The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded for performances in ranking tournaments. [1]
The Order of Merit is similar to that employed in golf's European Tour. Prize money won during the previous two seasons is calculated and the rankings are determined from this money list. The Professional Darts Corporation adopted an Order of Merit system in 2007, which is based on prize money won over two years for the main Order of Merit and separate one-year rankings for other PDC Pro Tour events.
Players ranked 1 - 32 | |||
Rank | Change | Player | Earnings |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Luke Humphries | £1,521,500 | |
2 | Michael Smith | £1,059,250 | |
3 | Michael van Gerwen | £1,051,500 | |
4 | Nathan Aspinall | £612,750 | |
5 | 1 | Rob Cross | £609,250 |
6 | 1 | Gerwyn Price | £607,750 |
7 | Dave Chisnall | £498,000 | |
7 | 1 | Peter Wright | £498,000 |
9 | 2 | Damon Heta | £484,750 |
10 | Jonny Clayton | £482,250 | |
11 | 2 | Dimitri Van den Bergh | £480,250 |
12 | Danny Noppert | £464,000 | |
13 | Chris Dobey | £425,750 | |
14 | Ross Smith | £416,750 | |
15 | Joe Cullen | £414,250 | |
16 | 1 | Stephen Bunting | £406,750 |
17 | 1 | Dirk van Duijvenbode | £404,250 |
18 | Andrew Gilding | £363,000 | |
19 | Ryan Searle | £345,500 | |
20 | 1 | Josh Rock | £341,500 |
21 | Gary Anderson | £334,250 | |
22 | 1 | James Wade | £325,000 |
23 | 1 | Martin Schindler | £322,000 |
24 | Gabriel Clemens | £315,500 | |
25 | Luke Littler | £303,500 | |
26 | Krzysztof Ratajski | £295,500 | |
27 | Brendan Dolan | £281,750 | |
28 | Daryl Gurney | £279,250 | |
29 | Raymond van Barneveld | £255,250 | |
30 | José de Sousa | £245,250 | |
31 | Scott Williams | £209,000 | |
32 | Ricardo Pietreczko | £183,000 | |
*Change since 23rd May 2024 |
Players ranked 33 - 64 | |||
Rank | Change | Player | Earnings |
---|---|---|---|
33 | 1 | Gian van Veen | £170,000 |
33 | 1 | Luke Woodhouse | £170,000 |
35 | 2 | Kim Huybrechts | £169,750 |
36 | 3 | Madars Razma | £164,250 |
37 | Ryan Joyce | £162,500 | |
38 | Callan Rydz | £161,750 | |
39 | 3 | Martin Lukeman | £161,500 |
40 | Mike De Decker | £153,500 | |
41 | 2 | Jermaine Wattimena | £124,250 |
42 | 1 | Jim Williams | £123,500 |
43 | 2 | Ricky Evans | £120,500 |
44 | Alan Soutar | £116,750 | |
45 | Simon Whitlock | £114,250 | |
46 | William O'Connor | £112,000 | |
47 | Steve Beaton | £109,250 | |
48 | 1 | Ritchie Edhouse | £107,250 |
49 | 1 | Keane Barry | £103,000 |
50 | 2 | Rowby-John Rodriguez | £101,250 |
51 | Cameron Menzies | £100,500 | |
52 | 1 | Matt Campbell | £98,750 |
53 | 1 | Mickey Mansell | £96,250 |
54 | Kevin Doets | £91,750 | |
55 | Richard Veenstra | £91,500 | |
56 | Boris Krčmar | £88,750 | |
57 | 1 | Mensur Suljović | £85,750 |
58 | 1 | Jamie Hughes | £83,750 |
59 | 1 | Ryan Meikle | £83,500 |
60 | 1 | Florian Hempel | £81,750 |
61 | 4 | Vincent van der Voort | £81,500 |
62 | Mervyn King | £80,500 | |
63 | 1 | Ian White | £80,000 |
64 | 2 | Adrian Lewis | £77,500 |
*Change since 7 May 2024. |
Players ranked 65th or lower | |||
Rank | Change | Player | Earnings |
---|---|---|---|
65 | Adam Gawlas | £73,500 | |
66 | Niels Zonneveld | £69,250 | |
67 | Lee Evans | £55,250 | |
68 | Dylan Slevin | £52,000 | |
69 | Jeffrey de Zwaan | £39,500 | |
70 | Daniel Klose | £38,750 | |
70 | 4 | Maik Kuivenhoven | £38,750 |
72 | 1 | Stephen Burton | £38,000 |
73 | 1 | Karel Sedláček | £36,750 |
73 | 1 | Keegan Brown | £36,750 |
75 | Arron Monk | £29,750 | |
76 | Jeffrey Sparidaans | £28,000 | |
77 | Graham Hall | £27,250 | |
78 | Robert Owen | £26,000 | |
79 | Pascal Rupprecht | £24,000 | |
80 | Nick Kenny | £23,750 | |
81 | Graham Usher | £23,250 | |
82 | Jurjen van der Velde | £22,750 | |
83 | Josh Payne | £19,000 | |
84 | Adam Smith-Neale | £18,750 | |
85 | Ronny Huybrechts | £17,750 | |
86 | Geert Nentjes | £17,000 | |
87 | Owen Roelofs | £15,500 | |
88 | James Hurrell | £15,250 | |
89 | 2 | Thibault Tricole | £14,750 |
90 | 1 | Berry van Peer | £14,500 |
91 | 1 | Danny van Trijp | £14,000 |
92 | 1 | Jeffrey de Graaf | £13,500 |
92 | 5 | Wessel Nijman | £13,500 |
92 | 1 | Christian Perez | £13,500 |
95 | 1 | Robbie Knops | £13,250 |
96 | 1 | Dom Taylor | £12,500 |
97 | 1 | Adam Warner | £12,000 |
98 | 7 | Andy Baetens | £11,500 |
