GLEN DURRANT will return to the bwin Grand Slam of Darts in November after being named among the eight BDO representatives for the Wolverhampton event.
The Grand Slam of Darts sees stars from both the PDC and BDO systems competing live on Sky Sports across nine days in Wolverhampton for the prestigious title, with Durrant heading the list of BDO Representatives.
The Lakeside Championship and BDO World Trophy winner in 2018, Durrant will be making his third consecutive Grand Slam appearance, having reached the quarter-finals at last year's event.
Durrant will be joined by former Lakeside champion Scott Michell, who making his fourth Grand Slam appearance, and Lakeside Championship runner-up Mark McGeeney, who featured in the 2017 tournament.
Dutchman Wesley Harms will also return to the Grand Slam for the first time in four years, having previously competed on three occasions.
Newly-crowned World Masters champion Adam Smith-Neale will be making his Wolverhampton debut, along with former Lakeside Championship quarter-finalists Jim Williams and Gary Robson and World Trophy runner-up Michael Unterbuchner.
The £450,000 tournament will be held from November 10-18 at the Aldersley Leisure Village (crowd mock-up above) in Wolverhampton, with the first round seeing the 32 players split into eight groups, with the top two in each following the round robin phase progressing to the knockout last 16 onwards.
Tickets are on General Sale via www.wolvescivic.co.uk, by calling 0870 320 7000 or in person from the box office located at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Disabled Access Tickets are available by calling 01902 55 0969.
A full list of provisional PDC qualifiers can be found below, with further opportunities for PDC players to qualify remaining for the finalists of the forthcoming Unibet European Championship and bwin World Series of Darts Finals and a final eight places on offer at the PDC Tour Card Holders' Qualifier on Monday November 5.
2018 bwin Grand Slam of Darts
BDO Representatives:
2018 Lakeside Champion - GLEN DURRANT
2018 Lakeside Championship runner-up - MARK MCGEENEY
2018 World Masters Champion - ADAM SMITH-NEALE
2018 BDO World Trophy Champion – (Glen Durrant)
Plus top five players from BDO Rankings:
JIM WILLIAMS
WESLEY HARMS
MICHAEL UNTERBUCHNER
SCOTT MITCHELL
GARY ROBSON
PDC Representatives – Current Provisional Qualifiers: (invited in the following order up to a maximum of 16 players)
2017/18 PDC World Champion; ROB CROSS - 1
2017 Grand Slam Champion; MICHAEL VAN GERWEN - 2
2018 Premier League Champion; (Michael van Gerwen)
2018 World Matchplay Champion; GARY ANDERSON - 3
2018 World Grand Prix Champion; (Michael van Gerwen)
2017 World Youth Champion; DIMITRI VAN DEN BERGH - 4
2018 Masters Champion; (Michael van Gerwen)
2018 UK Open Champion; (Gary Anderson)
2018 European Champion;
2017 Players Champion; (Michael van Gerwen)
2018 Champions League Champion; (Gary Anderson)
2018 World Series of Darts Finals Champion;
2018 World Cup winners; (Michael van Gerwen) & RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD - 5
2017/18 PDC World Championship runner-up; (Phil Taylor)
2017 Grand Slam runner-up; PETER WRIGHT - 6
2018 Premier League runner-up; MICHAEL SMITH - 7
2018 World Matchplay runner-up; MENSUR SULJOVIC - 8
2018 World Grand Prix runner-up; (Peter Wright)
2017 World Youth Championship runner-up; JOSH PAYNE - 9
2018 Masters runner-up; (Raymond van Barneveld)
2018 UK Open runner-up; COREY CADBY - 10
2018 European Championship runner-up;
2017 Players Championship runner-up; JONNY CLAYTON - 11
2018 Champions League runner-up; (Peter Wright)
2018 World Series of Darts Finals runner-up;
2018 World Cup runners-up (2 players with highest individual taking preference if only one spot available) (Peter Wright & Gary Anderson)
This list can produce a maximum of 28 players. If it produces more than 16 players, they shall be taken in order as listed above and no further players shall qualify automatically.
If it produces fewer than 16 places then additional places shall be filled from the reserve list in the following order:
2018 European Tour winners (in Order of Merit order at Nov 5) (Michael van Gerwen), (Mensur Suljovic), (Jonny Clayton), IAN WHITE - 12, GERWYN PRICE - 13, MAX HOPP - 14
2018 Players Championship winners (in Order of Merit order at Nov 5) (Michael van Gerwen), (Peter Wright), (Rob Cross) (Gary Anderson), (Michael Smith), (Ian White), (Gerwyn Price), MERVYN KING - 15, (Max Hopp), JEFFREY DE ZWAAN - 16, (Josh Payne), DANNY NOPPERT, MICKEY MANSELL, NATHAN ASPINALL
2018 UK Open Qualifier winners (in Order of Merit order at Nov 5) (Michael van Gerwen), (Gary Anderson) (Michael Smith), (Corey Cadby), KRZYSZTOF RATAJSKI
Players shall be separated within the reserve list first by the number of Events in each category they have won and then by their position in the PDC main Order of Merit on the cut-off date.
Draw
The draw for the 2018 bwin Grand Slam of Darts is likely to be made on Tuesday November 6.
The 24 competing PDC players shall be ordered in three pots of eight players each, determined in Order of Merit order after the Grand Slam qualifier.
The top eight ranked PDC players on the main Order of Merit at the cut-off date shall be seeded as per the bracket order in groups A – H with the remaining 16 players placed in main Order of Merit order in to the two remaining pots.
The eight BDO qualifiers shall be drawn randomly, one placed in each group.