PDC Order of Merit
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 Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded for performances in ranking tournaments.[1]
Methodology
[edit]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.
PDC Order of Merit
[edit]Players ranked 1 - 32 | |||
Rank | Change | Player | Earnings |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Luke Humphries | £1,804,250 | |
2 | Luke Littler | £1,118,500 | |
3 | Michael van Gerwen | £815,500 | |
4 | Rob Cross | £551,750 | |
5 | Stephen Bunting | £536,000 | |
6 | Dave Chisnall | £528,500 | |
7 | Jonny Clayton | £494,000 | |
8 | Damon Heta | £484,000 | |
9 | Gerwyn Price | £480,500 | |
10 | Chris Dobey | £480,250 | |
11 | Nathan Aspinall | £470,500 | |
12 | Peter Wright | £442,500 | |
13 | Danny Noppert | £431,750 | |
14 | Gary Anderson | £430,500 | |
15 | James Wade | £426,750 | |
16 | Josh Rock | £405,000 | |
16 | Michael Smith | £405,000 | |
18 | Dimitri Van den Bergh | £399,250 | |
19 | Ryan Searle | £398,250 | |
20 | Andrew Gilding | £395,500 | |
21 | Ross Smith | £395,000 | |
22 | Martin Schindler | £365,000 | |
23 | Joe Cullen | £357,250 | |
24 | Mike De Decker | £356,000 | |
25 | Daryl Gurney | £334,250 | |
26 | Dirk van Duijvenbode | £325,750 | |
27 | Gian van Veen | £299,000 | |
28 | Ritchie Edhouse | £289,250 | |
29 | Ryan Joyce | £282,000 | |
30 | Ricardo Pietreczko | £280,750 | |
31 | Brendan Dolan | £271,500 | |
32 | Krzysztof Ratajski | £267,750 | |
*Change since 3 January 2025. |
Players ranked 33 - 64 | |||
Rank | Change | Player | Earnings |
---|---|---|---|
33 | Luke Woodhouse | £262,750 | |
34 | Raymond van Barneveld | £252,750 | |
35 | Jermaine Wattimena | £240,250 | |
36 | Scott Williams | £220,750 | |
37 | Gabriel Clemens | £219,750 | |
38 | Martin Lukeman | £202,500 | |
39 | Cameron Menzies | £178,000 | |
40 | Callan Rydz | £177,000 | |
41 | Kevin Doets | £146,500 | |
42 | Madars Razma | £144,750 | |
43 | Mickey Mansell | £143,250 | |
44 | Ricky Evans | £142,250 | |
45 | José de Sousa | £139,000 | |
46 | Kim Huybrechts | £136,000 | |
47 | Richard Veenstra | £122,750 | |
48 | Niels Zonneveld | £121,250 | |
49 | Ian White | £116,250 | |
50 | Keane Barry | £115,250 | |
51 | Jim Williams | £111,250 | |
52 | William O'Connor | £107,000 | |
53 | Florian Hempel | £103,000 | |
53 | Matt Campbell | £103,000 | |
55 | Wessel Nijman | £100,000 | |
56 | 1 | Alan Soutar | £85,500 |
57 | 1 | Dylan Slevin | £80,500 |
58 | 1 | Robert Owen | £80,250 |
59 | 1 | Ryan Meikle | £78,500 |
60 | 1 | Stephen Burton | £78,000 |
61 | 1 | Connor Scutt | £77,000 |
62 | 1 | Mensur Suljović | £75,250 |
63 | 1 | Jeffrey de Graaf | £75,000 |
64 | 1 | Nick Kenny | £71,750 |
*Change since 3 January 2025. |
Players ranked 65th or lower | |||
Rank | Change | Player | Earnings |
---|---|---|---|
65 | 9 | Thibault Tricole | £57,250 |
66 | 13 | James Hurrell | £45,750 |
67 | 15 | Dom Taylor | £39,500 |
68 | 16 | Chris Landman | £39,250 |
69 | 20 | Mario Vandenbogaerde | £31,000 |
70 | 20 | Rhys Griffin | £28,000 |
71 | 24 | Andy Baetens | £24,500 |
72 | 24 | Berry van Peer | £23,500 |
73 | 26 | Nathan Rafferty | £22,250 |
74 | 26 | Steve Lennon | £22,000 |
75 | 26 | Radek Szagański | £21,750 |
76 | 26 | Lukas Wenig | £21,500 |
77 | 31 | Patrick Geeraets | £19,000 |
77 | 31 | Matthew Dennant | £19,000 |
79 | 32 | Darren Beveridge | £18,750 |
80 | 33 | Jitse Van der Wal | £18,250 |
81 | 33 | Benjamin Reus | £18,000 |
82 | 34 | Danny Lauby | £17,000 |
83 | 35 | Robert Grundy | £16,500 |
84 | 40 | George Killington | £14,500 |
85 | 40 | Owen Bates | £14,000 |
86 | 40 | Brett Claydon | £13,750 |
87 | 40 | Martijn Dragt | £13,500 |
87 | 40 | Adam Hunt | £13,500 |
89 | 41 | Haupai Puha | £12,500 |
90 | 45 | Jelle Klaasen | £11,750 |
91 | 45 | William Borland | £11,500 |
92 | 53 | Tim Wolters | £7,500 |
92 | 53 | Joshua Richardson | £7,500 |
94 | 69 | Michele Turetta | £6,000 |
95 | 75 | Jules van Dongen | £4,000 |
*Change since 3 January 2025. |
Secondary Orders of Merit
[edit]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:
- ProTour Order of Merit, which counts money earned in Players Championships and European Tour events over a 12-month rolling period. In addition to qualification for televised tournaments, this ranking determines the seedings for Pro Tour events.[3]
- European Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned in European Tour events during the calendar year. The top 32 on this ranking list comprise the qualifiers for the European Championship, all seeded, at the end of the year.[4]
- Players Championship Order of Merit, which counts money earned in Player Championship events during the calendar year. The top 64 on this ranking list are the seeded qualifiers to the Players Championship Finals.[5]
