2016 PDC Qualifying School Day Four

ROSS SMITH completed an impressive week by securing his Tour Card on the final day of the 2016 PDC Qualifying School at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan, as Ryan Palmer and Dutch duo Yordi Meeuwisse and Vincent Kamphuis also joined the elite 128 Tour Card holders.

Following four days of play in Qualifying School, which attracted 400 entries from players worldwide, 16 players won automatic Tour Cards to secure a coveted spot on the PDC ProTour.

A further 14 Tour Cards were also awarded to those top of the PDC Qualifying School Order Of Merit, with ranking points having been awarded based on finishing positions across the four days.

The meant that Mark Walsh, John Michael, Dick van Dijk, Harry Robinson, Mark Barilli, Matt Clark, Terry Temple, Darron Brown, Dennis Smith, Mick McGowan, Simon Preston, Matthew Dennant, Robert Owen and Ron Meulenkamp also booked their place on the PDC circuit for 2016-2017 with Tour Cards.

The fourth day, though did see Kent-born Smith, who hit a nine-darter in Wednesday's Day One, secure an automatic Tour Card as he overcame Ashley Hykin in his opening match, before beating John Power, Robert Marijanovic and Zoran Lerchbacher to reach the last 32.

Then came a run of incredibly close victories, as he edged out Adam Huckvale, Marko Kantele and Mick McGowan all by a 5-4 scoreline to secure his full-time place on the PDC ProTour.

The 27-year-old already has four years of experience on the PDC circuit, but is looking to break into the sport's elite during 2016.

“I am absolutely over the moon," said Smith. "Playing in the elite of darts is what it’s all about, so I am delighted.

“The money that is on offer now is fantastic and I just want to do what I know I can. I have had a bit of a tough year, so I am looking forward to this year now and hopefully I can play as well as I know I can.

“I know I have beaten and can beat a lot of the top boys - it’s just the consistency part I am looking to get right."

Elsewhere, the Dutch talent pool grew ever larger with Meeuwisse and Kamphuis cementing their Tour Cards alongside Day Three qualifier Jeffrey de Graaf.

Gifted a bye in the first round, Meeuwisse then whitewashed Mark Breakspear in his second round game before beating Richie Howson, Adam Hunt, Mick Todd and Scott Dale to set up a shoot-out with compatriot Ron Meulenkamp, which he won 5-2.

Kamphuis, who agonisingly lost in the last eight on Day Three, was also the beneficiary of a first round bye, before beating Scott Taylor, Stuart Stubbs, James Young, Jamie Kelling, Joey Ten Berge and Mark Walsh to secure his place in the elite 128 Tour Card holders.

Having narrowly missed out on previous days, Kamphuis expressed his delight at now being able to face the likes of his compatriots Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld on the big stage.

“It feels absolutely incredible,” he said. “Today I started on 12 points and was just thinking that one or two points might just be good enough, but to get so far in the tournament you then just want to win your Tour Card outright.

“This has done loads for my confidence, and I can throw now with the big guys so we can see what happens next year.

“Since Raymond van Barneveld won in 1995, darts has become huge [in the Netherlands]. I started around that time and twenty years later I have my first Tour Card, so it’s unbelievable."

He joked: “Barney is an incredible player, much better than me, so following in his footsteps would be very hard - but darts is darts, you can win anything if you want it.”

After also receiving a first round bye, Palmer secured his first ever Tour Card as he narrowly squeezed past Sam Head 5-4 in the second round, before beating Jason Tarry, Nigel Daniels. Per Laursen, Jerry Hendriks and Matt Clark.

With an additional 14 Tour Cards on offer to take the total number of ProTour professionals to 128, former UK Open finalist Mark Walsh, veteran stars Dennis Smith and Matt Clark and resurgent Irish ace Mick McGowan secured Tour Cards.

Greece's John Michael will also now compete full-time on the PDC circuit this year - after qualifying for the last two World Championships - while Dick van Dijk and Ron Meulenkamp add another two Dutch rivals to world number one Michael van Gerwen.

