THE Players Championship double-header in Wigan this weekend will be the final two tournaments to be held before the field for the BetVictor World Matchplay is finalised.
Two £60,000 Players Championship events will be held on July 4 & 5 at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan, featuring 128 players competing on each day as PDC Tour Card Holders and PDPA Associate Members battle for the £10,000 first prizes.
Following the double-header, the final 32-player field for this month's prestigious BetVictor World Matchplay will be finalised.
The top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit qualify by right for the Winter Gardens tournament, alongside 16 qualifiers from the ProTour Order of Merit, based on 12 months' prize money won in ProTour events.
Three players still have a chance of breaking into the top 16, although Kim Huybrechts, Vincent van der Voort and Stephen Bunting would need to win at least one or even both of the weekend's Players Championships to do so.
That trio are amongst the 16 ProTour Order of Merit qualifiers anyway, alongside impressive Dutch duo Jelle Klaasen and Benito van de Pas, Austria's Mensur Suljovic and Welshman Gerwyn Price, the former rugby player who will make his World Matchplay debut only 18 months after turning professional.
Jamie Caven, Steve Beaton, John Henderson, Jamie Lewis, Andrew Gilding, Andy Hamilton and Mark Webster have all previously competed in Blackpool, but World Youth Champion Keegan Brown and Bolton's Joe Murnan are both in line for debuts after winning their maiden Players Championship titles this year.
Australia's Kyle Anderson sits only £1,250 behind Webster going into the final two Players Championship events, with Darren Webster, Dean Winstanley, Andy Smith and Kevin Painter also fighting to return to the Blackpool stage.
Local stars Wes Newton and Ronnie Baxter are also facing a battle if they are to qualify for their "home" major going into the final weekend of events after slipping down the rankings.
Newton has competed in eight of the last nine years in the World Matchplay, missing out in 2008 but hitting a nine-darter in 2012 and reaching the quarter-finals in both 2011 and 2014.
Baxter, meanwhile, is in danger of seeing his run competing in 17 successive World Matchplays ended this summer, having reached the final on his debut in 1998, when he lost to Rod Harrington, and five semi-finals in an unbroken run since.
The legendary Phil Taylor will be aiming to win a remarkable eighth successive World Matchplay, having been unbeaten since 2007 in Blackpool, with world number one Michael van Gerwen and World Champion Gary Anderson heading the field of contenders.
The draw for the BetVictor World Matchplay will be made on Monday July 6 live on Sky Sports News, with the schedule of play to follow later next week - stay logged on to www.pdc.tv for full details.
Tickets for the BetVictor World Matchplay are still available for some sessions and can be purchased in person at the Winter Gardens Box Office, by calling 0844 856 1111 or via www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk.
The provisional rankings going into the two Players Championship events in Wigan this weekend are below. These have been adjusted to remove any prize money which was being "defended" this weekend, with only prize money won in the two Players Championship events in Wigan to be added to the totals below.
PDC Order of Merit
Provisional Top 16
| 1 | van Gerwen, Michael | £979,750 |
| 2 | Anderson, Gary | £583,000 |
| 3 | Taylor, Phil | £580,250 |
| 4 | Lewis, Adrian | £378,000 |
| 5 | Wright, Peter | £360,750 |
| 6 | Wade, James | £284,250 |
| 7 | Chisnall, Dave | £240,750 |
| 8 | Whitlock, Simon | £227,500 |
| 9 | White, Ian | £212,500 |
| 10 | Thornton, Robert | £212,000 |
| 11 | Dolan, Brendan | £209,250 |
