In the fallout of the 2024 PDC World Championship, including the epic final between World No.1 Luke Humphries and the teenage sensation Luke Littler, the annual Q School event has seen 31 players secure their tour card to play on the PDC Pro Tour for the next two years. From former televised stars to breakout names from the WDF and beyond, here's what you need to know.
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Perhaps the two biggest names to secure a tour card this month were Jelle Klassen and Andy Baetens from the European Q-School. Klassen will be a very familiar name to PDC Darts fans, with 'The Cobra' having plied his trade in the WDF for the last two years, you can expect him to be heralded as a dark horse in many events over the next two years.
The brilliant Belgian Baetens is just the latest name to make waves from the Benelux region of Europe. As the reigning WDF Champion, he stormed to victory at Lakeside at the end of 2023, becoming just the third Belgian to top the WDF year-end rankings. Throwing some of the highest averages at this year's Q-School event, 'The Beast' could truly be a force to be reckoned with, and some strong showings could see him represent his country very soon ahead of the underperforming Van den Bergh and Huybrechts brothers.
Thibault Tricole and Michele Turetta made history as the second Frenchman and first Italian player respectively to secure a PDC tour card, just narrowly progressing through the Order of Merit system. But topping the system are two recent televised event stalwarts: Haupai Puha became the first New Zealander to secure a PDC tour card, and Jules Van Dongen reaffirmed his case to being the most talented player from the United States with some stellar performances in Germany.
2024 PDC Tour Card Holders locked in 🔒
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 15, 2024
Here are the 128 players who will compete on the PDC ProTour in 2024. pic.twitter.com/3QulqoN6CQ
Read More: Check out our preview of the 2024 BetMGM Premier League
From the UK Q-School, the likes of John Part, Kevin Painter, Andy Hamilton and Fallon Sherrock all tried (and failed) to secure a Tour Card for the future, but it was fan favourites Steve Lennon and William Borland who were head and shoulders above the rest this year.
Lennon won the first day of the event, guaranteeing his return to the circuit after 'Scuba Steve' just narrowly dropped out of the automatic places following his performance at the World Championship. Borland meanwhile was perhaps the best player across both Q-School events, an amazing sight to not see the young Scotsman qualify as one of the event winners.
The successful 31 players from the Q-School events now just the PDC Pro Tour, which enables them to complete at all the Players Championship events, the UK Open and qualifiers for all European Tour and select televised events. Former World Youth Champion and 2023 Q-School tour card winner Corey Cadby saw his tour card rescinded after the Australian failed to play in a single PDC pro tour event in 2023, amidst supposed visa issues prohibiting him from travelling for the arduous tour.
By Jaspar Shepherdson
(@jasparshepmedia on X/Twitter and Instagram)
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