Alan Norris, Danny Baggish and Matt Campbell were among the final players to seal their spot in the Final Stage of 2021 PDC Qualifying School on Saturday.
Stage 1B of Qualifying School drew to a close in Milton Keynes and Niedernhausen on Saturday, with eight automatic places in the final stage and an additional 79 Order of Merit places on offer across the respective venues.
Having suffered consecutive opening round exits, Baggish delivered the goods to progress to the Final Stage, headlining the list of automatic UK qualifiers alongside Development Tour event winner Jarred Cole, Challenge Tour star Lee Evans and Irish Matchplay runner-up Liam Gallagher.
Baggish’ compatriot Leonard Gates followed in his footsteps to truimph at European Q-School in Niedernhausen. Gates began day three without a point to his name, but he relinquished just three legs across five matches to advance to Stage Two in comprehensive fashion.
The highly-rated American was joined in sealing his qualification by former World Championship competitor Dragutin Horvat, Horvat’s fellow German Stefan Nilles and 26-year-old Dutchman Kay Smeets.
The automatic qualifiers are joined by the top 36 and 43 non-qualified players from the UK and European Stage 1B Orders of Merit respectively, and there were several decorated names featuring on both lists.
Former Lakeside finalist Alan Norris, 2018 UK Open semi-finalist Robert Owen and Challenge Tour event winner Ryan Harrington all did enough to reach Stage Two at UK Q-School, while 2012 BDO world champion Christian Kist headlined the list of European Order of Merit qualifiers.
Kist is one of 46 Dutchmen set to feature in Stage Two over the next four days, alongside fellow countryman Gino Vos, Canada’s World Cup of Darts quarter-finalist Matt Campbell and former Tour Card Holder Robert Marijanovic.
The Final Stage will feature players who relinquished their PDC Tour Card at the end of 2020, including two-time major winner Robert Thornton, 2018 World Championship semi-finalist Jamie Lewis, former top 16 star Benito van de Pas and two-time World Cup quarter-finalist Martin Schindler.
They were exempt through to the Final Stage, alongside those who finished in the top 16 of the 2020 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit. Meanwhile, players who advanced through Stage 1A earlier in the week will return in a bid to claim a coveted PDC Tour Card.
Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld continues his comeback bid in Niederhausen, alongside former World Cup finalist Ronny Huybrechts, and emerging talents Adam Gawlas and Nico Kurz.
Kevin Painter headlines the list of players from Stage 1A returning to the fray, while ‘Queen of the Palace’ Fallon Sherrock is aiming to join Lisa Ashton in becoming the second female player to claim a place on the PDC circuit via Qualifying School.
There are 17 Tour Cards available at UK Q-School, with 12 on offer at European Q-School. The winner on each of the four days will claim an automatic Tour Card, and the remaining cards will be allocated to the highest-ranked players on the respective Order of Merits.
The full list of 128-player fields for the Final Stage of UK and European Q Schools are listed below. Sunday’s play will commence at 11am in Niedernhausen and 2pm in Milton Keynes.
Image Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Final Stage Qualifiers
UK Qualifying School
Players Exempt To Final Stage (32): Scott Baker, Michael Barnard, Barrie Bates, Richie Burnett, Gavin Carlin, Matt Clark, Robert Collins, Joe Davis, Matthew Dennant, Nathan Derry, Andrew Gilding, Adrian Gray, Rhys Griffin, Adam Huckvale, Keelan Kay, Jamie Lewis, Scott Mitchell, Joe Murnan, Richard North, David Pallett, Nathan Rafferty, Reece Robinson, Kirk Shepherd, Simon Stevenson, Dom Taylor, Scott Taylor, Robert Thornton, Conan Whitehead, Carl Wilkinson, Jim Williams, Lewis Williams, Jon Worsley