- Challenge Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned on the Challenge Tour (by non Tour Card holders that participated in Q-School) during the calendar year. The top players at the end of the year qualify for the World Championship, UK Open, and receive Tour Cards.[6]
- Development Tour Order of Merit, which counts money earned on the Development Tour (by Tour Card holders and non Tour Card holders alike, aged 16–23) during the calendar year. The top players at the end of the year qualify for the World Championship, UK Open, and receive Tour Cards.[7]
- Women's Series Order of Merit, which was introduced in 2021 after the first women's series events were introduced in 2020.[8] The tournament series qualifies two women to the Grand Slam, and World Championship.[9]
Player exemptions and seedings
[edit]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 | |
World Masters | 24 (16)[a] | — | [nb 1] | [nb 1] | [nb 1] | 8[b] | ||
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 | ||||||||
Premier League Darts | 4 | — | 4 | |||||
Champions League of Darts | 8 (8) | — | ||||||
Tour Cards | 64 | — | 2 | 2 | — | var |
Ranking tournaments
[edit]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[A] | £650,000 | £150,000 | £70,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 | £12,250 | £5,000[B] | — | ||
Players Championship Finals | £600,000 | £120,000 | £60,000 | £30,000 | £20,000 | £10,000 | £6,500 | £3,000 | — | |
PDC Pro Tour[C] | ||||||||||
13 European Tour events | £175,000 | £30,000 | £12,000 | £8,500 | £6,000 | £4,000 | £2,500[D] | £1,250[E] | — | |
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 |
- ^ The Grand Slam pays an additional £3,500 to the 8 group winners.
- ^ The Grand Slam pays £8,000 and £5,000 for third and fourth place finishers respectively in the group stage, which comprise the top 32.
- ^ The 2020 PDC Pro Tour was reduced to 4 European Tour events and 23 Players Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- ^ The 16 seeded players at a European Tour event do not receive money toward OoM for a top 32 finish.
- ^ European Tour events pay out to 48 players (the complete field).
Unranked tournaments
[edit]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.[11][12] 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
[edit]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]
Previous world ranking system
[edit]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.
Previous World Number Ones
[edit]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 |
|
Luke Humphries | 2 |
|
Raymond van Barneveld | 1 | 2008 |
John Part | 1 | 2003 |
Peter Wright | 1 | 2022 |
Michael Smith | 1 | 2023 |
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 |
Periods
[edit]No. | Player(s) | From | Length | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alan Warriner-Little | January 1993 | Incarnation of the WDC | 674 days[A] | [13] |
2 | Dennis Priestley | 6 November 1994 | 1994 Lada UK Masters | 155 | [13][15] |
3 | Rod Harrington | 10 April 1995 | 1995 UK Matchplay | 479 days[A] | [13][15] |
4 | Phil Taylor | August 1996 | 31 days[A] | [13][15] | |
Alan Warriner-Little (2) | September 1996 | 699 days[A] | [13][15] | ||
Rod Harrington (2) | 1 August 1998 | 1998 World Matchplay | 728 days | [13][15] | |
Phil Taylor (2) | 29 July 2000 | 2000 World Matchplay | 57 days | [13][15] | |
5 | Peter Manley | 24 September 2000 | 2000 Windy City Open | 399 days | [13][15] |
Alan Warriner-Little (3) | 28 October 2001 | 2001 World Grand Prix | 69 days | [13][15] | |
Alan Warriner-Little (4) and Phil Taylor (3) | 5 January 2002 | 2002 World Championship | 28 days | [13][15] | |
Alan Warriner-Little (5) | 2 February 2002 | 2002 Eastbourne Open | 88 days[A] | [13][15] | |
Phil Taylor (4) | May 2002 | 248 days[A] | [13][15] | ||
6 | John Part | 4 January 2003 | 2003 World Championship | 203 days | [13][15] |
Phil Taylor (5) | 26 July 2003 | 2003 Bobby Bourn Memorial Trophy | 582 days | [13][15] | |
7 | Colin Lloyd | 27 February 2005 | 2005 West Tyrone Open | 469 days | [16][15] |
Phil Taylor (6) | 11 June 2006 | 2006 UK Open | 7 days | [17][18] | |
Colin Lloyd (2) | 18 June 2006 | 2006 Players Championship 3 | 197 days | [18][15] | |
Phil Taylor (7) | 1 January 2007 | 2007 World Championship | 365 days | [13][15] | |
8 | Raymond van Barneveld | 1 January 2008 | 2008 World Championship | 159 days | [19][15] |
Phil Taylor (8) | 8 June 2008 | 2008 UK Open | 2,033 days | [19][20] | |
9 | Michael van Gerwen | 1 January 2014 | 2014 World Championship | 2,559 days | [20][21] |