Players who competed at the 2016 PDC Qualifying School but did not win Tour Cards will now be eligible to compete on the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour, which will feature 16 tournaments each worth £10,000 in prize money and are held across four double-header weekends.

These players will also be eligible to top up the field for Players Championship events to 128 players should all of the Tour Card Holders not enter, with places allocated in order of ranking position on the Q School Order of Merit.

Qualifying School Ranking Points will be awarded as follows:
Last 128 defeat: One point
Last 64 defeat: Two point
Last 32 defeat: Three points
Last 16 defeat: Five points
Last eight defeat: Nine points

To see the Qualifying School Order of Merit following Day Three, click here .

2016 PDC Qualifying School
Day Four - Saturday January 16

Last 512
Martin Thomas 5-1 David Wilson 
Daniel Ayres 5-1 Martin Knowles
Ian Withers 5-1 John Porter
Mark Baxter 5-2 Matt Padgett 
Shouichi Ha 5-0 Thomas Quinn
Dave Ladley 5-2 Steve Evans 
James Welding 5-0 Jeffrey Beekhuis
Ross Rimmer 5-4 Stephen Gallimore
Glenn Fitzpatrick 5-4 Phil Smith 
Thanawat Gaweenuntawong 5-0 Stuart Millar
Damian Smith 5-4 Richard Boucher
Kirk Shepherd 5-1 Daniel Starkey
Trevor Burkhill 5-1 Tommy Legius 
Roger Scrivens 5-3 Rhys Hayden
Kevin Garcia 5-1 Jorg Hofmann 
Campbell Jackson 5-4 Justin Broton
John Brammeld 5-4 Terry Roach
Aden Kirk 5-0 John Chalkley
Daniel Lee 5-1 Steve Randall 
Dan Read 5-2 Michel Furlani 
Mark Stephenson 5-1 James Smith 
Carl Moorhouse 5-2 Ryan Short
David Evans 5-0 Jamie Hingston
Michael Baynham 5-1 Danny Dyer 
Paul Boyle 5-0 Kiernan Devine
Mick McGowan 5-3 Tony Cole
Daniel Smith 5-3 Eddie Dootson
Stuart Harding 5-0 Dylan Duo 
Jordan Patterson 5-0 Cedric Lieber
Bradley Willams 5-0 Daniel Peach
Ian Moss 5-4 Rob Holroyd
Andreas Hajimena 5-0 James Hubbard
Chris Quantock 5-1 Ben Simpson
Colin Littlecott 5-4 Craig Lewis
Ernie Brown 5-1 Kai Gotthardt
Paul Carr 5-2 Harry Ward 
Arron Wike 5-4 Andrew Wood
Mike Symes 5-0 Paul Osmotherley
Krit Middleton 5-2 Steve Kingdon
Robert Marijanovic 5-3 Billy Holmes
Ross Smith 5-1 Ashley Hykin
John Power 5-1 Gareth Thomas
Mick Hasse 5-4 Lee Kenny
Darren Latham 5-2 Jamie Guilfoyle
Les Marson 5-2 Sean Ryan
Kevin Thomas 5-0 Dean Moss
Nigel Boeg 5-4 Dave Honey 
Marko Kantele 5-2 Matthew Hayes 
Christian Bober 5-2 Terry Creed
Par Riihonen 5-1 Karl Merchant 
Kevin Bambrick 5-2 Fabian Herz
Bernd Roith 5-0 Jeff Batham 
Jay Foreman 5-2 Jamie Ellam
Coni Singh Nagi 5-2 Richie Walsh
Kelvin Hart 5-1 Karsten Kornath
Karl Forrington 5-0 Peter Mitchell
Ritchie Edhouse 5-1 Colin Fowler 
Paul Rowley 5-0 Robert Townsend
Nicholas Ellis 5-4 Michael Dawson
Antonio Alcinas 5-1 Lee Whitworth
Ian Walters 5-1 Sean Johnson
David Fatum 5-2 Marc Dewsbury 
Michael Ganz 5-4 Robert McKenzie
Darren Place 5-1 Hayden Barnes 
Adam Hunt 5-0 Stephen Bowers 
Callum Loose 5-4 Tony Randell 
Ben Ward 5-4 Darren Brown
Aaron Stevens 5-0 Paul Burrows
Matthew Dennant 5-3 Evander Stevenson
Barrie Bates 5-1 Alan Wilkinson
Luke Woodhouse 5-1 Matthew Twyford
Kevin Dowling 5-4 Peter Hudson
Ben Adams 5-2 Ben Davies 
Darron Brown 5-3 Kevin Lane 
Michael Rasztovits 5-2 Richard Hosey
Ron Schouten 5-1 Shane Reidy
Martin Lukeman 5-1 Jeffrey van de Ven
Rohit Rabadia 5-3 Mark Thorne 
Dennis Smith 5-1 Joshua Clements
Colin Osborne 5-2 Kieran Evans 
John Crossley 5-1 Carlos Rodriguez
Keith Rooney 5-3 Kurt Parry
Lars Reinecke 5-3 Jamie Gemmell 
Michel van der Horst 5-4 Swen Gewalt 
David Marson 5-1 Sam Pennington
Arron Monk 5-0 Chris Hartrey 
Darren Weaver 5-0 Barry Tym
Scott Darbyshire 5-0 Stephen Butkeraitis
Sven Groen 5-1 Eikichi Nakanishi
Scott Taylor 5-2 Rocco Maes 
Stuart Stubbs 5-4 Nigel Lamb
Jack Hill 5-1 David Simpson 
Michael Burgoine 5-0 Callum Mackay
Lee Watts 5-0 Steve Perkins