Stage 1A Automatic Qualifiers (12): Eddie Lovely, Chas Barstow, Derek Coulson, Dale Hughes, Sam Booth, Ian Mackenzie, Mike Warburton, Jason Hogg, Christopher Bent, Ryan Hogarth, John Imrie, Kevin Painter
Stage 1A Order of Merit Qualifiers (36): David Wawrzewski, Peter Hudson, John Brown, Josh McCarthy, Shane McGuirk, Kevin Thomas, Sam Cankett, Fallon Sherrock, Arron Monk, Brett Claydon, David Airey, Liam Meek, Jim McEwan, Adam Smith-Neale, Niall Culleton, Charlie Symons, Matt Jackson, Jaikob Selby-Rivas, Stephen Gallimore, Gordon Mathers, Jason Heaver, David Ladley, Nathan Girvan, Scott Williams, Kevin McDine, Haupai Puha, James Bailey, John Scott, Jack Main, Jack Vincent, Paul Mitchell, Steve Earley, Connor Scutt, Shaun McDonald, Graham Usher, Chris Quantock
Stage 1B Automatic Qualifiers (12): Alan Soutar, Darren Beveridge, José Marquês, Kevin Burness, Mark Dudbridge, Paul Holloway, Martin Heneghan, Jason Askew, Lee Evans, Liam Gallagher, Jarred Cole, Daniel Baggish
Stage 1B Order of Merit Qualifiers (36): Lloyd Pennell, Reece Colley, Lee Cocks, Jamie Clark, Rhys Davies, John O’Shea, Ben Cheeseman, Nick Fullwell, Martin Thomas, Robert Owen, Anthony Urmston-Toft, Alan Norris, Brian Hallas, Kyle Richardson, Kevin Garcia, Thomas Lovely, Lewis Pride, Darren Johnson, Lee Whitworth, Andy Jenkins, Martyn Turner, Prakash Jiwa, Adam Mould, Jonathan Wynn, Jock Watt, Jake Jones, Martin Lukeman, Aden Kirk, Ryan Palmer, Robert Rickwood, Ryan Harrington, Gary Butcher, Daniel Lee, Shane O’Connor, Justin Hood, Sean Fisher
European Qualifying School
Players Exempt To Final Stage (17): Toni Alcinas, Sebastian Bialecki, Christian Bunse, Jan Dekker, Kevin Doets, Marko Kantele, John Michael, Damian Mol, Geert Nentjes, Brian Raman, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Martin Schindler, Benito van de Pas, Vincent Van der Meer, Jitse Van der Wal, Maikel Verberk, Niels Zonneveld
Stage 1A Automatic Qualifiers (12): Michael Plooy, Adam Gawlas, Lorenzo Pronk, Richard Veenstra, Luksa Wenig, Davy Proosten, Boris Koltsov, Michael Rasztovits, Raymond van Barneveld, Jeremy van der Winkel, Nico Kurz, Franz Roetzsch
Stage 1A Order of Merit Qualifiers (44): Geert de Vos, Ricardo Pietreczko, Steven Noster, Remo Mandiau, Moreno Blom, Wesley Plaisier, Sven Hilling, Patrick van den Boogaard, Michael Unterbuchner, Jeroen Mioch, Jiri Brejcha, Eimardo van Engelen, Jeffrey Van Egdom, Niko Springer, Dennie Olde Kalter, Kenny Neyens, El-Abbas el Amri, Mindaugas Barauskas, Pero Ljubic, Sebastian Steyer, Jens Ziegler, Chris Landman, Mario Vandenbogaerde, Rene Eidams, Stefan Taferner, Jaimy van de Weerd, Rients Visser, Michael Stoeten, Marco Obst, Philip Van Gasse, Gian van Veen, Patrik Kovacs, Andreas Toft-Jorgensen, Karsten Koch, Kai Gotthardt, Ivan Springborg-Poulsen, Artur Jaa, Gillian Koehoorn, Sven Fiedler, Roland Hol, Egor Tvorogov, Sebastian Pohl, Daniel Meyer, Toon Greebe
Stage 1B Automatic Qualifiers (12): Jeffrey de Graaf, Gary Mawson, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Zoran Lerchbacher, Davyd Venken, Florian Hempel, Jose Justicia, Ronny Huybrechts, Leonard Gates, Dragutin Horvat, Stefan Nilles, Kay Smeets
Stage 1B Order of Merit Qualifiers (43): Marcel Gerdon, Gino Vos, Matt Campbell, Christian Kist, Arjan Konterman, Luc Peters, Jimmy Hendriks, Robbie Knops, Maikel Venema, Martijn Dragt, Stefan Bellmont, Danny van Trijp, Daniele Petri, Sergio Krassen, Michael Seemann, Michal Smejda, Patrick Bulen, Ryan de Vreede, Willem Mandigers, Veijo Viinikka, Arsen Ballaj, Robert Marijanovic, Jerry Hendriks, Gijsbert van Malsen, Kevin Blomme, Levy Frauenfelder, Johan Engstrom, Laurent Toussaint, Dominique Goldberg, Owen Roelofs, Claus-Bendix Nielsen, Veniamin Symeonidis, Eric Boyer, Jan-Dirk de Groot, Thibault Tricole, Steve Wollener, Kevin Costantini, Thomas Junghans, Erik Meulenmeesters, Nico Schlund, Patrick Tringler, Michael Hausler, Andrew Beeton
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