THE William Hill Grand Slam of Darts qualification criteria has been confirmed, with three major tournaments remaining for players to earn their places in Wolverhampton in November.
The nine-day event, to be held at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall from November 10-18, will see stars from both the PDC and BDO/WDF systems collide in a bid to claim the prestigious title.
The players are initially drawn into eight groups of four for the round-robin first round stage, before the top two from each group progress to compete in a knockout format from the last 16 onwards.
The finalists from major televised darts events across a two-year period are invited to compete in the Grand Slam of Darts, including reigning champion Phil Taylor, Ladbrokes World Darts Champion Adrian Lewis, Lakeside Champion Christian Kist and June's Speedy Services UK Open winner Robert Thornton.
Former Grand Slam of Darts champion Scott Waites, last year's Players Championship Finals winner Kevin Painter, 2010 Premier League Darts champion Gary Anderson and PDC Unicorn World Youth Champion James Hubbard are other major title winners who will also compete in Wolverhampton in November.
Other current qualifiers include major finalists James Wade - the runner-up in the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts to Waites - Andy Hamilton, Simon Whitlock, Brendan Dolan, Mark Webster, Wes Newton, Paul Nicholson, Tony O'Shea and Dean Winstanley.
The semi-finalists from the last two Grand Slam events and from each of the last two World Championship and Lakeside Championships also qualify, meaning that Mark Walsh, Steve Beaton, Wolverhampton's own Wayne Jones, Simon Whitlock, Terry Jenkins, Wesley Harms, Ted Hankey, Martin Phillips and Jan Dekker will feature in the tournament.
With Canada's John Part also assured of a place under the criteria of being a World Champion in the last five years, currently 30 places are allocated for the 32-player field with potential other qualification opportunities for finalists of September's PartyPoker.net European Championship, October's PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix, the Championship League Darts and the PDC Unicorn Youth Tour Order of Merit winner.
In the event that one or no further qualifiers are forthcoming through these events, a qualifying competition will be held in Crawley on Friday November 2 and will be open to ANY darts player to enter to complete the field. However, should these four routes generate more than two players producing more than 32 qualifiers for the Grand Slam, a preliminary round will be staged at the first session in Wolverhampton in order to reduce the field appropriately for the group stage.
Tickets for the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts are now on general sale and can be purchased from the Wolves Civic Box Office, either by calling 0870 320 7000, via www.wolvescivic.co.uk or by visiting the box office in Queen Square, Wolverhampton.
2012 William Hill Grand Slam of Darts Qualifiers
(name) indicates an already qualified player
2011 Grand Slam of Darts
Winner: Phil Taylor
Runner-Up: Gary Anderson
Semi-Finalists: Adrian Lewis, Mark Walsh
2010 Grand Slam of Darts
Winner: Scott Waites
Runner-Up: James Wade
Semi-Finalists: Steve Beaton, Wayne Jones
PDC Tournaments
2012 World Championship
Winner: (Adrian Lewis)
Runner-Up: Andy Hamilton
Semi-Finalists: Simon Whitlock, (James Wade)
2011 World Championship
Winner: (Adrian Lewis)
Runner-Up: (Gary Anderson)
Semi-Finalists: Mark Webster, Terry Jenkins
2012 World Matchplay
Winner: (Phil Taylor)
Runner-Up: (James Wade)
2011 World Matchplay
Winner: (Phil Taylor)
Runner-Up: (James Wade)
2012 World Grand Prix
Winner:
Runner-Up:
2011 World Grand Prix
Winner: (Phil Taylor)
Runner-Up: Brendan Dolan
2012 UK Open
Winner: Robert Thornton
Runner-Up: (Phil Taylor)
2011 UK Open
Winner: (James Wade)
Runner-Up: Wes Newton
2012 Premier League Darts
Winner: (Phil Taylor)
Runner-Up: (Simon Whitlock)
2011 Premier League Darts
Winner: (Gary Anderson)
Runner-Up: (Adrian Lewis)
2012 Championship League Darts
Winner:
Runner-Up:
2011 Championship League Darts
Winner: (Phil Taylor)
Runner-Up: Paul Nicholson
Dec 2011 Players Championship
Winner: Kevin Painter
Runner-Up: (Mark Webster)
Feb 2011 Players Championship
Winner: (Phil Taylor)
Runner-Up: (Gary Anderson)
2012 European Championship
Winner:
Runner-Up:
2011 European Championship
Winner: (Phil Taylor)
Runner-Up: (Adrian Lewis)
2012 World Cup of Darts
Winners: (Phil Taylor & Adrian Lewis)
Runner-Up: (Simon Whitlock & Paul Nicholson)
2010 World Cup of Darts
Winners: Raymond van Barneveld & Co Stompe
Runner-Up: (Mark Webster) & Barrie Bates
BDO Tournaments
2012 World Championship
Winner: Christian Kist
Runner-Up: Tony O'Shea
Semi-Finalists: Wesley Harms, Ted Hankey
2011 World Championship
Winner: (Martin Adams)
Runner-Up: Dean Winstanley
Semi-Finalists: Martin Phillips, Jan Dekker
Other Criteria
2012 PDC World Youth Championship
Winner: James Hubbard
Runner-Up: Michael van Gerwen
2012 PDC Unicorn Youth Tour
Order of Merit Winner:
World Champions Of The Last Five Years
All otherwise qualified except John Part (2008)