PROFESSIONAL DARTS CORPORATION

2012 RULES
(Announced Jan 12 2012, updated Jan 17 2012)

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1. Eligibility
1.1 All players must be a member of the Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA) to feature in the Professional Darts Corporation's (PDC) Order of Merit. Membership is defined as either having paid an annual subscription, or, in the case of non-UK players who compete in non-UK ProTour events, having paid a supplement to their entry fee.

PDPA membership will fit in to one of the following categories:
A Full Member is defined as a player who has joined the PDPA and holds a PDC Tour Card; or can be a non-playing Full Member such as a PDPA board member or Honorary Member.
An Associate Member is defined as a player who has joined the PDPA but does not hold a Tour Card (for example a player who attempted to win a Tour Card through Q School or non-UK based player who is a paid-up PDPA member).
A Day Member is defined as a non-UK based player who pays a supplement to his entry fee for non-UK ProTour events.

1.2 All players who participate in the televised stages of the following events must be a member of the PDPA: World Championship, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, UK Open (excluding Amateur Qualifiers), European Championship, Players Championship Finals.

In the event of a non-PDPA member qualifying for an event through either the Players Championship or European Order of Merit, or a World Championship qualifier, they must join the PDPA prior to the commencement of the event.

1.3 All Full Members must sign and accept the PDC Players Contract and agree to abide by the Rules of the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) before being allowed to participate in any PDC organised event.

1.4 Any player who is not in good financial or disciplinary standing with the DRA, PDC or the PDPA or with companies involved with the DRA, PDC or PDPA will not be allowed to participate in any event until such time as they are in good standing.

2. Order of Merit
2.1 The PDC operates various Orders of Merit, based on prize money won in its events. The breakdown of this prize money is as follows.

Premier Events
2012/13 World Championship

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Last 64	Prelim Rd (x8)	Total
£200,000	£100,000	£50,000	£25,000	£15,000	£10,000	£6,000	£3,500	£1,000,000

2012 World Matchplay

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Total
£100,000	£50,000	£25,000	£15,000	£7,500	£5,000	£400,000

2012 World Grand Prix

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Total
£100,000	£40,000	£20,000	£12,500	£7,000	£4,000	£350,000

2012 UK Open Finals

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Last 64	Total
£40,000	£20,000	£10,000	£6,000	£4,000	£2,000	£1,000	£200,000

2012 European Championship

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Total
£50,000	£20,000	£10,000	£7,500	£5,000	£2,500	£200,000

2012 Players Championship Finals

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Total
£60,000	£24,000	£15,000	£10,000	£6,000	£3,000	£250,000

Pro Tour Events
UK Open Qualifying Tournaments + Players Championships

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi-Finalists	Quarter-Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Last 64	Total (inc 9-dart)
£6,000	£3,000	£2,000	£1,000	£600	£400	£200	£35,000

European Tour

Winner	Runner-Up	Semi- Finalists	Quarter- Finalists	Last 16	Last 32	Last 64	Last round of qualifiers	Total (inc 9-dart)
£15,000	£7,500	£5,000	£3,000	£1,500	£1,000	£200	£100	£82,100

2.2 £400 per ProTour event is reserved for a nine-dart finish (£800 for European Tour events). Should this not be won in a particular tournament, this prize fund would be carried over and have the relevant amount again added to it until it is won. Once the prize fund has been won, it will revert to £400 for the next ProTour event or £800 if the next event is a European Tour event.

Any Full, Associate or Day PDPA Member who hits a nine-dart finish at a ProTour event shall be entitled to a share of the prize fund available for the feat at the start of that event.

2.3 For every Premier Event televised on Sky Sports there will be a £5,000 prize fund for any player achieving a nine-dart leg.

Should this not be won in a particular tournament, this prize fund would be carried over and have the same amount again added to it until it is won (i.e. £5,000 in event one, £10,000 in event two, £15,000 in event three, £20,000 in event four etc). Once the prize fund has been won, it will revert to £5,000 for the next Sky Sports Premier event.

2.4 In the event of more than one player completing a nine-dart finish at any point during any event the prize fund will be divided pro rata based on the number of occasions on which the feat has been achieved.

To clarify: if one player achieves the feat twice and another once, the player who has achieved it twice will be entitled to a two-third share of the prize fund, regardless of the stages of the tournament when he achieved the feat. This prize fund does not count towards any Order of Merit.

2.5 All events will be scheduled and categorised at the discretion of the PDC Board of Directors, following consultation with the PDPA, but with the final decision resting with the PDC Board of Directors.

