Bunse Secures Tour Card

Christian Bunse (PDC)

CHRISTIAN BUNSE gave himself an early birthday present by winning a PDC Tour Card on Day Three of European Qualifying School in Hildesheim on Saturday. 

The German youngster, who reached three finals on the PDC Unicorn Development Tour in 2018, secured full-time status on the PDC circuit by triumphing at Halle 39 on the day before his 24th birthday. 

Bunse began his glory charge with victories against Marius May, Karsten Koch and Andreas Harryson, before whitewashing Hungary's Patrik Kovacs to reach the last 16.

There, he overcame former World Championship and UK Open participant Ryan De Vreede with a 5-2 win - which he followed up with a 5-2 quarter-final victory over 18-year-old countryman Nico Blum.

Bunse overturned a 3-0 deficit against Russia's Boris Koltsov to win his his semi-final 5-3, hitting a 121 checkout in the crucial fourth leg to spark his comeback.

He then sealed his Tour Card with a 5-2 success over Czech opponent Pavel Jirkal, with Bunse taking out 100 to clinch the win.

"I'm over the moon," said Bunse. "It was very difficult and there were no easy matches. You have to play well and the day went very good for me.

"If I would have reached the final Development Tour event of the year [in 2018] I would have had my Tour Card already and wouldn't have needed to play in Qualifying School.

"I lost 5-4 in the final but it is amazing for me to come and win." 

Jirkal, who has previously appeared in the World Cup of Darts, enjoyed early victories over Arjan Konterman, Georg Kühweidner and Day Two finalist Madars Razma.

Further wins against Christian Goedl, Ricardo Pietreczko and Jesús Noguera saw him move into the semi-finals, where he defeated three-time Development Tour winner Kenny Neyens 5-2 - but defeat by the same scoreline in the decider meant he missed out on becoming the first Czech player to hold a PDC Tour Card. 

Bunse joins fellow Development Tour players Niels Zonneveld and Mike van Duivenbode in earning their Tour Cards this week - meaning that all of the top ten players from the 2018 Development Tour Order of Merit will be competing on the ProTour in 2019. 

Sunday sees the fourth and final day of the 2019 European Qualifying School, where one more player will earn a Tour Card outright. 

See full results at the DartConnect website using the DCTV link.

2019 PDC European Qualifying School
Day Three, Saturday January 5
Last 16
Niels Heinsøe 5-3 Sebastian Steyer
Boris Koltsov 5-4 James Bailey
Nico Blum 5-1 Roxy-James Rodriguez
Christian Bunse 5-2 Ryan De Vreede
Kenny Neyens 5-4 Yordi Meeuwisse 
Jose De Sousa 5-4 Karel Sedlacek
Pavel Jirkal 5-3 Ricardo Pietreczko
Jesús Noguera 5-4 Maik Kuivenhoven

Quarter-Finals
Boris Koltsov 5-0 Niels Heinsøe
Christian Bunse 5-2 Nico Blum
Kenny Neyens 5-1 Jose De Sousa
Pavel Jirkal 5-4 Jesús Noguera

