THE race to claim places in the BetVictor World Matchplay looks set to go to the wire - with Kyle Anderson's run in the Dutch Darts Masters seeing him close in on a ProTour Order of Merit qualification place.
The summer spectacular will be held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool from July 18-26, as 32 top stars compete for the prestigious title in the 22nd staging of the World Matchplay.
The top 16 players from the main PDC Order of Merit will qualify by right to compete in the World Matchplay, alongside 16 qualifiers from the PDC's one-year ProTour Order of Merit.
Just three events remain now before the cut-off next month, with the International Darts Open in Riesa from June 19-21 to be followed by a Players Championship double-header in Wigan on July 4-5.
Last weekend's Dutch Darts Masters European Tour event saw Justin Pipe consolidate his position inside the world's top 16 players by reaching the final, where he lost to world number one Michael van Gerwen.
Semi-finalist Jamie Caven will be one of the 16 ProTour Order of Merit qualifiers, while Australia's Kyle Anderson moved himself to within touching distance of a qualifying place with his run to the quarter-finals.
Anderson, though, is agonisingly £250 behind Mark Webster in the current provisional rankings with the Welshman set to compete in the International Darts Open in Riesa - meaning that the Australian ace still has work to do in Wigan on the final weekend.
Andy Smith, Darren Webster, Kevin Painter and Dean Winstanley are also within touching distance of the qualifying places, with Christian Kist and Ronny Huybrechts also in the hunt.
In the battle for seeding positions within the top 16, World Champion Gary Anderson would provisionally be the second seed, behind Michael van Gerwen but ahead of reigning champion Phil Taylor.
Tickets for the BetVictor World Matchplay are still available and can be purchased from the Winter Gardens Box Office in person, by calling 0844 856 111 or online via the Winter Gardens Website.
Remaining PDC ProTour events before cut-off:
International Darts Open ET5 (June 19-21, Riesa)
Players Championship 13-14 (July 4-5, Wigan)
BetVictor World Matchplay
Current Provisional PDC Order of Merit Rankings
(prize money removed up to cut-off of July 6)
| 1 | van Gerwen, Michael | £977,750 |
| 2 | Anderson, Gary | £583,000 |
| 3 | Taylor, Phil | £580,250 |
| 4 | Lewis, Adrian | £378,000 |
| 5 | Wright, Peter | £358,750 |
| 6 | Wade, James | £284,250 |
| 7 | Chisnall, Dave | £237,250 |
| 8 | Whitlock, Simon | £226,000 |
| 9 | Thornton, Robert | £210,000 |
| 10 | White, Ian | £207,500 |
| 11 | Dolan, Brendan | £207,250 |
| 12 | King, Mervyn | £204,000 |
| 13 | Jenkins, Terry | £194,750 |
| 14 | van Barneveld, Raymond | £187,750 |
| 15 | Pipe, Justin | £181,750 |
| 16 | Smith, Michael | £171,500 |
| 17 | van der Voort, Vincent | £169,750 |
| 18 | Huybrechts, Kim | £168,500 |
| 19 | Bunting, Stephen | £162,250 |
| 20 | Hamilton, Andy | £151,500 |
| 21 | Newton, Wesley | £143,750 |
| 22 | Caven, Jamie | £137,750 |
| 22 | Beaton, Steve | £137,750 |
Current Provisional PDC ProTour Order of Merit (top 100)
(prize money removed up to cut-off of July 6)
Provisional Qualifiers marked with a *
| 1 | van Gerwen, Michael | £204,250 |
| 2 | Lewis, Adrian | £83,750 |
| 3 | Wright, Peter | £79,250 |