2.6 Prize money won in all ranking tournaments determine a player's standing in the relevant Orders of Merit. Prize money will be displayed in UK£ as per the details in 2.1.

2.7 All prize money paid to Full and Associate PDPA Members in all tournaments will be paid in UK£ directly by the PDC in the standard amounts detailed above, unless otherwise advertised.

2.8 Prize money paid to Day Members for non-UK tournaments will be paid in local currency calculated at the conversion rate on xe.com at 9am (UK time) on the morning of the tournament starting. However, the amount of prize money recorded on the Order of Merit will correspond to the standard prize money as detailed above.

2.9 The Order of Merit is calculated on prize money won by players over a two-year period and is added to each player's total at the conclusion of each tournament.

All Pro Tour prize money shall count for two years and be removed from the main Order of Merit on the second anniversary of it being won, regardless of the corresponding position in the calendar of any events.

Prize money won in Premier Events will count for a period of two corresponding tournaments so as to ensure no Premier Event counts three times at any point on a player's total. If an event lapses from the PDC calendar, prize money won will last for two calendar years.

In the event of a clash of dates with tournaments (for example: March 23 2010, March 23 2012), money will be removed before the commencement of the tournament which clashes with one from two years previously.

2.10 The calendar of tournaments and Orders of Merit will be published on pdc.tv, the PDC's official website and it will be the responsibility of the individual players to ensure they are fully aware of all details.

2.11 Invitations to and seedings for ranked events will be based on the relevant Orders of Merit at the closing date for entries for the tournament in question.

2.12 Players will need to have participated in a minimum of ten events over a rolling two-year period to be eligible to qualify for Premier Events through the Order of Merit. Players who fall beneath this threshold will remain on the Order of Merit but will not be eligible for qualification for Premier Events until they have reached the level again with all eligible prize money counted.

However, players need only participate in one ProTour event in order to qualify for the Players Championship Finals through the ProTour Order of Merit.

Players must participate in a minimum of two of the eight qualifying tournaments to qualify for the UK Open Finals.

2.13 Only prize money won as a PDPA member (Full, Associate or Day) is eligible to appear on the Orders of Merit. Lapsed members, or players who have lost their Tour Card will be removed from the Orders of Merit after Q School, and if they compete again as Day Members their prize money tallies will revert to £0 from the day their membership ceased or their Tour Card was lost.

Prize money won by Amateur Qualifiers in the UK Open will not count unless they join the PDPA in the interim period between qualifying and the event taking place.

2.14 All prize money won in ProTour or Premier Events will be subject to a 3% levy, to be paid directly to the PDPA in the form of deductions from prize money.

3. Invitations and Seedings
3.1 Invitations, seedings and structures for Premier Events will be based on the Order of Merit and are played according to the following criteria:

2012 UK Open Finals
Cut-off date:May 7 2012
Seeds:Top 32 in UK Open Order of Merit exempt to last 64 and drawn randomly
33-64 in UK Open Order of Merit exempt to last 96 and drawn randomly
Qualifying Players:Top 96 plus ties from UK Open Order of Merit who have competed in at least two of the eight Qualifying Tournaments
A minimum of 32 Amateur Qualifiers (non-PDPA members) from specific events

2012 World Matchplay
Cut-off date:July 9 2012
Seeds:Top 16 in Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:Top 16 in Order of Merit
Top 16 in ProTour Order of Merit not otherwise qualified

2012 European Championship
Cut-off date:September 10 2012
Seeds:Top 8 in Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:Top 16 in Order of Merit
Top 8 in European Order of Merit not already qualified
Top 8 in ProTour Order of Merit not already qualified

2012 World Grand Prix
Cut-off date:September 24 2012
Seeds:Top 8 in Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:Top 16 in Order of Merit
Top 14 in ProTour Order of Merit not otherwise qualified
Top 2 nationals of Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland from the ProTour Order of Merit not otherwise qualified

2012 Players Championship Finals
Cut-off date:November 26 2012
Seeds:Top 32 in ProTour Order of Merit (drawn in seed pattern)
Qualifying Players:Top 32 in ProTour Order of Merit

2012/13 World Championship
Cut-off date: November 26 2012
Seeds: Top 32 in Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:Top 32 in Order of Merit
Top 16 in ProTour Order of Merit not otherwise qualified
Top 4 in European Order of Merit not otherwise qualified
20 invitations at the PDC's discretion (non-UK qualifying events, PDPA qualifier)

3.2 In the case of ties in any Order of Merit, the countback rule will apply; this will be the cumulative money won by a player in the previous four eligible events in the Order of Merit where a tie has occurred. In cases where there is still a tie, this countback will continue one event at a time until there is a separation.