| 12 | King, Mervyn | £205,500 |
| 13 | Jenkins, Terry | £198,250 |
| 14 | Smith, Michael | £196,500 |
| 15 | van Barneveld, Raymond | £187,750 |
| 16 | Pipe, Justin | £185,250 |
| Not Qualified | ||
| 17 | Huybrechts, Kim | £173,500 |
| 18 | van der Voort, Vincent | £171,250 |
| 19 | Bunting, Stephen | £165,750 |
ProTour Order of Merit
Provisional Standings ahead of Players Championships 13 & 14
Provisional Qualifiers marked with a *
| 1 | van Gerwen, Michael | £206,250 |
| 2 | Smith, Michael | £96,750 |
| 3 | Lewis, Adrian | £83,750 |
| 4 | Wright, Peter | £81,250 |
| 5 | Wade, James | £75,000 |
| 6 | Anderson, Gary | £73,000 |
| 7 | White, Ian | £55,750 |
| 8 | Dolan, Brendan | £55,250 |
| 9 | Chisnall, Dave | £54,750 |
| 10 | King, Mervyn | £52,250 |
| 11 | Pipe, Justin | £52,000 |
| 12 | Whitlock, Simon | £45,750 |
| 13 | Huybrechts, Kim * | £43,500 |
| 14 | Jenkins, Terry | £42,250 |
| 15 | van der Voort, Vincent * | £38,000 |
| 16 | Klaasen, Jelle * | £37,750 |
| 17 | Thornton, Robert | £37,500 |
| 18 | van de Pas, Benito * | £36,250 |
| 19 | Bunting, Stephen * | £31,250 |
| 20 | Suljovic, Mensur * | £28,250 |
| 21 | Price, Gerwyn * | £27,750 |
| 22 | Caven, Jamie * | £27,500 |
| 22 | Taylor, Phil | £27,500 |
| 24 | Beaton, Steve * | £27,250 |
| 25 | Henderson, John * | £23,750 |
| 26 | Lewis, Jamie * | £23,000 |
| 27 | Brown, Keegan * | £22,000 |
| 28 | Gilding, Andrew * | £21,750 |
| 29 | Murnan, Joe * | £20,000 |
| 30 | Hamilton, Andy * | £19,500 |
| 31 | Webster, Mark * | £18,750 |
| Not Qualified | ||
| 32 | Anderson, Kyle | £17,500 |
| 33 | Webster, Darren | £16,750 |
| 34 | Winstanley, Dean | £16,500 |
| 35 | Smith, Andy | £16,250 |
| 36 | Painter, Kevin | £15,750 |
| 37 | Kist, Christian | £15,250 |
| 38 | Gurney, Daryl | £14,750 |
| 39 | Hopp, Max | £14,500 |
| 40 | van Barneveld, Raymond | £14,250 |
| 41 | Rodriguez, Rowby-John | £13,500 |
| 42 | Huybrechts, Ronny | £13,250 |
| 43 | Reyes, Cristo | £12,750 |
| 44 | Cullen, Joe | £12,500 |
| 44 | Evans, Ricky | £12,500 |
| 46 | Pallett, David | £11,250 |
| 46 | de Zwaan, Jeffrey | £11,250 |
| 48 | O'Connor, William | £11,000 |
| 48 | Wilson, James | £11,000 |
| 48 | Newton, Wesley | £11,000 |
| 51 | McDine, Kevin | £10,250 |
| 52 | Bain, Jamie | £10,000 |
| 53 | Baxter, Ronnie | £9,750 |
| 54 | Kellett, Stuart | £9,500 |
| 54 | van Duijvenbode, Dirk | £9,500 |
| 54 | Jones, Wayne | £9,500 |
| 54 | Smith, Ross | £9,500 |
| 58 | Mansell, Mickey | £9,250 |
| 58 | Bowles, John | £9,250 |
| 60 | Boulton, Andy | £8,750 |
| 60 | Artut, Jyhan | £8,750 |
| 60 | Petersen, Devon | £8,750 |
| 63 | Payne, Josh | £8,500 |
| 64 | Woods, Brian | £8,250 |
| 64 | Nicholson, Paul | £8,250 |
| 66 | Norris, Alan | £7,750 |
| 67 | Dudbridge, Mark | £7,500 |
| 68 | Clayton, Jonny | £7,250 |
| 68 | Thomas, Kevin | £7,250 |
| 70 | Parsons, Andy | £7,000 |
| 71 | Stone, Gary | £6,500 |
| 72 | Johnson, Darren | £6,250 |
| 73 | Jenkins, Andy | £6,000 |
| 73 | Van Den Bergh, Dimitri | £6,000 |
| 73 | Hine, Steve | £6,000 |
| 76 | Barilli, Mark | £5,750 |
| 76 | Dootson, Eddie | £5,750 |
| 78 | Palfreyman, Lee | £5,500 |
| 78 | Dekker, Jan | £5,500 |
| 78 | Smith, Dennis | £5,500 |
| 81 | Dobey, Chris | £5,250 |
| 81 | Hunt, Adam | £5,250 |
| 83 | Aspinall, Nathan | £5,000 |
| 83 | Seyler, Tomas | £5,000 |
| 85 | Edgar, Matthew | £4,750 |
| 85 | Green, Robbie | £4,750 |
| 85 | Derry, Nathan | £4,750 |
| 85 | Newell, Tony | £4,750 |
| 89 | West, Steve | £4,500 |
| 89 | Part, John | £4,500 |
| 91 | Brown, Steve | £4,250 |
| 91 | Haines, Johnny | £4,250 |
| 91 | Zuydwijk, Mike | £4,250 |
| 94 | Padgett, Matt | £4,000 |
| 95 | Heydon, Nigel | £3,750 |
| 95 | Wattimena, Jermaine | £3,750 |
| 97 | Clark, Matt | £3,500 |
| 97 | Robinson, Jamie | £3,500 |
| 97 | MacNeil, Ken | £3,500 |
| 97 | Moss, Ian | £3,500 |
| 97 | Caris, Magnus | £3,500 |
| 97 | ten Berge, Joey | £3,500 |