| 4 | Wade, James | £75,000 |
| 5 | Anderson, Gary | £73,000 |
| 6 | Smith, Michael | £71,750 |
| 7 | Dolan, Brendan | £53,250 |
| 8 | Chisnall, Dave | £51,250 |
| 9 | White, Ian | £50,750 |
| 9 | King, Mervyn | £50,750 |
| 11 | Pipe, Justin | £48,500 |
| 12 | Whitlock, Simon | £44,250 |
| 13 | Jenkins, Terry | £38,750 |
| 14 | Huybrechts, Kim * | £38,500 |
| 15 | Klaasen, Jelle * | £37,750 |
| 16 | van der Voort, Vincent * | £36,500 |
| 17 | Thornton, Robert | £35,500 |
| 18 | Bunting, Stephen * | £27,750 |
| 18 | Price, Gerwyn * | £27,750 |
| 20 | Taylor, Phil | £27,500 |
| 21 | Suljovic, Mensur * | £26,750 |
| 22 | van de Pas, Benito * | £26,250 |
| 23 | Caven, Jamie * | £26,000 |
| 24 | Beaton, Steve * | £25,250 |
| 25 | Henderson, John * | £22,750 |
| 26 | Brown, Keegan * | £22,000 |
| 27 | Gilding, Andrew * | £21,750 |
| 28 | Lewis, Jamie * | £21,500 |
| 29 | Murnan, Joe * | £20,000 |
| 30 | Hamilton, Andy * | £19,500 |
| 31 | Webster, Mark * | £17,750 |
| 32 | Anderson, Kyle | £17,500 |
| 33 | Smith, Andy | £16,250 |
| 34 | Webster, Darren | £15,750 |
| 34 | Painter, Kevin | £15,750 |
| 36 | Winstanley, Dean | £15,500 |
| 37 | Kist, Christian | £14,250 |
| 37 | van Barneveld, Raymond | £14,250 |
| 39 | Huybrechts, Ronny | £13,250 |
| 40 | Gurney, Daryl | £12,750 |
| 41 | Hopp, Max | £12,500 |
| 41 | Cullen, Joe | £12,500 |
| 41 | Evans, Ricky | £12,500 |
| 44 | Rodriguez, Rowby-John | £11,500 |
| 45 | Pallett, David | £11,250 |
| 45 | Reyes, Cristo | £11,250 |
| 47 | Newton, Wesley | £11,000 |
| 48 | de Zwaan, Jeffrey | £10,250 |
| 49 | Bain, Jamie | £10,000 |
| 50 | Baxter, Ronnie | £9,750 |
| 51 | Kellett, Stuart | £9,500 |
| 51 | van Duijvenbode, Dirk | £9,500 |
| 51 | O'Connor, William | £9,500 |
| 51 | Jones, Wayne | £9,500 |
| 51 | Smith, Ross | £9,500 |
| 51 | Wilson, James | £9,500 |
| 57 | Bowles, John | £9,250 |
| 57 | McDine, Kevin | £9,250 |
| 59 | Boulton, Andy | £8,750 |
| 59 | Petersen, Devon | £8,750 |
| 61 | Payne, Josh | £8,500 |
| 62 | Woods, Brian | £8,250 |
| 62 | Nicholson, Paul | £8,250 |
| 64 | Norris, Alan | £7,750 |
| 64 | Mansell, Mickey | £7,750 |
| 64 | Artut, Jyhan | £7,750 |
| 67 | Dudbridge, Mark | £7,500 |
| 68 | Thomas, Kevin | £7,250 |
| 69 | Parsons, Andy | £7,000 |
| 70 | Stone, Gary | £6,500 |
| 71 | Johnson, Darren | £6,250 |
| 72 | Jenkins, Andy | £6,000 |
| 72 | Van Den Bergh, Dimitri | £6,000 |
| 72 | Hine, Steve | £6,000 |
| 75 | Clayton, Jonny | £5,750 |
| 76 | Palfreyman, Lee | £5,500 |
| 76 | Dekker, Jan | £5,500 |
| 76 | Smith, Dennis | £5,500 |
| 79 | Dobey, Chris | £5,250 |
| 80 | Aspinall, Nathan | £5,000 |
| 81 | Green, Robbie | £4,750 |
| 81 | Newell, Tony | £4,750 |
| 81 | Dootson, Eddie | £4,750 |
| 81 | Derry, Nathan | £4,750 |
| 85 | Part, John | £4,500 |
| 85 | West, Steve | £4,500 |
| 87 | Hunt, Adam | £4,250 |
| 87 | Brown, Steve | £4,250 |
| 87 | Haines, Johnny | £4,250 |
| 87 | Barilli, Mark | £4,250 |
| 87 | Zuydwijk, Mike | £4,250 |
| 92 | Padgett, Matt | £4,000 |
| 93 | Heydon, Nigel | £3,750 |
| 93 | Wattimena, Jermaine | £3,750 |
| 95 | Moss, Ian | £3,500 |
| 95 | Seyler, Tomas | £3,500 |
| 95 | Caris, Magnus | £3,500 |
| 95 | ten Berge, Joey | £3,500 |
| 99 | Edgar, Matthew | £3,250 |
| 99 | Finnan, Connie | £3,250 |
| 99 | Frost, Mark | £3,250 |
| 99 | Todd, Mick | £3,250 |
| 99 | Lloyd, Colin | £3,250 |