THE field for the William Hill World Darts Championship has been confirmed along with the draw for the preliminary round ahead of Monday's PDPA Qualifier and first round draw.
The sport's biggest tournament will see 72 players competing for £1.65 million in prize money and the prestigious Sid Waddell Trophy, with play at London's Alexandra Palace from December 15-January 2 live on the dedicated SKy Sport Darts channel.
Following the conclusion of the Cash Converters Players Championship Finals on SUnday night, the field has been confirmed, with the top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit joined by a series of qualifiers.
World number 28 Kyle Anderson has withdrawn from the World Championship having been unable to secure a UK Visa, meaning that the players ranked from 29-33 move up one place in the seedings for the tournament.
That means Spain's Cristo Reyes becomes the 32nd seed, with 2004 World Championship finalist Kevin Painter taking the final qualifying place from the ProTour Order of Merit.
With DPA Australian Grand Prix winner Corey Cadby having won the PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship final on Sunday night, the field of international qualifiers was finalised ahead of the preliminary round draw.
Monday's PDPA Qualifier winner will go straight into the first round alongside the top three ranked international qualifiers, Ireland's Mick McGowan, Sweden's Magnus Caris and Greece's John Michael.
A further three players will come from the PDPA Qualifier and take places in the preliminary round, where they will face Philippines' Gilbert Ulang, Austria's Zoran Lerchbacher and Oceanic Masters champion David Platt.
New Zealand's Warren Parry drew Dutch qualifier Jerry Hendriks, Malaysian debutant Tengku Shah plays Japan's Masumi Chino, Cadby takes on China's Qiang Sun, Canada's Ross Snook meets Finland's Kim Viljanen and Russia's Boris Koltsov comes up against German qualifier Dragutin Horvat.
The draw for the William Hill World Darts Championship first round will be made at 3.30pm on Monday November 28, live on Sky Sports News in the UK, with updates available at www.pdc.tv.
William Hill World Darts Championship
Preliminary Round Draw
Jerry Hendriks (Netherlands) v Warren Parry (New Zealand)
Zoran Lerchbacher (Austria) v PDPA Qualifier 3
Tengku Shah (Malaysia) v Masumi Chino (Japan)
PDPA Qualifier Runner-Up v Gilbert Ulang (Philippines)
Qiang Sun (China) v Corey Cadby (Australia)
PDPA Qualifier 4 v David Platt (Australia)
Ross Snook (Canada) v Kim Viljanen (Finland)
Boris Koltsov (Russia) v Dragutin Horvat (Germany)
World Championship Qualifiers & Draw Numbers
Top 32 from PDC Order of Merit
1 Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
2 Gary Anderson (Scotland)
3 Peter Wright (Scotland)
4 Phil Taylor (England)
5 Adrian Lewis (England)
6 James Wade (England)
7 Dave Chisnall (England)
8 Mensur Suljovic (Austria)
9 Robert Thornton (Scotland)
10 Jelle Klaasen (Netherlands)
11 Michael Smith (England)
12 Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
13 Kim Huybrechts (Belgium)
14 Ian White (England)
15 Benito van de Pas (Netherlands)
16 Stephen Bunting (England)
17 Simon Whitlock (Australia)
18 Terry Jenkins (England)
19 Gerwyn Price (Wales)
20 Vincent van der Voort (Netherlands)
21 Alan Norris (England)
22 Mervyn King (England)
23 Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland)
24 Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland)
25 Mark Webster (Wales)
26 Justin Pipe (England)
27 Steve Beaton (England)
28 Joe Cullen (ranked 29) (England)
29 Jamie Caven (ranked 30) (England)
30 Jamie Lewis (ranked 31) (Wales)
31 John Henderson (ranked 32) (Scotland)
32 Cristo Reyes (ranked 33) (Spain)
16x ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers
33 James Wilson (England)
34 Steve West (England)
35 Chris Dobey (England)
36 Robbie Green (England)
37 Josh Payne (England)
38 Jermaine Wattimena (Netherlands)
39 Ronny Huybrechts (Belgium)
40 Joe Murnan (England)
41 Darren Webster (England)
42 Devon Petersen (South Africa)
43 Rowby-John Rodriguez (Austria)
44 Christian Kist (Netherlands)
45 Jonny Clayton (Wales)
46 Ricky Evans (England)
47 Andrew Gilding (England)
48 Kevin Painter (England)
4x European Qualifiers from ProTour Order of Merit
49 Jeffrey de Graaf (Netherlands)
50 Max Hopp (Germany)
51 Dimitri Van den Bergh (Belgium)
52 Ron Meulenkamp (Netherlands)
Other Qualifiers
53 PDPA Qualifier Winner
54 Mick McGowan (Ireland)
55 Magnus Caris (Sweden)
56 John Michael (Greece)
57 Jerry Hendriks (Netherlands) or Warren Parry (New Zealand)
58 Zoran Lerchbacher (Austria) or PDPA Qualifier 3
59 Tengku Shah (Malaysia) or Masumi Chino (Japan)
60 PDPA Qualifier Runner-Up or Gilbert Ulang (Philippines)
61 Qiang Sun (China) or Corey Cadby (Australia)
62 PDPA Qualifier 4 or David Platt (Australia)
63 Ross Snook (Canada) or Kim Viljanen (Finland)
64 Boris Koltsov (Russia) or Dragutin Horvat (Germany)