Last 256
Jason Marriott 5-3 Barry Tyler
Per Laursen 5-1 Matthew Golding
Steven Smith 5-1 Martin Thomas
Daniel Ayres 5-4 Ian Withers
Jason Tarry 5-2 Paul Murray
Ryan Palmer 5-4 Sam Head
Nigel Daniels 5-4 Mark Baxter
Dave Ladley 5-2 Shouichi Ha 
Jerry Hendriks 5-1 Joe Croft
Cory Evans 5-1 Michael Harrison
James Welding 5-4 Robert Pierce 
Glenn Fitzpatrick 5-3 Ross Rimmer 
Ricky Sudale 5-4 Jon Jukes
John Court 5-1 Jamie Bain 
Thanawat Gaweenuntawong 5-2 Danny Pinhorne
Kirk Shepherd 5-2 Damien Smith
Michael Malone 5-3 Chris McTernan
Matt Clark 5-2 Tony Oak 
Trevor Burkhill 5-0 Shane Harvey 
Kevin Garcia 5-0 Roger Scrivens
Andrew Johnson W/O Lee Dimmock
Lee Evans 5-2 Rene Eidams 
Chris Hill 5-0 Campbell Jackson
John Brammeld 5-3 Aden Kirk
Brett Claydon 5-2 Sam Thompson
Gary Stone 5-0 Lewis Cracknell
Mark Lawrence 5-3 Daniel Lee
Dan Read 5-4 Mark Stephenson
Richard Calvert 5-2 John Newland 
William Borland 5-1 Bartosz Ceglowski
Carl Moorhouse 5-2 Adam Smith-Neale 
David Evans 5-3 Michael Baynham
Marino Michels 5-2 Andy Hutchings
Ron Atwill 5-4 Vernon Sheppard 
Paul Boyle 5-3 Arron Fairweather
Mick McGowan 5-4 Daniel Smith
Michael Power 5-3 Anthony Lopez
Kevin Simm 5-1 Justin Bradshaw
Terry Temple 5-1 Stuart Harding 
Bradley Williams 5-1 Jordan Patterson
Duvan Ata 5-1 Peter Martin
Eddie White 5-0 Dariusz Imbs
Ian Moss 5-3 Daniel Godfrey
Chris Quantock 5-1 Andreas Hajimena 
Jamie Landon 5-2 Sam Hamilton 
Michael Barnard W/O Steve Atkinson 
Yugi Eguchi 5-4 Colin Littlecott
Ernie Brown 5-1 Paul Carr
Adam Huckvale 5-1 Greg Beard 
David Adshead 5-1 Shaun Lovett 
Simon Preston 5-0 Arron WIke
Mike Symes 5-1 Krit Middleton
Zoran Lerchbacher 5-2 Martyn Turner
Lee Cusworth 5-1 Darren Mawer 
Robert Marijanovic 5-0 Manuel Valerio
Ross Smith 5-2 John Power
Pete Dyos 5-4 Thom Humphrey 
Wayne Crossley 5-4 Paul Bettney
Mick Hasse 5-3 Sheamus Hagan
Darren Latham 5-4 Les Marson
Paul Barham 5-3 BJ Fairhurt 
Alex Chubb 5-3 Simon Burt
Nick Fullwell 5-3 Kevin Thomas 
Marko Kantele 5-1 Nigel Boeg 
Kentaro Suzuki 5-4 Christopher Dale
Dan Harrington 5-1 Derek Brand 
Ron Meulenkamp 5-3 Christian Bober
Kevin Bambrick 5-4 Par Riihonen 
John Michael 5-1 Sam Guest
Jack Todd 5-0 Ian Moar
Bernd Roith 5-0 Andrew McAllister
Jay Foreman 5-4 Coni Singh Nagi
 Roxy-James Rodriguez 5-1 Marios Georgiou 
Lee Shewan 5-2 Jeffrey Bekema
Dick van Dijk 5-2 Kelvin Hart
Karl Forrington 5-4 Ritchie Edhouse
David Jamieson 5-4 Anthony Hall 
Allan Candlish 5-1 Declan Salter
Paul Rowley 5-3 James Hajdar
Antonio Alcinas 5-2 Nick Ellis 
Ryan Harrington 5-3 Michael York 
Steve Brown 5-0 Jay Murphy 
Mick Todd 5-4 Ian Walters
David Fatum 5-1 Michael Ganz
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-0 Mark Breakspear 
Richie Howson 5-0 Vernon Walsh
Darren Place 5-4 Darrell Claydon 
Adam Hunt 5-4 Callum Loose
Joey Palfreyman 5-0 Rob Modra 
Dyson Parody 5-3 Joshua Richardson
Ben Ward 5-3 Steve Smith 
Matt Dennant 5-1 Aaron Stevens 
Scott Dale 5-2 Ashley Holgate
Simon Smith 5-3 Robert Thompson 
Steve Hine 5-0 Tomas Seyler
Luke Woodhouse 5-4 Barrie Bates 
Michael Pearson 5-2 Mark Wilson
Leo Hendricks 5-3 Diogo Portella
Kevin Dowling 5-2 Mike Norton 
Darron Brown 5-2 Ben Adams 
Ewan Hyslop 5-2 Paul Goodwin
Daniel P Smith 5-2 Garath Illidge 
Michael Rasztovits 5-3 Ian Lever 
Ron Schouten 5-3 Martin Lukeman
Mark Oosterhuis 5-2 Harry Robinson 
Kevin Morley 5-3 Stephen Limer 
Mark Walsh 5-2 Rohit Rabadia
Dennis Smith 5-3 Colin Osborne
David Place 5-3 Michael Blake
Robert Owen 5-0 Craig Breeze
John Crossley 5-4 Mark Dudbridge 
Keith Rooney 5-2 Lars Reinecke
Joey Ten Berge 5-4 Ryan De Vreede
Mark Hylton 5-1 Kenneth Bramall
Michel van der Horst 5-2 Keith Moore
Arron Monk 5-0 David Marson
Yuki Yamada 5-1 Marvin Wehder 
Mark Forman 5-2 Stephen Gow
Darren Weaver 5-3 Warrick Scheffer
Sven Groen 5-3 Scott Darbyshire
James Young 5-4 Richard Baillie 
Ciaran Sullivan 5-2 Martin Grimble
Vincent Kamphuis 5-3 Scott Taylor
Stuart Stubbs 5-3 Jack Hill
Dave Johnston 5-3 Lee Moffat 
Jamie Kelling 5-0 Peter Walford
John Gibson 5-3 Rhys Jackson
Lee Watts 5-0 Michael Burgoine

