Day Four of the 2022 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts will see the final matches in Groups E-H take place in Wolverhampton on Tuesday evening, with players battling to secure qualification to the last 16.
The top two players from each group will progress to the knockout stages, with three-time Grand Slam champion Michael van Gerwen already safely through, alongside Jonny Clayton and Luke Humphries.
However, despite winning his opening two Group Stage games, World Champion Peter Wright still faces a battle in his bid to progress to the last 16, as he faces a crunch clash against World Grand Prix runner-up Nathan Aspinall.
Van Gerwen takes on European Championship winner Ross Smith in another blockbuster tie, while all four groups have three players still in the hunt for qualification.
Listed below are the current standings in Groups E-H, Tuesday’s fixtures and permutations, as well as the tournament rules.
Group E
Alan Soutar v Fallon Sherrock
Peter Wright v Nathan Aspinall
Fallon Sherrock cannot qualify.
If Alan Soutar wins 5-1, he has qualified.
The situation for Peter Wright & Nathan Aspinall depends on the result of the earlier game.
Group F
Jermaine Wattimena v Leonard Gates
Jonny Clayton v Damon Heta
Jonny Clayton has qualified.
Leonard Gates must win 5-3 or better to move above Jermaine Wattimena, and then hope that Damon Heta loses.
A win for Jermaine Wattimena means that Damon Heta must win by a better margin to qualify.
Group G
Luke Woodhouse v Nathan Rafferty
Michael van Gerwen v Ross Smith
Michael van Gerwen has qualified.Nathan Rafferty must win 5-2 or better to move above Luke Woodhouse, and then needs Ross Smith to lose by a sufficient margin.
A win for Luke Woodhouse may not be enough, depending on Ross Smith’s later result.
Ross Smith qualifies with any victory.
Group H
Ryan Searle v Scott Williams
Luke Humphries v Josh Rock
Tournament Rules
The first round of the 2022 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts is a round-robin stage where the 32 players are drawn into eight groups of four. Players will play three first round games.
The top eight qualified players from the PDC Order of Merit are seeded, with the remaining players split into three pools of eight for the draw.
The opening games on Saturday November 12 saw the players drawn 1v4 and 2v3. The second set of matches then saw the two winners from the first games meet each other, and the two losers also play each other. The third set of matches will consist of the pairings which have not previously met.
Two points are awarded for a win and no points will be awarded for a loss. Each group game is the best of nine legs, with the winner being the first player to win five legs. There will be no tie-break.
After the first round has been completed, the top two players in each group will progress to the knockout phase. Should there be a two-way Points tie in any position, then the player with the best Leg Difference will be deemed to have finished higher.
If both players have the same Leg Difference, then the winner of the group match between those two players will be deemed to be the higher finisher.
Should Points, Leg Difference, Legs Won Against Throw and Tournament Average not be able to separate three players, then if one player has defeated both of the other two players, this player will be deemed to have finished higher, and the winner of the group match between the remaining two players will be the ‘second’ of the three.
Should the three players have secured one win apiece against each other, then a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out will be played between the relevant players to determine final standings, with the highest aggregate score over nine darts being used to separate players.
In the event a “Nine-Dart Shoot-Out” finishes level between two or more players, those players who have tied on the most points will continue to throw three darts each in the same order until one player scores more points than the other player(s) with their three darts.
From the second round onwards, the tournament will be in played a knockout format.