Thornton Climbs Up The Rankings As Lewis And Barney Continue Slides

Robert Thornton has climbed up to number five in the PDC Order Of Merit following his World Grand Prix final win over Michael van Gerwen in Dublin to claim the unique double-start title.

Thornton played extremely well over the week at the Citywest, and it was a fitting finale to a week of shocks in Dublin. After climbing up to fifth in the world, if the Scot can retain his positon, he must be in with more than a shout of claiming a Premier League wildcard.

Michael van Gerwen making the final extended his lead at the top of the PDC World rankings, as Gary Anderson stayed in second spot despite a second round exit to Ian White. Phil Taylor stays in third, but lost a lot of money after a first round shock exit as Dutchman Vincent van der Voort beat the sixteen-time World Champion in straight sets.

Adrian Lewis went out in the last sixteen, and after Thornton’s win, the two-time back-to-back Champion of the World drops down the World rank number six.

However, five-time World beater Raymond van Barneveld has slipped out the top sixteen in the World following his first round exit to Adrian Lewis, and will have to play well to climb back into the top sixteen after falling down to eighteenth.

Here are the PDC Order Of Merit standing following the World Grand Prix.

1 van Gerwen, Michael £1,123,750
2 Anderson, Gary £580,250
3 Taylor, Phil £420,000
4 Wright, Peter £376,500
5 Thornton, Robert £339,750
6 Lewis, Adrian £330,500
7 Wade, James £313,500
8 White, Ian £248,000
9 Smith, Michael £244,000
10 Jenkins, Terry £216,500
11 Whitlock, Simon £213,500
12 Dolan, Brendan £213,250
13 Huybrechts, Kim £207,250
14 Chisnall, Dave £203,500
15 King, Mervyn £202,500
16 van der Voort, Vincent £199,750
17 Bunting, Stephen £187,750
18 van Barneveld, Raymond £179,000
19 Pipe, Justin £166,750
20 Klaasen, Jelle £148,250
21 Caven, Jamie £136,000
22 Hamilton, Andy £132,500
23 Newton, Wesley £131,500
24 Suljovic, Mensur £124,750
25 Beaton, Steve £120,250
26 Gilding, Andrew £109,500
27 Webster, Mark £106,000
28 Painter, Kevin £105,250
29 Winstanley, Dean £104,000
30 van de Pas, Benito £97,250
31 Lewis, Jamie £91,750
32 Webster, Darren £78,750
33 Smith, Andy £78,000
34 Baxter, Ronnie £76,500
35 Henderson, John £74,250
36 Price, Gerwyn £69,500
37 Brown, Keegan £63,500
38 Nicholson, Paul £60,000
39 Huybrechts, Ronny £59,000
40 Kist, Christian £57,250
41 Gurney, Daryl £54,000
42 Jones, Wayne £50,000
43 Anderson, Kyle £49,250
44 Pallett, David £44,000
45 Kellett, Stuart £42,750
46 Mansell, Mickey £41,000
47 Cullen, Joe £39,750
48 Part, John £39,250
49 Rodriguez, Rowby-John £38,000
50 Hopp, Max £36,250
51 Reyes, Cristo £35,750
52 Evans, Ricky £34,000
53 McDine, Kevin £32,250
54 Murnan, Joe £31,000
55 Artut, Jyhan £29,000
56 Norris, Alan £28,500
57 Walsh, Mark £25,000
58 Petersen, Devon £23,250
59 O’Connor, William £22,750
60 Dudbridge, Mark £22,500
60 Smith, Ross £22,500
62 Smith, Dennis £17,750
63 Wilson, James £17,250
64 Lloyd, Colin £17,000