Last 128
Per Laursen 5-0 Jason Marriott
Steven Smith 5-3 Daniel Ayres
Ryan Palmer 5-1 Jason Tarry
Nigel Daniels 5-1 Dave Ladley
Jerry Hendriks 5-3 Cory Evans
James Welding 5-3 Glenn Fitzpatrick 
Ricky Sudale 5-2 John Court
Kirk Shepherd 5-0 Thanawat Gaweenuntawong
Matt Clark 5-1 Michael Malone 
Trevor Burkhill 5-4 Kevin Garcia
Lee Evans  5-2 Andrew Johnson 
John Brammeld 5-3 Chris Hill 
Brett Claydon 5-1 Gary Stone
Dan Read 5-3 Mark Lawrence 
William Borland 5-4 Richard Calvert 
David Evans 5-2 Carl Moorhouse
Ron Atwill 5-4 Marino Michels 
Mick McGowan 5-2 Paul Boyle 
Michael Power 5-4 Kevin Simm
Terry Temple 5-4 Brad Williams 
Eddie White 5-1 Duvaan Ata 
Chris Quantock 5-2 Ian Moss
Michael Barnard 5-2 Jamie Landon 
Ernie Brown 5-3 Yugi Eguchi 
Adam Huckvale 5-1 David Adshead
Simon Preston 5-4 Mike Symes
Zoran Lerchbacher 5-0 Lee Cusworth
Ross Smith 5-3 Robert Marijanovic 
Pete Dyos 5-0 Wayne Crossley
Darren Latham 5-1 Mick Hasse 
Paul Barham 5-3 Alex Chubb
Marco Kantele 5-3 Nick Fullwell 
Kentaro Suzuki 5-2 Dan Harrington
Ron Meulenkamp 5-3 Kevin Bambrick
John Michael 5-2 Jack Todd
Jay Forman 5-1 Bernd Roith 
Lee Shewan 5-3 Roxy-James Rodriguez
Dick van Dijk 5-3 Karl Forrington
Allan Candlish 5-3 David Jamieson 
Paul Rowley 5-4 Antonio Alcinas 
Steve Brown 5-3 Ryan Harrington 
Mick Todd 5-0 David Fatum 
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-1 Richie Howson
Adam Hunt 5-1 Darren Place 
Dyson Parody 5-1 Joey Palfreyman  
Matt Dennant 5-3 Ben Ward 
Scott Dale 5-1 Simon Smith
Steve Hine 5-4 Luke Woodhouse
Michael Pearson 5-2 Leo Hendricks
Kevin Dowling 5-3 Darron Brown
Ewan Hyslop 5-2 Daniel Smith 
Michael Rasztovits 5-0 Ron Schouten 
Kevin Morley 5-1 Mark Oosterhuis 
Mark Walsh 5-3 Dennis Smith
David Place 5-3 Robert Owen
Keith Rooney 5-3 John Crossley
Joey Ten Berge 5-4 Mark Hylton
Arron Monk 5-3 Michel van der Horst
Yuki Yamada 5-0 Mark Forman
Sven Groen 5-2 Darren Weaver  
James Young 5-2 Ciaran Sullivan 
Vincent Kamphuis 5-0 Stuart Stubbs
Jamie Kelling 5-1 Dave Johnston 
Lee Watts 5-1 John Gibson