10 | Gerwyn Price | 3 January 2021 | 2021 World Championship | 427 days | [21][22] |
11 | Peter Wright | 6 March 2022 | 2022 UK Open | 140 days | [22][23] |
Gerwyn Price (2) | 24 July 2022 | 2022 World Matchplay | 77 days | [23] | |
Peter Wright (2) | 9 October 2022 | 2022 World Grand Prix | 21 days | [24] | |
Gerwyn Price (3) | 30 October 2022 | 2022 European Championship | 65 days | [24][25] | |
12 | Michael Smith | 3 January 2023 | 2023 World Championship | 365 days | [25] |
13 | Luke Humphries | 3 January 2024 | 2024 World Championship | 391 days | [26][27] |
- Key
Before January 2007 | Used old points system |
Current | Reigning number one on Order of Merit |
Total Days at No. 1
[edit]No. | Player | Total Days at No 1 | Longest Consecutive Run |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Phil Taylor | 3323 | 2033 |
2 | Michael van Gerwen | 2559 | 2559 |
3 | Alan Warriner-Little | 1558 | 699 |
4 | Rod Harrington | 1207 | 728 |
5 | Colin Lloyd | 666 | 469 |
6 | Gerwyn Price | 569 | 427 |
7 | Peter Manley | 399 | 399 |
8 | Luke Humphries | 391 | 391 |
9 | Michael Smith | 365 | 365 |
10 | John Part | 203 | 203 |
11 | Peter Wright | 161 | 140 |
12 | Raymond van Barneveld | 159 | 159 |
13 | Dennis Priestley | 155 | 155 |
Active players in bold. |
First WDC/PDC rankings
[edit]Following the World Darts Council split from the British Darts Organisation between 1992 and 1994, 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 |
References
[edit]- ^ "PDC Rankings". Global Darts. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 12 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- ^ "ProTour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ "2020 European Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ "Players Championship Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ "Challenge Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ "Development Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g "PDC Order of Merit Rules". PDC. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ^ "2024 PDC Women's Series Order of Merit". Retrieved 15 October 2023.
- ^ Gill, Samuel (25 December 2024). "Format confirmed for 2025 Winmau World Masters including much-loved sets returning". Darts News. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ "Champions League of Darts: BBC to broadcast inaugural tournament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ^ "2015 Masters held in Milton Keynes". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "World Number 1 (PDC)". Professional Dart Players Association. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- ^ Nicholson, Paul (29 November 2023). "World number ones in darts: Michael Smith joins illustrious list of 12 players to reach the top of the PDC rankings including Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price". Sporting Life. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Darts Database Player Stats". Darts Database. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
- ^ "Lloydy on top of the World". PDC. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ "Taylor Regains Number One Spot". PDC. 12 June 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ a b "Lloyd Confirmed As Number One". PDC. 20 June 2006.
- ^ a b "Taylor Back on Top". PDC. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ a b Walters, Mike (1 January 2014). "Michael van Gerwen is Ladbrokes PDC World Darts Champion after beating Peter Wright". Mirror. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ a b Allen, Dave (4 January 2021). "A number one hit! Price joins exclusive list to top rankings". PDC.
- ^ a b "Peter Wright is world number one darts player after Gerwyn Price fails to reach UK Open final". Sporting Life. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
- ^ a b Gorton, Josh (22 July 2022). "Price denies De Sousa in Winter Gardens thriller to seal semi-final spot". PDC. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
- ^ a b Gill, Samuel (31 October 2022). "Price regains World Number One spot, Ross Smith into top 20 after maiden major win in updated PDC Order of Merit after European Championship". Darts News. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Michael Smith beats Michael van Gerwen to win first world title with 'best leg of darts ever'". ESPN. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ^ Wood, Kieran (3 January 2024). "Luke Humphries the new world number one after World Darts Championships". Darts News. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ^ Gill, Samuel (4 January 2025). "PDC Order of Merit Update: Luke Littler passes Michael van Gerwen but World Number One out of reach for now". Darts News. Retrieved 5 January 2025.