in the top sixteen in the main OOM, and fellow Dutchman Vincent van der Voort is closing in on him just £2,250 away from the five-time World Champion, but van der Voort is set to qualify via the ProTour method anyway.
Crashing out in the first round will win no prize money at all, but a second round exit means a mere £250. A third round exit would mean a tidy £750 and making it to the fourth round would earn a good £1,500. A quarter-final finish wins £2,000 and a semi-final defeat is £500 more at £2,500. A defeat in the is £5,000 and winning the events earns £10,000.
Here are the provisional standings, with the money won at Players Championships 15 and 16 to be added:
Provisional PDC Order of Merit – Top 16
1 van Gerwen, Michael £1,089,000
2 Anderson, Gary £582,500
3 Taylor, Phil £510,250
4 Wright, Peter £375,250
5 Lewis, Adrian £338,500
6 Wade, James £326,250
7 Thornton, Robert £243,000
8 Smith, Michael £231,500
9 Chisnall, Dave £227,500
10 White, Ian £224,500
11 Dolan, Brendan £214,750
11 Whitlock, Simon £214,750
13 Jenkins, Terry £201,750
14 King, Mervyn £201,000
15 Huybrechts, Kim £194,000
16 van Barneveld, Raymond £185,750
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17 van der Voort, Vincent £183,500
18 Pipe, Justin £179,500
19 Bunting, Stephen £177,250
Provisional ProTour Order of Merit
Provisional Qualifiers marked with *
1 van Gerwen, Michael £225,750
2 Smith, Michael £93,500
3 Wade, James £88,000
4 Lewis, Adrian £77,250
5 Wright, Peter £68,750
6 Thornton, Robert £65,250
7 White, Ian £64,250
8 Chisnall, Dave £62,500
9 Anderson, Gary £56,750
10 Huybrechts, Kim £56,250
11 Dolan, Brendan £54,250
12 Pipe, Justin * £52,000
13 Klaasen, Jelle * £48,250
14 Jenkins, Terry £44,000
15 van der Voort, Vincent * £43,250
16 van de Pas, Benito * £38,750
17 Whitlock, Simon £36,250
18 King, Mervyn £36,000
19 Suljovic, Mensur * £33,250
20 Taylor, Phil £30,500
21 Bunting, Stephen * £29,500
22 Price, Gerwyn * £27,000
23 Henderson, John * £24,250
24 Beaton, Steve * £23,250
25 Gilding, Andrew * £22,500
25 Murnan, Joe * £22,500
25 Brown, Keegan * £22,500
28 Lewis, Jamie * £22,000
29 Webster, Mark * £21,750
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30 Caven, Jamie £21,500
31 Gurney, Daryl * £19,000
32 Anderson, Kyle £18,750
33 Rodriguez, Rowby-John £18,250
34 Pallett, David £17,250
35 Kist, Christian £16,500
36 Norris, Alan £16,000
37 Reyes, Cristo £15,750
38 van Duijvenbode, Dirk £15,250
39 Hopp, Max £15,000
40 Webster, Darren £14,750
41 van Barneveld, Raymond £14,000
42 Wilson, James £13,250
43 Hamilton, Andy £13,000
43 de Zwaan, Jeffrey £13,000
45 O’Connor, William * £12,750
45 Smith, Andy £12,750
47 Painter, Kevin £12,250
47 Huybrechts, Ronny £12,250
49 Cullen, Joe £12,000
50 Newton, Wesley £11,000
50 Winstanley, Dean £11,000
50 Bain, Jamie £11,000
53 Petersen, Devon £10,750
54 McDine, Kevin £10,500
54 Kellett, Stuart £10,500
56 Evans, Ricky £10,250
57 Van Den Bergh, Dimitri £10,000
57 Johnson, Darren £10,000
57 Mansell, Mickey £10,000
57 Payne, Josh £10,000
61 Artut, Jyhan £9,000
62 Boulton, Andy £8,750
63 Jones, Wayne £8,500
63 Bowles, John £8,500
65 Jenkins, Andy £8,250
65 Smith, Ross £8,250