Last 64
Per Laursen 5-2 Steven Smith
Ryan Palmer 5-1 Nigel Daniels
Jerry Hendriks 5-4 James Welding
Kirk Shepherd 5-1 Ricky Sudale
Matt Clark 5-4 Trevor Burkhill
Lee Evans 5-0 John Brammeld
Brett Claydon 5-4 Dan Read
David Evans 5-1 William Borland
Mick McGowan 5-3 Ron Atwill 
Michael Power 5-3 Terry Temple
Chris Quantock 5-4 Eddie White 
Michael Barnard 5-3 Ernie Brown
Adam Huckvale 5-1 Simon Preston
Ross Smith 5-0 Zoran Lerchbacher 
Pete Dyos 5-3 Darren Latham
Marko Kantele 5-3 Paul Barham
Ron Meulenkamp 5-4 Kentaro Suzuki 
John Michael 5-4 Jay Foreman
Dick van Dijk 5-1 Lee Shewan 
Allan Candlish 5-4 Paul Rowley 
Mick Todd 5-1 Steve Brown 
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-3 Adam Hunt
Dyson Parody 5-0 Matt Dennant
Scott Dale 5-4 Steve Hine
Kevin Dowling 5-4 Michael Pearson 
Ewan Hyslop 5-2 Michael Rasztovits
Mark Walsh 5-1 Kevin Morley 
David Place 5-4 Keith Rooney
Joey Ten Berge 5-4 Arron Monk
Yuki Yamada 5-3 Sven Groen 
Vincent Kamphuis 5-1 James Young 
Jamie Kelling 5-4 Lee Watts