In the event of two or more players not being separated by countback over the entire eligible period of the Order of Merit, a play-off will take place played under the format of the first round of the relevant tournament.

3.3 Seedings for Premier and European Tour events will be ordered as follows:
TOP HALF: 1-(16)-8-(9)-5-(12)-4-(13)
BOTTOM HALF: 2-(15)-7-(10)-6-(11)-3-(14)

Seedings for Players Championship events and the World Championship are ordered as follows:
TOP HALF: 1-32-16-17-8-25-9-24-5-28-12-21-4-29-13-20
BOTTOM HALF: 2-31-15-18-7-26-10-23-6-27-11-22-3-30-14-19

3.4 For PDC ranked events the seeding will be determined by the relevant Order of Merit at the time of the closing date for each particular tournament.

3.5 Seedings for Players Championships will be determined on a one-year rolling basis from the ProTour Order of Merit with 32 seeds per event (or as many as entries permit).

For the start of 2012, the 2011 Players Championship and UK Open final Orders of Merit will be combined to form a starting point for the Rolling ProTour Order of Merit, which will consist of all Players Championship, UK Open qualifying and European Tour events in 2012.

3.6 Seedings for European Tour events will be determined by the main Order of Merit.

For UK Open qualifying events, there shall be no seeding and a completely open draw shall be made.

In respect of the qualification criteria for Premier events through the ProTour or European Order of Merit, these will operate on a one-year calendar basis.

3.7 In the event of a player withdrawing from a Premier event due to personal or disciplinary reasons before the draw for the event has been made, the next available non-qualified player from the Order of Merit through which the unavailable player qualified will be invited to participate in the event. In this instance, the players ranked below the unavailable player will all move up one place in the seedings, where appropriate.

3.8 In the event of a player withdrawing from a Premier event due to personal or disciplinary reasons after the draw for the event has been made, the next available non-qualified player from the main Order of Merit will be invited to participate in the event and will take the place of the withdrawn player directly in the draw with no alteration made to seedings.

In the event that this occurs at the World Championship or other event where the replacement player is invited directly in to the first round and misses a preliminary round, he will only be awarded preliminary round prize money should he lose his first match. However, should he win his first match, prize money will be awarded as normal.

3.9 PDPA members may choose to enter either their own nation's World Championship qualifying tournament (either one-off tournament or series of tournament) or the PDPA Members qualifier - not both. The PDPA qualifier will be the last qualifying tournament held and will offer the appropriate number of spots required to complete the field for the event. Therefore, all other qualifying tournaments must conclude prior to the PDPA qualifier being held.

3.10 Lapsed PDPA members are not eligible to qualify for the UK Open as Amateur Qualifiers for the next two UK Open Televised Finals following their membership terminating.

3.11 Full or Associate PDPA members who resign or otherwise terminate their membership are not entitled to enter ProTour tournaments as a Day Member for a period of 12 months after the date of their membership ending.

3.12 Any player who declines an invitation to any event may be denied an invitation to that or other events in the future at the discretion of the PDC Board of Directors.

4.ProTour
4.1 Entry to all Players Championship events staged in the UK is open only to Tour Card holders.

Tour Cards will be awarded to the following players:
Top 64 x PDPA Members from the PDC Order of Merit (having competed in at least 10 events which are counted on the PDC Order of Merit during the preceding two years) following the completion of the 2011/12 World Championship.
25 x Tour Card holders from 2011 Q School/invitations
4 x semi-finalists from the 2012 Lakeside Championship
2 x finalists from the 2012 PDC World Youth Championship
2 x top ranked players not otherwise qualified for a Tour Card from the 2011 Youth Order of Merit
minimum of 35 x players who progress from 2012 Q School

In the event that any players from the above list choose not to take up their Tour Card by a deadline determined by the PDC, extra places will be allocated to players from the Q School.

The Top 64 from the Order of Merit will receive a one-year Tour Card. The remaining qualifiers will receive a two-year Tour Card as their Order of Merit total will revert to £0 from January 3 2012 whereas the Top 64 retain their money won.

If a player drops out of the top 64 but qualifies through Q School his total reverts to £0 as he will be in possession of a two-year Tour Card.

