WELCOME to the Professional Darts Corporation's 2016 Rules.
Section 3 below refers to the Invitations & Seedings.
3. Invitations and Seedings
3.1 Invitations, seedings and structures for Premier Events are played according to the following criteria:
2016 Masters (non-ranked)
Cut-off date:
January 4 2016
Seeds:
Top 16 in Order of Merit (drawn in seed pattern)
Qualifying Players:
Top 16 in Order of Merit
2016 UK Open Finals
Cut-off date:
February 21 2016 (following completion of Qualifier 6)
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 from UK Open Order of Merit
32 Amateur Qualifiers (non-PDPA members) from specific events
2016 World Cup
Cut-off date:
May 23 2016
Seeds:
Top eight ranked nations based on cumulative Order of Merit ranking (lowest total = highest seed)
Qualifying Players:
32 pairs representing different nations selected at the discretion of the PDC.
2016 World Matchplay
Cut-off date:
July 4 2016
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
2016 World Grand Prix
Cut-off date:
September 26 2016
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
2016 European Championship
Cut-off date:
October 17 2016
Seeds:
Top 8 in European Tour Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:
Top 32 in European Tour Order of Merit
2016 Grand Slam of Darts
Cut-off date:
November 7 2016
Seeds:
Top 8 qualified from Order of Merit (one drawn per group)
Qualifying Players:
(invited in the following order up to a maximum of 16 players) 2015/16 PDC World Champion; 2015 Grand Slam Champion; 2016 Premier League Champion; 2016 World Matchplay Champion; 2016 World Grand Prix Champion; 2015 World Youth Champion; 2016 Masters Champion; 2016 UK Open Champion; 2016 European Champion; 2015 Players Champion; 2016 World Series of Darts Finals Champion; 2016 Champions League of Darts Winner; 2016 World Cup winners (2 players); 2015/16 PDC World Championship runner-up; 2015 Grand Slam runner-up; 2016 Premier League runner-up; 2016 World Matchplay runner-up; 2016 World Grand Prix runner-up; 2015 World Youth Championship runner-up; 2016 Masters runner-up; 2016 UK Open runner-up; 2016 European Championship runner-up; 2015 Players Championship Finals runner-up; 2016 World Series of Darts Finals runner-up; 2016 Champions League of Darts runner-up; 2016 World Cup runners-up (2 players). This list was updated on August 11 2016.
This list can produce a maximum of 24 players. If it produces 16 players, 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:
2016 European Tour event winners (in ProTour Order of Merit order at Nov 7))
2016 ProTour event winners (in ProTour Order of Merit order at Nov 7)
Once 16 players are reached from the above criteria then the remaining 16 places shall be filled with eight players from a PDC qualifier and eight players from the BDO system.
For full details, as announced on August 11 2016, please click here.
2016 Players Championship Finals
Cut-off date:
October 23 2016
Seeds:
Top 64 in Players Championship Order of Merit (drawn in seed pattern)
Qualifying Players:
Top 64 in Players Championship Order of Merit
2016/17 World Championship
Cut-off date:
November 27 2016
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 European (non-UK) players in ProTour 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 relevant Order of Merit, the player ranked highest in the main Order of Merit shall be deemed to be highest ranked, with countback continuing indefinitely until a split can be made after the initial four events on the main Order of Merit.
3.3 Seedings for Premier events 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 European Tour events will be as per Premier events but the top and bottom halves will alternate on rotation of events. To clarify, in odd numbered tournaments on the European Tour the number one seed will be in the top half but in even numbered tournaments the halves will switch positions.
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 on the closing date for each particular tournament.
The Orders of Merit in operation are as follows:
* PDC Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a rolling 24-month period in Premier and Pro Tour (European Tour, Players Championship, UK Open qualifier) events;
* UK Open Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a one year calendar period in UK Open qualifier events;
* European Tour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a one year calendar period in European Tour events;
* Players Championship Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a one year calendar period in Players Championship events;
* ProTour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a rolling 12-month period in UK Open qualifier, European Tour and Players Championship events;
* Development Tour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a one year calendar period in Development Tour events;
* Challenge Tour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a one year calendar period in Challenge Tour events.
3.5 Seedings for Players Championship events and European Tour events, and qualification for Premier events through the ProTour Order of Merit will be determined on a one-year rolling basis with 32 seeds per Players Championship event and 16 per European Tour event (or as many as entries permit). Seedings will be determined by the rolling ProTour Order of Merit up to and including the most recent tournament completed for Players Championship events and as of the entry cut-off date for European Tour events.
The rolling ProTour Order of Merit will be formed from all prize money won in Players Championship, European Tour and UK Open qualifier events over the previous 12 months.
For UK Open qualifier events, there shall be no seeding and a completely open draw shall be made with the exception of the top 32 entrants from the main Order of Merit being exempted to the last 128 with these exemptions updated after every qualifying tournament.
3.6 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.
3.7 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 (or ProTour Order of Merit in the case of the Players Championship Finals) 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 if applicable.
In the event that this occurs at the World Championship or other event where the replacement player is invited directly in to a round other than the first round and misses an earlier round, he will only be awarded prize money due for the earliest round of the tournament should he lose his first match. However, should he win his first match, prize money will be awarded as normal.
3.8 PDPA members may choose to enter either their own nation or region’s World Championship qualifying tournament (if it is played as a one-off tournament rather than a series of tournaments) 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.
In the event of a player qualifying through his own nation or region’s World Championship qualifying tournament as well as his position on an Order of Merit, he will be deemed to have qualified through that route and not through the relevant Order of Merit and so the next unqualified player on the relevant Order of Merit will be invited to participate.
3.9 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.