we're under way, for reasons unknown (probably fears of people getting a cold in 'schland) they're using twice the number of boards as in the uk so will be done much faster. lauby's already laid the smack down on sherrock in the first round

right, eu day one is done, jose justicia (who held a card a couple of years back and won on the challenge tour last season) played extremely well to win that one, super mario, the crap RJR brother and cristo reyes are off to a decent start on the points.

uk is still in the final, james wilson is ahead of cameron menzies to get his card straight back which everyone saw coming, richie burnett hit a semi as did george killington (fairly young player, played extremely well in stage one, much improved from when he was a previous card holder making up the numbers), danny lauby and mickey mansell off to a competent start

Did I click the same link twice, or did Barstow and Edgar meet in the first round day 1 and day 2?

Yes they did

Darren Webster reclaims card straight away on the UK side, Brian Raman (Belgian, WDF #1) got his from the EU side. Nobody running away with it on points in the UK, but Vandenboegaerde, van Dongen (Dutch born but now American) and Andersen (first relevant Danish player since forever) look locks on the EU side. Sherrock lost in round one again

How many points was it on OoM to get a card last year? Was looking for it and couldn't find it after a cursory glance. I feel like Ashton had 8 last year and got in by the skin of her teeth?

It's also real real dumb that they're giving byes for the spots vacated by those who won outright instead of letting the people who missed out by OoM in round 1 of q-school to top up the field to 128 again.

Second point clearly agreed

6 or 7 is usually enough. Ashton crept in with more two years ago but as that's the old one stage format it's not really comparable

UK Open amateur qualifiers are back, may enter one for ****s and giggles

sherrock wins game shocker

of course, because the pdc is ****ing dumb and won't top back up to 128 players for stage 2 from those who were the last players out in stage 1, you only start scoring points once in the last 32 as round 1 is not a complete round as there's one or two byes WHICH THEY KNOW WILL HAPPEN IN ADVANCE

She'll need to win tomorrow to get a tour card.

Oh well her schedule is probably pretty full anyway because of all the invite-only tournaments

Yep, it's win or bust at this stage, I'm not sure even a final will be enough with the points people have on the board already, that'd only put her on 5, cutoff already 4 with many people on 3/4 still live today that can add to that.

Frankly if someone's going to go on a mad run where it's bink or bust I'd rather it be Johnson, Rock, Portela, Bennett, Edgar, Taylor (not that one), Barstow, Beeney... someone who might actually do something on the floor

Barstow has been so bad. Bennett has been bad too. Edgar played well first two days and just kind of ran in to buzzsaws.

New format just announced for the premier league. Also only 8 players. Although they haven’t announced names, will certainly be the top 10 minus De Sousa and Dimi. Not really sure what to think of the new format. First impression is that I don’t like it. Would have preferred them to increase spots instead of removing.

New premier league format... 8 players play 16 weeks. 8 man bracket each week. 5 points to the winner, 3 to the runner up, 2 to SF. Looks like week 16 is judgment day and we get the finals night 17. No announcement on players yet.

I do think it's the sort of thing that needs freshening up, but this will probably end up being more repetitive than the previous installments. Think the lineup will be exactly as you said

Ross Montgomery, tour card holder. There's a sentence I wasn't expecting to say ever. Luc Peters got one in the EU, he was unlucky last year having got to the same final and just missing out on points. Vandenboegarde, van Dongen and Kevin Doets (who was in a similar spot to Peters and nearly did enough on the Pro Tour to make the worlds, iirc he was the last man out) are locks on points in the EU, Jamie Clark has locked one up in the UK with Burnett, Waites and Burness in extremely strong positions to get back on tour

with only 8 guys, we're going to see the same matchups over and over

Yeah, that is my huge fear, once we see Wright/Price four times in a row people are going to turn on the event

This would be better with a pool of 12 or 16 players but only 8 playing each night. You can rig it to make sure that Price always plays in Wales, Scots in Scotland etc, each day has at least one of MVG/Price/Wright etc

Going to be some prime spot fixing opportunities later on

Or, as someone said, 7 players in and one player wins in each week from the best performance in the Pro Tour or something like that. This just seems like that Modus bullshit which has been found to be rigged previously

Joe Cullen vs Chizzy coming up for their first tv major and likely a spot in premier league!!

Can’t believe Cross is really gonna be left off. Just don’t see them leaving Gary or Michael Smith out. LOL PDC

Maybe Gary doesn't want to play it?

also lol at referring to the bottom of the barrel tv event as a major

unranked, at that. I think de Sousa, Searle maybe, DVDB, and Cullen were given the win-and-you're-in shot, otherwise they were just going with top-6+Clayton and Cross, assuming all those guys actually want to play it.

that was nearly the ultimate lolcullen

might be enough for a spot in the PL

And it is, Cross got robbed

Also announced Winmau as the new board manufacturer which is a huge improvement

well here we go with the premier league, i'll give it all of four weeks until everyone's bored with the format. will probably be watching the world seniors tonight, if anything at all