If a youth player who qualifies for a Tour Card through reaching the final of the World Youth Championship is also in the Top 64 of the Order of Merit then he will receive a one-year Tour Card due to his Order of Merit position. His money from the previous year will remain valid and his Tour Card place will pass to a further Q School qualifier.

If a youth player who qualifies for a Tour Card through being in the top two of the Youth Order of Merit is also in the Top 64 of the Order of Merit then he will receive a one-year Tour Card due to his Order of Merit position. His money from the previous year will remain valid and his Tour Card place will pass to the next highest ranked unqualified player from the Youth Order of Merit who will receive a two-year Tour Card with his Order of Merit total reverting to £0 if applicable.

4.2 UK Open qualifying tournaments, European Tour events and non-UK Players Championship events are open to all Full and Associate PDPA members.

For non-UK Players Championship events, the Rolling ProTour Order of Merit will be used to determine 32 seeds and all other registered players will be drawn at random whether in to the last 128 or a preliminary round.

For UK Open qualifying tournaments a completely open draw will be made with no seedings or exemptions.

For European Tour events, the main Order of Merit will be used to determine 16 seeds and all other qualified and registered players will be drawn at random in to the last 64.

4.3 All UK Players Championship events will have a 128-player draw. In the event of the number of Full Members entering a Players Championship event not reaching 128, Associate Members shall be invited to enter, first in order of Q School Merit Table and then, following an appointed deadline, on a first-come-first-served basis to make the total number of entries up to 128.

In the event that this total still does not reach 128, byes will be awarded in seed order. In the event that this total still does not reach 96, all 32 seeds will receive a bye and additional byes will be awarded on a random basis.

For example, if there is one bye, it will go to seed one; if there are two byes they will go to seeds one and two etc.

4.4 Non-UK Players Championship and European Tour events are open to non-PDPA members who are not from the UK who must pay a supplement in addition to the entry fee. In the event of a player originally from the UK attempting to enter a non-UK event as a non-PDPA member, they must prove residency or citizenship in the country for a period of at least two consecutive years immediately prior to the date of the relevant tournament.

Players who have terminated or otherwise ended their PDPA membership will not be eligible to enter events for a period of 12 months from the date of their membership ending.

4.5 European Tour events will be played on a maximum of two boards from the last 64 down to a winner over three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). The last 64 will consist of the top 32 entered players from the Order of Merit as per the cut-off date, and 32 qualifiers.

The 32 qualifiers shall come from two qualifying tournaments: one in the UK which will produce 20 players and one in mainland Europe which shall produce 12 players.

The UK-based qualifying tournaments are open to all Full and Associate PDPA Members from the UK and Ireland.

The mainland Europe-based qualifying tournaments are open to all Full, Associate and Day Members from mainland Europe.

4.6 Depending on entry levels, the PDC may choose (and will advertise accordingly) to commence the last 128 of a ProTour event at a certain time once any preliminary round matches have been completed.

4.7 The entry fee for all ProTour events, including UK qualifiers for European Tour events) is £100 for Tour Card holders, Associate Members and other Full Members.

Non-UK ProTour events (including European qualifiers for European Tour events) can be entered by non-UK players who do not hold a Tour Card for a fee of €115 (includes a Day Membership supplement).

The PDC may, at its discretion, adjust non-member entry fees for tournaments based on currency fluctuations or if tournaments are staged in territories deemed to be 'developing territories'.

4.8 The closing date for entries for the main draw will be 2pm on the Tuesday the week before each tournament is due to be played (for the avoidance of doubt, this is 11 days before a Saturday event).

Any variation from this will be advertised on pdc.tv. The PDC reserves the right to alter these times in the event of logistical issues. The list of entries will be published on pdc.tv before each tournament.

4.9 All PDPA members must enter through the PDC's online entry system. All non-PDPA members must enter through the PDC's local organiser with entry not accepted until payment is made by the appointed deadline.

4.10 Entry in to events, whether as a Full, Associate or Day Member of the PDPA constitutes acceptance of all PDC and DRA rules.

4.11 All ProTour main draw matches will be best of 11 legs throughout.

4.12 All ProTour tournaments will start at 12pm local time, with registration closing at 11am. Any player not registered by 11am will be omitted from the draw without exception.

Any variation from this will be advertised on pdc.tv.

4.13 Draws for Players Championship and UK Open events will be conducted following the closure of registration, with seedings adjusted accordingly in the event of an entered player who was due to be seeded not registering.

Draws for European Tour events will be conducted following the completion of the field for the last 64.