99 | 2 | Steve Lennon | £11,000 |
100 | 1 | Chris Landman | £10,750 |
101 | 1 | Leighton Bennett | £10,500 |
102 | 1 | Patrick Geeraets | £10,000 |
102 | 1 | Danny Lauby | £10,000 |
104 | 1 | Lukas Wenig | £9,750 |
104 | 1 | Callum Goffin | £9,750 |
106 | 1 | Danny Jansen | £9,000 |
107 | 14 | Franz Rötzsch | £8,500 |
107 | Mario Vandenbogaerde | £8,500 | |
109 | 1 | Benjamin Drue Reus | £8,000 |
109 | 1 | Brett Claydon | £8,000 |
111 | 3 | Matthew Dennant | £6,750 |
112 | 2 | Radek Szagański | £6,500 |
113 | 2 | Jacques Labre | £6,250 |
114 | 2 | Robert Grundy | £6,000 |
114 | 2 | Jelle Klaasen | £6,000 |
116 | 2 | Darren Beveridge | £5,500 |
116 | 2 | Paul Krohne | £5,500 |
116 | 2 | George Killington | £5,500 |
116 | 2 | Stefan Bellmont | £5,500 |
116 | 2 | Joshua Richardson | £5,500 |
121 | 11 | Haupai Puha | £4,750 |
121 | 1 | Romeo Grbavac | £4,750 |
123 | 2 | Nathan Rafferty | £4,500 |
123 | 2 | Adam Hunt | £4,500 |
123 | 2 | Rhys Griffin | £4,500 |
123 | 2 | Connor Scutt | £4,500 |
123 | 2 | Oskar Lukasiak | £4,500 |
128 | 1 | Owen Bates | £4,250 |
129 | 1 | William Borland | £4,000 |
129 | 1 | Michele Turetta | £4,000 |
129 | 1 | John Henderson | £4,000 |
132 | 1 | Michael Unterbuchner | £3,750 |
133 | 1 | Tim Wolters | £3,500 |
134 | Jitse Van der Wal | £3,250 | |
135 | Moritz Hilger | £2,500 | |
135 | Sebastian Białecki | £2,500 | |
135 | Richie Burnett | £2,500 | |
135 | Darius Labanauskas | £2,500 | |
135 | Johan Engström | £2,500 | |
135 | Wesley Plaisier | £2,500 | |
135 | Andreas Harrysson | £2,500 | |
135 | Leonard Gates | £2,500 | |
135 | Scott Mitchell | £2,500 | |
144 | 2 | Jules van Dongen | £2,000 |
144 | 2 | Thomas Lovely | £2,000 |
146 | 2 | Lee Cocks | £1,500 |
146 | 2 | Jarred Cole | £1,500 |
146 | 2 | Joe Croft | £1,500 |
146 | 2 | Michael Taylor | £1,500 |
150 | Christopher Toonders | £1,250 | |
150 | Daniel Larsson | £1,250 | |
150 | Kevin Troppmann | £1,250 | |
150 | 2 | Christian Gödl | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Dominik Haberl | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Hannes Schnier | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Zoran Lerchbacher | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Arno Merk | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Niko Springer | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | René Eidams | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Alexander Mašek | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Cor Dekker | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Jan Dueckers | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Kai Gotthardt | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Patrick Klingelhöfer | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Matthias Ehlers | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Oliver Mueller | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Viktor Tingström | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Vítězslav Sedlák | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Born Van Put | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Geert De Vos | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Jeroen Caron | £1,250 |
150 | 2 | Steven Strobbe | £1,250 |
173 | 5 | Shane McGuirk | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Darryl Pilgrim | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Aden Kirk | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Bradley Brooks | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Harry Lane | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Jack Male | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Jenson Walker | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Johnny Haines | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Ron Meulenkamp | £1,000 |
173 | 5 | Tom Lonsdale | £1,000 |
*Change since 7 May 2024. |
In addition to the main two-year Order of Merit, the PDC also operates secondary Orders of Merit for their different tours. These include the:
The PDC rankings from all orders of merit determine exemptions from the qualifying competitions and seedings for all televised events. Additionally, the orders of merit are used to offer tour cards for the following year.
