VINCENT VAN DER VOORT headlined five Dutchman who won spots in the HappyBet European Darts Open in Thursday night's final qualifying events in Leverkusen.
Former Austrian Darts Open champion Van der Voort improves his chances of forcing his way into next month's BetVictor World Matchplay qualifying places after securing a place in the year's eight European Tour event, defeating Berry van Peer and Vincent van der Meer on Thursday night.
He was joined in qualifying from the South & West Europe Qualifier by fellow countrymen Christian Kist, Jermaine Wattimena, Jerry Hendriks and Michael Plooy, who will make his third European Tour appearance of the year.
THere was disappointment, though, for former European Darts Open champion Raymond van Barneveld, who was knocked out by Rowby-John Rodriguez in a deciding leg before the young Austrian lost out to Hendriks in their decider.
Belgian ace Dimitri Van den Bergh and Austria's Zoran Lerchbacher were joined by Spain's Cristo Reyes - a semi-finalist in last week's Austrian Darts Open - as they completed the eight South & West Europe Qualifiers.
Top-ranked German Max Hopp missed out in the Host Nation Qualifier as he lost 6-5 in his decider to Dragutin Horvat, who was a European Tour quarter-finalist last year.
World Cup ace Martin Schindler did qualify to compete in Leverkusen, at the expense of Tomas Seyler, while Robert Allenstein and Steffen Siepmann secured his second European Tour appearances of 2017.
Christian Bunse, a 22-year-old from Diemelsee who has previously competed on the PDC Unicorn Development Tour in Germany, will make his European Tour debut after defeating Rene Eidams and Bernd Roith in qualifying.
The HappyBet European Darts Open begins on Friday with the first round at the Ostermann Arena in Leverkusen, with coverage streamed online at PDCTV-HD and live through a series of bookmakers' websites worldwide.
HappyBet European Darts Open
Host Nation Qualifier
Preliminary Round
Dragutin Horvat 6-1 Fabian Herz
Marko Puls 6-2 Anton Salge
Christian Krüger 6-3 Nico Schlund
Florian Hempel 6-2 Pascal Herwig
René Eidams 6-1 René Kunze
Marc Legant 6-0 Robert Mengel
Jan Reuther 6-1 Daniel Hecke
Timo Thomczik 6-3 Ole Holtkamp
Erik Tautfest 6-2 Michael Hurtz
Robert Allenstein 6-2 Karsten Kornath
First Round
Max Hopp 6-4 Marvin Eßer
Robin Hyna 6-2 Alexander Tauber
Andy Kröckel 6-1 Stefan Huwer
Dragutin Horvat 6-4 Marko Puls
Martin Schindler 6-0 Christian Claaßen
Fabian Hoffmeister 6-0 Alfred Tettampel
Tomas Seyler 6-4 Stefan Nöhles
Christian Krüger 6-2 Florian Hempel
Bernd Roith 6-0 Matthias Todtenhöfer
Stefan Stoyke 6-0 Holger Wolka
Christian Bunse 6-4 Kevin Illge
René Eidams 6-5 Marc Legant
Steffen Siepmann 6-4 Pascal Wirotius
Björn Hansmeyer 6-1 Jonathan Lang
Nico Blum 6-3 Steffen Böhmer
Jan Reuther 6-5 Timo Thomczik
René Berndt 6-3 Pierre Fink
Justin Müller 6-5 Hendrik Eggermann
Torsten Wöhlk 6-1 Julian Wempen
Robert Allenstein 6-5 Erik Tautfest
Second Round
Max Hopp 6-0 Robin Hyna
Dragutin Horvat 6-0 Andy Kröckel
Martin Schindler 6-1 Fabian Hoffmeister
Tomas Seyler 6-1 Christian Krüger
Bernd Roith 6-3 Stefan Stoyke
Christian Bunse 6-3 René Eidams
Steffen Siepmann 6-0 Björn Hansmeyer
Nico Blum 6-2 Jan Reuther
René Berndt 6-3 Justin Müller
Robert Allenstein 6-1 Torsten Wöhlk
Third Round
Dragutin Horvat 6-5 Max Hopp
Martin Schindler 6-3 Tomas Seyler
Christian Bunse 6-4 Bernd Roith
Steffen Siepmann 6-3 Nico Blum
Robert Allenstein 6-2 René Berndt
Qualifiers
HNQ1 Dragutin Horvat
HNQ2 Martin Schindler
HNQ3 Christian Bunse
HNQ4 Steffen Siepmann
HNQ5 Robert Allenstein
South & West Europe Qualifier
Preliminary Round
Vincent van der Meer 6-1 Antonio Alcinas
Sven Groen 6-2 Danny Bosch
First Round
Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Thomas Walsh
Justin van Tergouw 6-4 Yordi Meeuwisse
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-0 Arjan Konterman
Christian Kallinger 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Christian Kist 6-0 Juan Antonio Molina Madrid
Jeffrey de Graaf 6-1 Willy van de Wiel
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-5 Raymond van Barneveld
Jerry Hendriks 6-1 Vincent Kamphuis
Ronny Huybrechts 6-1 Mike de Decker
Michael Plooy 6-4 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Cristo Reyes 6-1 Roxy-James Rodriguez
Ron Meulenkamp 6-1 Jimmy Hendriks
Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Berry van Peer
Vincent van der Meer 6-5 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Zoran Lerchbacher 6-1 Jan Dekker
Mario Robbe 6-3 Sven Groen
Second Round
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Justin van Tergouw
Dimitri van den Bergh 6-3 Christian Kallinger
Christian Kist 6-5 Jeffrey de Graaf
Jerry Hendriks 6-1 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Michael Plooy 6-4 Ronny Huybrechts
Cristo Reyes 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Vincent van der Meer
Zoran Lerchbacher 6-4 Mario Robbe
Qualifiers
EQ1 Jermaine Wattimena
EQ2 Dimitri Van den Bergh
EQ3 Christian Kist
EQ4 Jerry Hendriks
EQ5 Michael Plooy
EQ6 Cristo Reyes
EQ7 Vincent van der Voort
EQ8 Zoran Lerchbacher