Grand Slam Tour Card Holder Qualifier drama as the big names miss out

At Friday’s Tour Card Holder Qualifier in Leicester, eight players, including Danny Noppert, James Wade, and Ross Smith, guaranteed their spots in the 2024 Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts.

The Tour Card Holder Qualifier was held at the Mattioli Arena on Thursday after the PDC ProTour season concluded. Ninety-nine players fought for eight slots in the £650,000 event.

In order to secure his sixth Grand Slam of Darts appearance, Dutch number two Noppert overcame his countryman Danny van Trijp 5-1, making him the top-ranked player to advance into Friday’s competition.

Wade, the three-time Grand Slam runner-up, also breezed through with three decisive victories over Florian Hempel, Simon Whitlock, and Michele Turetta, giving away just one leg.

Smith, meanwhile, will play for Wolverhampton for the fourth time in 2024 after defeating Jeffrey de Graaf in the deciding leg after securing easy victories against Adam Hunt and Brendan Dolan.

Martin Lukeman was Friday’s best player, confirming his qualification with averages of 103, 104, 103, and 107 in victories over Jeffrey De Zwaan, Nathan Rafferty, James Hurrell, and Stephen Burton.

Lukeman will join Mickey Mansell in making his Grand Slam debut. In the round of 16, Mansell defeated three-time champion Gerwyn Price after defeating 2012 champion Raymond van Barneveld.

Keane Barry defeated French trailblazer Thibault Tricole 5-2 in a straight-shoot-out to qualify as the third Tour Card Holder Qualifier to confirm his debut in the 32-player event.

After winning the Players Championship on Wednesday, Cameron Menzies maintained his excellent play to defeat world number eight Nathan Aspinall and secure a return to Wolverhampton.

Among the eight qualifiers was Ryan Joyce, a World Grand Prix semi-finalist who defeated Nick Kenny 5-2 to end a good campaign despite Damon Heta’s 103 average.

In addition to Heta, a number of well-known figures failed to qualify, including three-time winner Price, world number five Clayton, and 2022 runner-up Aspinall.

In the first round of qualifying, Chris Dobey and Ryan Searle were defeated by De Graaf and Rafferty, respectively, while former Grand Slam champions Van Barneveld and Jose de Sousa were defeated.

 

Tour Card Holder Qualifier

Mattioli Arena, Leicester, Friday November 1

Last 16

Keane Barry 5-2 Thibault Tricole

Martin Lukeman 5-0 Jeffrey De Zwaan

Ryan Joyce 5-2 Nick Kenny

Danny Noppert 5-1 Danny van Trijp

Cameron Menzies 5-2 Matthew Dennant

James Wade 5-1 Michele Turetta

Mickey Mansell 5-3 Gerwyn Price

Ross Smith 5-4 Jeffrey de Graaf

Qualifying Players

Invited in the following order

TV Event Finalists, then European Tour Winners

Luke Humphries

Luke Littler

Mike De Decker

Stephen Bunting

Dimitri Van den Bergh

Ritchie Edhouse

Michael Smith

Rob Cross

Michael van Gerwen

Jermaine Wattimena

Rowby-John Rodriguez

Mensur Suljovic

Dave Chisnall

Martin Schindler

Peter Wright

Josh Rock

Gary Anderson

PDC Tour Card Holder Qualifiers

Keane Barry

Martin Lukeman

Ryan Joyce

Danny Noppert

Cameron Menzies

James Wade

Mickey Mansell

Ross Smith

Additional Qualifiers

Gian van Veen

Wessel Nijman

Beau Greaves

Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Lourence Ilagan

Leonard Gates

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