Tournament | Qualifiers (seeds) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
By Order of Merit | Other | |||||||
Main | PT | ET | PC | CT | DT | WS | ||
Ranked televised events | ||||||||
World Championship | 32 (32) | 32 | — | 2 | 2 | 2 | 26 | |
UK Open | TCH | — | 8 | 8 | — | 16 | ||
World Matchplay | 16 (16) | 16 | — | |||||
World Grand Prix | 16 (8) | 16 | — | |||||
European Championship | — | 32 (32) | — | |||||
Grand Slam of Darts | 0 (8) | — | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18 | ||
Players Championship Finals | — | 64 (64) | — | |||||
PDC Pro Tour | ||||||||
European Tour events | 16 | 16 (16) | — | 16 | ||||
Players Championship events | TCH | 0 (32) | — | |||||
Non-ranked televised events | ||||||||
The Masters | 24 (24) | — | ||||||
Premier League Darts | 4 | — | 4 | |||||
Champions League of Darts | 8 (8) | — | ||||||
Tour Cards | 64 | — | 2 | 2 | — | var |
The PDC holds a variety of ranked and unranked televised tournaments throughout the year. There are an additional selection of ranked floor and streamed tournaments that comprise the PDC Pro Tour, as well as unranked secondary tours and events such as the Challenge Tour, Development Tour, and event qualifiers. Money earned in all ranking events counts toward the Order of Merit, with none counting from the unranked events. [8]
Tournament | Prize money | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Champion | Runner-up | Semi-finalists | Top 8 | Top 16 | Top 32 | Top 64 | Top 96 | Top 128 | |
Ranked televised events | ||||||||||
World Championship | £2,500,000 | £500,000 | £200,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 | £35,000 | £25,000 | £15,000 | £7,500 | — |
UK Open | £600,000 | £110,000 | £50,000 | £30,000 | £15,000 | £10,000 | £5,000 | £2,500 | £1,500 | £1,000 |
World Matchplay | £800,000 | £200,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 | £30,000 | £15,000 | £10,000 | — | ||
World Grand Prix | £600,000 | £120,000 | £60,000 | £40,000 | £25,000 | £15,000 | £7,500 | — | ||
European Championship | £600,000 | £120,000 | £60,000 | £40,000 | £25,000 | £15,000 | £7,500 | — | ||
Grand Slam of Darts [upper-alpha 1] | £650,000 | £150,000 | £70,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 | £12,250 | £5,000 [upper-alpha 2] | — | ||
Players Championship Finals | £600,000 | £120,000 | £60,000 | £30,000 | £20,000 | £10,000 | £6,500 | £3,000 | — | |
PDC Pro Tour [upper-alpha 3] | ||||||||||
13 European Tour events | £175,000 | £30,000 | £12,000 | £8,500 | £6,000 | £4,000 | £2,500 [upper-alpha 4] | £1,250 [upper-alpha 5] | — | |
30 Players Championship events | £125,000 | £15,000 | £10,000 | £5,000 | £3,500 | £2,500 | £1,500 | £1,000 | — | |
Total yearly ranking payouts | £11,625,000 | £2,070,000 | £996,000 | £1,141,000 | £1,432,000 | £1,822,000 | £2,208,000 | £1,636,000 | £288,000 | £32,000 |
Unranked Tournaments
The PDC operates additional unranked tournaments for tour card holders and occasional qualifiers throughout the year. This includes five televised premier invitational events comprising the Premier League, Champions League of Darts, World Series of Darts Finals, The Masters, and the World Cup of Darts pairs event. [10] [11] Although none of these events count toward the Order of Merit, they all award some number of tournament spots based on Order of Merit position. Additionally there are usually five to seven World Series of Darts events scheduled across the globe each year with eight top PDC players seeded over eight local qualifiers. [8]
Secondary Tours and Tournaments
The PDC also offers secondary tours that do not count toward the main Order of Merit, but do each include their own confined orders of merit. The Challenge Tour is open to any players who played at the most recent Q-School but failed to earn a tour card. Throughout the year, the top players on the Challenge Tour OoM are invited to fill openings on the Pro Tour, receive invitations to the World Championship and UK Open, and at the end of the year receive tour cards for the next two years. [8]