Semi-Finals
Christian Bunse 5-3 Boris Koltsov
Pavel Jirkal 5-2 Kenny Neyens

Final
Christian Bunse 5-2 Pavel Jirkal

2019 European Qualifying School Order of Merit
Following Day Three

Position Name Nationality Points
1 Madars Razma LAT 11
2 Karel Sedlacek CZE 9
2 Marko Kantele FIN 9
2 Pavel Jirkal CZE 9
5 Sebastian Steyer POL 8
5 Christian Goedl AUT 8
5 John Michael GRC 8
5 Jose De Sousa PRT 8
5 Maik Kuivenhoven NLD 8
10 Mike De Decker BEL 7
10 Michael Rasztovits AUT 7
10 Dragutin Horvat DEU 7
10 Ryan De Vreede  NLD 7
10 Geert De Vos BEL 7
10 Yordi Meeuwisse NLD 7
10 Boris Koltsov RUS 7
10 Gergely Lakatos HUN 7
18 Davyd Venken BEL 6
18 Roxy James Rodriguez AUT 6
18 Nico Schlund  DEU 6
18 Hannes Schnier AUT 6
18 Ricardo Pietreczko DEU 6
18 Vincent Van der Meer NLD 6
24 Kenny Neyens BEL 5
24 Michele Turetta ITA 5
24 Nico Blum DEU 5
24 James Bailey AUS 5
24 Jeff Smith CAN 5
29 Danny Van Trijp NLD 4
29 Jesús Noguera ESP 4
29 Lukas Wenig DEU 4
29 Christian  Kallinger AUT 4
29 Niels Heinsøe DNK 4
34 Nigel van Milligen NLD 3
34 Christoff Van De Wal BEL 3
34 Justin van Tergouw NLD 3
34 Danny Van Klompenburg NLD 3
34 Pero Ljubic  HRV 3
34 Petros Christodoulou CYP 3
34 Darius Labanauskus LTU 3
34 Robin Beger DEU 3
34 Gabriel Rollo ITA 3
34 Niels-Joergen Hansen DNK 3
44 Cody Harris NZL 2
44 Joe Slivan USA 2
44 Stefan Bellmont CHE 2
44 Fabian Herz DEU 2
44 Armando Slotboom NLD 2
44 Cor  Ernst  NLD 2
44 Radek Szaganski POL 2
44 Wesley Bour NLD 2
44 Maik Langendorf DEU 2
44 Carlo van Cleef NLD 2
44 Andreas Harrysson SWE 2
44 Andrea Micheletti ITA 2
44 Lukasz Sawicki POL 2
44 Kevin Munch DEU 2
44 Mareno Michels NLD 2
44 Andy  Baetens  BEL 2
44 Wilco Vermeulen NLD 2
44 Wesley Plaisier NLD 2
44 Bernd Roith DEU 2
44 Patrick van den Boogaard NLD 2
44 Andy Bless CHE 2
44 Jeremy Jendrzejewski  DEU 2
44 Erik Tautfest DEU 2
44 Patrik Kovacs HUN 2
44 Patrick van Osch NLD 2
44 Florian Hempel DEU 2
44 Thibault Tricole FRA 2
44 Steffen Siepmann DEU 2
44 Jimmy Hendriks NLD 2
44 Jyhan Artut DEU 2
44 Marvin Wehder DEU 2
44 Marko Puls DEU 2
44 Erik Hol NLD 2
44 Ingo Vogt DEU 2
78 Gerrit Schuur NLD 1
78 Pauli Finnila FIN 1
78 Lyuben Dimitrov BGR 1
78 Rene Eidams DEU 1
78 Nico Mandl AUT 1
78 Kevin Blomme BEL 1
78 Felix Losan AUT 1
78 Robert Allenstein DEU 1
78 Toon Greebe NLD 1
78 Francesco  Raschini  ITA 1
78 Paulo Ferreira PRT 1
78 Michael Rosenauer DEU 1
78 Stefanie Rennoch DEU 1
78 Hendrik Eggermann DEU 1
78 Dennis Akhtar  DEU 1
78 Uwe Bacher AUT 1
78 Thomas Köhnlein DEU 1
78 Pascal Wirotius DEU 1
78 Stefaan Deprez BEL 1
78 Andreas Flamme DEU 1
78 Jochen Graudenz DEU 1
78 Juraj Vindiš SVK 1
78 Mats Gies NLD 1
78 Dragurin Pecnjak HRV 1
78 Co Stompé NLD 1
78 Ewald  Hagemann DEU 1
78 Jerry Hendriks NLD 1
78 Erwin Renkema NLD 1
78 Tobias Ploetz DEU 1
78 Rusty Jake Rodriguez AUT 1
78 Aegir Bjornsson ISL 1
78 Simeon Heinz DEU 1
78 Sebastian Pohl DEU 1
78 Lukasz Waclawski POL 1
78 Massimo Dalla Rosa ITA 1
78 Berry van Peer NLD 1
78 Kobus Vriezen NLD 1
78 Luis  Camacho CHE 1
78 Wim Hofsink NLD 1
78 Gino Drobick DEU 1
78 Markandu Garunakumar LKA 1
78 Richard van Zijtveld NLD 1
78 Michael Kiebel  DEU 1
78 Sandro  Wyss CHE 1
