From De
cember 15 to January 3, the 2024 World Darts Championship will take place at Alexandra Palace in London. For some participants, this tournament could be crucial to maintaining their status as professional dart players.
Players who have a PDC Tour Card are given two years to secure a position in the top-64 of the world rankings. If a player falls out of the top-64 after that period, that player must return to Q-School to try to earn back his Tour Card.
These notable names will not be present at PDC World Darts Championship,
Mario Vandenbogaerde, Kevin Doets and Ian White need a first-round victory to be sure of retaining their Tour Card. If they lose their first match, they are dependent on the results of other players. Florian Hempel and Steve Lennon, with reaching the second round, would also do good business for retaining their Tour Card, but with reaching the third round at the World Darts Championship are completely certain of extending their status as professional darts players.,
Mervyn King failed to qualify for the World Darts Championship this year for the first time since 2008, but is still within the top 64. King could still lose his Tour Card, however, if the aforementioned players all manage to achieve good results and retain their Tour Card. A similar scenario happened to Paul Nicholson during the 2019 World Darts Championship.
Radek Szaganski will have to reach the third round at the World Darts Championship to retain his Tour Card. For the Pole, retaining his Tour Card would be of great benefit as his good results on the Pro Tour in recent months mean that he is currently in a good position to qualify for the World Matchplay next year. Connor Scutt could also retain his Tour Card by reaching the third round, but would still depend on the results of other players.
These players are already certain of losing their PDC Tour Card after this season
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Krzysztof Kciuk and Jules van Dongen need at least a run to the quarterfinals at the Alexandra Palace to extend their Tour Card for a third year. Darren Webster, who managed to qualify for the World Darts Championship via the PDPA qualifying tournament at the last minute, will even need to reach the semifinals to avoid going to Q-School next year.
World Championship participants without a Tour Card, such as Stowe Buntz and Fallon Sherrock, can earn a Tour Card for next season, by reaching the semifinals to get into the top 64 in the world. Berry van Peer and Owen Bates are already assured of a Tour Card, having finished at the top of the Challenge Tour this year. The same goes for Luke Littler and Wessel Nijman, who after Gian van Veen performed best on the Development Tour.
