With £1.5m to be won at Alexandra Palace, nine players are still in with a chance of sealing an automatic place on the Premier League tour...
It is reflective of the current standard of world darts that the seemingly untouchable world No. 1 should be made to sweat in the opening round by an unknown qualifier.
But Michael van Gerwen will be grateful that he at least survived the scare.
For the likes of World Grand Prix champion and world No. 5 Robert Thornton, No. 9 seed Ian White, 2010 runner-up Simon Whitlock and 2015 Premier League entrant Kim Huybrechts, off-days have all resulted in humbling defeats.
Round one has been no formality for the big names and the danger only increases the deeper we head into the competition.
The race for the most coveted prize in darts will be an exciting and intriguing one over the festive period.
But aside from the World Championship trophy itself, the newly-increased, record prize money on offer of £1.5m also means the tournament can play a major role in deciding the automatic qualifiers for the 2016 Betway Premier League tour, which kicks off in Leeds on 4 February.
The top four players in the PDC Order of Merit after the World Championships gain those automatic spots and, as of the start of the second round, nine players currently sitting outside of the top four are in with a chance of breaking into it – depending on who goes how far at Alexandra Palace and the impact their resulting prize money has on the overall table.
2016 Betway Premier League – who can still get in as an automatic qualifier?
The World Championship prize money is awarded as follows:
Round 1: £10,000, Round 2: £15,000, Round 3: £22,000, Quarter Final: £35,000, Semi-Final: £70,000, Runner-up: £150,000, Winner: £300,000.
Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis currently occupy the top four positions in the PDC Order of Merit and are therefore front-runners for the four automatic places on the 2016 Betway Premier League tour.
Michael Van Gerwen – qualified
There are no possible permutations that would see current No. 1 MvG miss out, or even replaced at the top of the standings. Having reached the final of every major ranking event this year, his earnings put him an insurmountable £430,500 ahead of the rest.
Gary Anderson – qualified
Nor is there any outcome that can prevent the ‘Flying Scotsman’ from having the chance to defend his Premier League trophy on the tour.
Phil Taylor
Taylor and Lewis’ spots however, can still potentially be taken from their grasp by the chasing pack.
Sixteen-time world champion Taylor is the safer of the two, knowing that unless one of Peter Wright, James Wade, Michael Smith, Terry Jenkins, Dave Chisnall, Stephen Bunting, Vincent van der Voort, Mervyn King or Raymond van Barneveld win the world title on 3 January he will definitely be competing in the Betway Premier League next year.
A semi-final exit would also ensure that The Power seals an automatic spot – regardless of who wins the tournament. If he doesn’t reach the semis, Adrian Lewis would have to be runner-up to one of the aforementioned names to knock Phil out of the top four.
Adrian Lewis
‘Jackpot’ Lewis is slightly more vulnerable.
An exit in round two would open the door for Wright or Wade to steal in should either make the quarter-finals.
Smith, Jenkins, Chisnall or Bunting could also claim the place in this case by reaching the final, but the latter three would require both Wright and Wade to exit the competition by the quarter-final stage.
If Lewis does, as expected, progress beyond the second round, Wright and Wade would need to reach at least the semi-finals as well as go one round better than Lewis.
A semi-final appearance for Lewis would leave Smith needing to go one better and reach the final to snatch a top-four place, but Jenkins, Chisnall and Bunting would need to win the tournament overall to take it.
All possibilities…
Of course, the finer details of the ‘who needs what’ scenarios can become bamboozling, so you can figure out the permutations for yourself using the table below.
The table denotes the current PDC Order of Merit, with the 2014 World Championship prize money removed, as this will be replaced by this year’s earnings and won’t count towards Premier League qualification.
Each columns shows what each player’s total prize money will be if they were to exit at each round and whether it would be good enough for a top-four place and automatic Betway Premier League spot.
PDC World Championship betting