4.14 All ProTour events will progress in a bracket format throughout with no re-draw once the tournament is underway.

4.15 Players who wish to withdraw from a tournament they have entered must do so in writing to the PDC prior to the closing date if they wish to apply for a refund of their entry fee, which will only be considered with the support of a doctor's certificate or in the event of a serious family issue.

Players who enter but decide not to travel, or wish to otherwise withdraw from an event, are requested to inform the PDC as a courtesy.

4.16 All games are 501 up, straight start and finishing on a double. The player on the left of the draw will throw first for the bull to determine who throws first in the first leg. The throw will then be reversed and alternate thereafter. All darts will be removed before each player throws.

4.17 The PDC/PDPA will use their best endeavours to supply a marker at ProTour events but players must assume that marking will be their own responsibility.

Each ProTour event will operate on a "loser marks" basis and it is a condition of participation that the losing player of each match marks the following game, if a marker has not been provided, as directed by Tournament Officials. In genuine cases of disablement, a player may arrange for someone else to mark the next match on their behalf. It is the player's responsibility to ensure that someone replaces them and that this person can mark to a competent standard and is dressed as per the DRA rules.

In either case, the marker must be in place immediately following the completion of the previous game.

4.18 The first game on each board will be marked by the last player listed on the schedule of matches for that board.

4.19 Players may be asked by Tournament Officials to move from the board to which they were originally allocated to another board. These requests must be adhered to immediately to help the smooth running of the tournament.

5. Qualifying School
5.1 Qualifying School shall comprise four separate one-day events, all played over a best of 11 format as per Players Championship rules, between January 19-22 2012. The entry deadline shall be 12pm on Wednesday January 18.

5.2 The four semi-finalists from each day's play shall be awarded a Tour Card and will not compete in the remainder of the Q School. The remaining Tour Cards will be awarded to the remaining players who occupy the qualifying positions in the Q School Merit Table which shall be comprised of points as awarded in 5.3.

5.3 A Merit Table shall be compiled based on the following criteria to determine the allocation of any additional Tour Cards as necessary:
Last 64 defeat: 2 points
Last 32 defeat: 3 points
Last 16 defeat: 5 points
Last 8 defeat: 9 points

In the event two or more players are tied on points, they will be separated in the ranking list by a countback, one event at a time, until they can be separated. If they can not be separated after all matches have been taken in to consideration, leg difference will be used to determine positions in the Merit Table. In the event the players still can not be split, a play-off will be organised.

5.4 Entry to the Q School shall cost £200 and be paid in advance. This fee shall count as a PDPA Associate Membership fee for players for the year providing the player participates in at least one day of Q School. Players who achieve their Tour Card must upgrade to Full PDPA membership at a cost of an additional £200 in order to be granted their Tour Card.

5.5 All players who reach the last 16 of the PDC Youth World Championship will be invited in to the next Q School. If any of these players achieve a Tour Card through the Q School, they must pay £200 for PDPA membership before a Tour Card is granted to them.

6. General
6.1 Participation in all PDC events is subject to players adhering to the Darts Regulation Authority rulebook. Special attention is drawn to the rules referring to behaviour and dress.

6.2 The PDC reserves the right to remove any tournament from the calendar without prior notice but will endeavour not to add any tournament to the calendar without a minimum of three months notice.

6.3 The PDC accepts no responsibility for any loss, financial or otherwise, incurred by any player or other person in relation to the change in a tournament's date, location or schedule providing such change is advertised on pdc.tv more than three months before the opening day of the relevant tournament.

In the event of a change occurring within three months of the opening day of a tournament, the PDC will enter in to good faith negotiations with any player who can prove they have incurred non-refundable or changeable travel or accommodation expenses for themselves only.

6.4 The PDC reserves the right to consult with the PDPA to add or amend any or all of these rules at any time to meet any purpose deemed to be necessary at that time by the PDC's Board of Directors.

6.5 All match results and prize money awarded shall be recorded in all stages of all PDC tournaments and this information shall be published as soon as possible after a tournament has been concluded on pdc.tv.

6.6 For clarification, reference to 'non-UK' in this document shall refer to mainland Europe, America, Asia, Africa or Oceania. Players from the Republic of Ireland shall be included with UK players and so shall not be eligible to appear on the European Order of Merit.

Players from the Republic of Ireland shall be permitted to enter Republic of Ireland based ProTour events as Day Members on payment of the appropriate entry fee.

6.7 This document will remain in force until the completion of all 2012 events unless otherwise advised.