Last 32
Ryan Palmer 5-4 Per Laursen 
Jerry Hendriks 5-0 Kirk Shepherd
Matt Clark 5-2 Lee Evans
David Evans 5-4 Brett Claydon
Mick McGowan 5-3 Michael Power
Michael Barnard 5-4 Chris Quantock 
Ross Smith 5-4 Adam Huckvale 
Marko Kantele 5-2 Pete Dyos
Ron Meulenjamp 5-4 John Michael
Dick van Dijk 5-0 Allan Candlish
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-2 Mick Todd 
Scott Dale 5-1 Dyson Parody 
Kevin Dowling 5-3 Ewan Hyslop
Mark Walsh 5-3 David Place
Joey Ten Berge 5-1 Yuki Yamada
Vincent Kamphuis 5-2 Jamie Kelling

Last 16 
Ryan Palmer 5-2 Jerry Hendriks
Matt Clark 5-2 David Evans
Mick McGowan 5-3 Michael Barnard
Ross Smith 5-4 Marko Kantele
Ron Meulenkamp 5-1 Dick van Dijk
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-3 Scott Dale
Mark Walsh 5-1 Kevin Dowling
Vincent Kamphuis 5-1 Joey Ten Berge 

Last Eight
Ryan Palmer 5-1 Matt Clark
Ross Smith 5-4 Mick McGowan
Yordi Meeuwisse 5-2 Ron Meulenkamp 
Vincent Kamphuis 5-3 Mark Walsh
 
Tour Card Winners
Day One: John Bowles, Simon Stevenson, Andy Parsons, Ricky Williams
Day Two: Jonathan Worsley, James Richardson, Ted Evetts, Ryan Meikle
Day Three: Ray Campbell, Jeffrey de Graaf, Tony Newell, Brian Woods
Day Four: Ryan Palmer, Ross Smith, Yordi Meeuwisse, Vincent Kamphuis
Q School OOM: Mark Walsh, John Michael, Dick van Dijk, Harry Robinson, Mark Barilli, Matt Clark, Terry Temple, Darron Brown, Dennis Smith, Mick McGowan, Simon Preston, Matthew Dennant, Robert Owen, Ron Meulenkamp

Final 2016 Qualifying School Order of Merit
Following Day Four