The Development Tour is open to players outside of the top 32 on the main Order of Merit who are between the ages of 16 and 23. Similarly to the Challenge Tour, the top players on the Development Tour order of merit receive tour cards and invitations to the UK Open and World Championship. Additionally, 96 players - comprising 16 invitations, tour card holders of the appropriate age, and Development Tour competitors - partake in the World Youth Championship. Although this championship does not count toward any order of merit, there is a £60,000 payout, and the finalists receive tour cards as well as berths in the Grand Slam and World Championship. [8]
Under the previous ranking points system, Colin Lloyd was the world number one player in the PDC for most of 2005 and 2006, despite most of the major titles being shared between Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld and John Part. Although Lloyd also won two major titles, he often accumulated ranking points in the less prestigious non-televised events, in which Taylor did not always compete. Similarly, Alan Warriner was world number one on four occasions before ever winning his first and only PDC major, the 2001 Grand Prix, while Taylor won eight world championships and a host of other titles during that period.
13 players have held the position of World Number One since the World Darts Council started new rankings in 1993. Seven different players held the position in the old points system, and seven players have held the position since the PDC switched to the two-year earnings based Order of Merit system in 2007, with Phil Taylor being the only player to have been number one in both eras.
Player | # | Years in which player stood Number 1 |
---|---|---|
Phil Taylor | 13 |
|
Michael van Gerwen | 7 |
|
Alan Warriner | 6 |
|
Rod Harrington | 5 |
|
Colin Lloyd | 3 |
|
Dennis Priestley | 2 |
|
Peter Manley | 2 |
|
Gerwyn Price | 2 |
|
Raymond van Barneveld | 1 | 2008 |
John Part | 1 | 2003 |
Peter Wright | 1 | 2022 |
Michael Smith | 1 | 2023 |
Luke Humphries | 1 | 2024 |
Italic indicates the player was reigning world champion that year Bold indicates the player stood number one at the conclusion of that year's world championship |
Before January 2007 | Used old points system |
Current | Reigning number one on Order of Merit |
Following the World Darts Council (now PDC) split from the British Darts Organisation during 1992-94 the WDC drew up its first ranking list in the run-up to its inaugural 1994 World Championship. Mike Gregory and Chris Johns later went back to the BDO set up and Bobby George and many of the non-UK players never competed in the early days of the WDC.[ citation needed ]
Ranking | Player | Ranking | Player | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alan Warriner | 16 | Jann Hoffmann | |
2 | Rod Harrington | = | Chris Johns | |
3 | Phil Taylor | = | Roland Scholten | |
4 | John Lowe | 19 | Raymond van Barneveld | |
5 | Mike Gregory | = | Keith Deller | |
6 | Peter Evison | 21 | Bobby George | |
7 | Kevin Spiolek | 22 | Per Skau | |
= | Dennis Priestley | 23 | Bernd Hebecker | |
9 | Bob Anderson | = | Andree Welge | |
10 | Jocky Wilson | = | Pascal Rabau | |
11 | Jamie Harvey | 26 | Leo Laurens | |
12 | Eric Bristow | = | Bert Vlaardingerbroek | |
13 | Cliff Lazarenko | = | Tom Kirby | |
14 | Magnus Caris | = | Wayne Weening | |
= | Steve Beaton | = | Mauro Levy |
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 88. Phil Taylor is second on the list winning 70 events. Gary Anderson is in third winning 36 events and Peter Wright in fourth winning 33 events, as of April 2024.
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