78 Alexander Tauber DEU 1
123 Theo de Jong NLD 0
123 Jeffrey Bekema NLD 0
123 Michal Ondo CZE 0
123 Michael Plooy NLD 0
123 Rowdy Schoremans NLD 0
123 Michel Furlani ITA 0
123 Thomas  Lazic  DEU 0
123 Thomas Junghans DEU 0
123 Vladimír Zatko SVK 0
123 Karsten Koch DEU 0
123 Jens Kniest  DEU 0
123 Ivan Springborg Poulsen  DNK 0
123 Stefano Tomassetti ITA 0
123 Danny Kaiser DEU 0
123 Gabriel Florin  Olar ROU 0
123 Stefan Nilles DEU 0
123 José Henriques Pinto de Sena  PRT 0
123 Edwin Van der Veen  NLD 0
123 Michal Smejda CZE 0
123 Dennis Nilsson SWE 0
123 Juergen  Hartung  DEU 0
123 János  Végso  HUN 0
123 David Rosí CZE 0
123 Pavel Drtil CZE 0
123 Kevin Antz DEU 0
123 René Berndt DEU 0
123 Arjan Konterman NLD 0
123 Wessel Nijman NLD 0
123 Melvin de Fijter NLD 0
123 Michael Häusler DEU 0
123 Kevin Knopf DEU 0
123 Marcel Plaewe DEU 0
123 Steven-Hendrik Schultze DEU 0
123 Manfred Bilderl DEU 0
123 Dominik Thiel DEU 0
123 Co Stompe Jnr NLD 0
123 Veniamin Symeonidis GRC 0
123 Stefan Taferner AUT 0
123 Philipp Hagemann DEU 0
123 Mehdi Poggi FRA 0
123 Philipp Gerwing DEU 0
123 Duvaan Ata NLD 0
123 Fabian  Freitag DEU 0
123 Ronald Balfoort NLD 0
123 Dominic Keller DEU 0
123 Daniel  Sprudzs DEU 0
123 Aaron Rahlfs DEU 0
123 Mick Hasse DEU 0
123 Jakub Kašpar CZE 0
123 David Schlichting DEU 0
123 Petr Rouc CZE 0
123 Jonathan Lang DEU 0
123 Alexander Tröbs DEU 0
123 Marcel Gugger CHE 0
123 Sandor Farkas HUN 0
123 Marcel Goldschmidt DEU 0
123 William Schwaß DEU 0
123 Vladimir Angelov MKD 0
123 Karsten Kornath DEU 0
123 Matthew Clarke AUS 0
123 Geordie Martis NLD 0
123 Alexander  Steinbauer  AUT 0
123 Shanendo Aué NLD 0
123 Glenn Leysen BEL 0
123 Nico Wagner DEU 0
123 Christopher Haensch DEU 0
123 Wesley van Trijp NLD 0
123 Anton Salge DEU 0
123 Alessio Medaina ITA 0
123 Deniz Armut NLD 0
123 Rolf Marks DEU 0
123 Alexander Merkx  NLD 0
123 Joerg  Hofmann  DEU 0
123 Justin Müller  DEU 0
123 Patric Aeschbach CHE 0
123 Roman Benecky CZE 0
123 Tomas Seyler DEU 0
123 David Peretz DEU 0
123 Jeffery De Graaf NLD 0
123 Mike Poge DEU 0
123 Kevin Grebe DEU 0
123 Martin Popelka CZE 0
123 Leo Hendriks NLD 0
123 Matthias Lex DEU 0
123 Mario Jodozy BEL 0
123 Javier Rodriguez ESP 0
123 Jose Ventura ESP 0
123 Egor Tvorogov DEU 0
123 Levy Frauenfelder NLD 0
123 Marius May DEU 0
123 Georg  Kühweidner  AUT 0
123 Helge Gross DEU 0
123 Mindaugas Barauskas LTU 0
123 Brian Kaemena DEU 0
123 Rene Fabbro AUT 0
123 Christian Eckert DEU 0
123 Sandro Kopper DEU 0
123 Sandor Ballo HUN 0
123 Pascal Bäuerle DEU 0
123 Stefan Baake DEU 0
123 Lasse Petersen DEU 0
123 Fredi Gsellmann AUT 0
123 Andre Christen CHE 0
123 Jörg Meinert DEU 0
123 Sammy Kreitz DEU 0
123 Frederic Mozelewski DEU 0
123 Muzaffer Celik DEU 0
123 Philipp Netzer DEU 0
123 Armend Avdija SRB 0
123 Markus Brummer DEU 0
123 Thomas Arhelger DEU 0
123 Till Meischner DEU 0
123 Ulrich Jansen DEU 0
123 Holger Rettig  DEU 0
123 Michael Hurtz DEU 0
123 Nico Kurz DEU 0
123 Thomas Neugebauer DEU 0
123 Hendrik Riedel DEU 0
123 Gerrit Begemann DEU 0
123 Thomas Kohlmann DEU 0
123 Pierre Azzam NLD 0
123 Jody Deramoudt BEL 0
123 Remon Hurrebrink NLD 0
123 Malte Schleinitz DEU 0