Rhys Griffin, Adam Leek, Arno Merk and Filip Bereza became the first players to win PDC Tour Cards at the 2026 Qualifying Schools on Thursday.
Griffin, who had lost his Tour Card at the end of 2025, regained it at the first time of asking, with the Welshman beating former Grand Slam champion Scott Waites in Milton Keynes.
The 28-year-old defeated compatriot Kelvin O'Keefe in his opening game of the day, before downing Irish duo Shane McGuirk and Steve Lennon with scorelines of 6-5 and 6-4 respectively.
Griffin then went onto beat Welshman Derek Coulson 6-2 in the quarter-finals before whitewashing Scott Waites in his final game of the day to become the first player from UK Qualifying School to win his card.
The second Tour Card holder was then confirmed almost 20 minutes later, as Australian Adam Leek beat Tyler Thorpe in a last-leg decider in a match that saw eleven consecutive holds of throw.
Leek, who finished ninth on the PDC ADATour Rankings last year, beat Jonathan Kavanagh 6-2 in his opener, before seeing off former Tour Card holder Dylan Slevin 6-4 to advance to round three.
The Adelaide-born star then won three consecutive last-leg deciders against Nathan Potter, Aden Kirk and Steve Beaton, before sealing two years on the tour with victory over 23-year-old Thorpe.
In Kalkar, Arno Merk - who in December produced an excellent run to round three of the PDC World Darts Championship - secured himself a Tour Card thanks to victory over Jeffrey Sparidaans in his final game of the opening day.
Merk, who qualified for the 2025/26 World Darts Championship through his victory on the HYLO PDC Europe Super League, beat Danny Jansen, Romeo Grbavac and Mylo Michiels on his way to round four.
The 33-year-old German star then downed the Dutch trio of Jeffrey Keen, Damian Mol and Jeffrey Sparidaans to book his place on the circuit for the next two years.
Polish star Filip Bereza was the final player to secure their two-year Tour Card, as he fought back from 5-1 down to beat Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-5 in a thrilling contest which saw De Zwaan miss numerous match darts.
Bereza, who was the only Pole to make it through to the Final Stage in Kalkar, beat Michael Hurtz and Peter Keleman early on, before dispatching Germany's Michael Unterbuchner 6-2.
"The Breeze" then blew away Marcel Otter and Maikel Verbek to make it to the last four, before beating former World Matchplay semi-finalist Jeffrey De Zwaan in a thrilling contest.
Friday will offer a further chance for players to win Tour Cards, with play commencing at 1300 CET in Kalkar and 1200 GMT in Milton Keynes.
PDC Tour Cards shall be awarded to the last two players left standing on each day’s play in Final Stage at both the UK and European Qualifying Schools.
In addition to the daily Tour Card winners, a further 13 Tour Cards will be awarded on a pro-rata basis to players from the respective UK and European Qualifying School Final Stage Rankings List following Day Four - with eight awarded in Europe and five in the UK.
Once a player has been awarded a Tour Card, they shall not play in the remainder of Qualifying School Final Stage and the next highest ranked players from the relevant First Stage Ranking Lists will be invited to play.
At any point during Qualifying School, if two or more players are tied on points, they will be separated in the Ranking List by (in order until they can be split): leg difference, legs won, DartConnect average based on their totals in their matches. Results in all matches played at the relevant stage are included in this countback.
Click here for stats & live scores from UK Final Stage Day One
Click here for the draw & results from UK Final Stage Day One
Click here for stats & live scores from EU Final Stage Day One
Click here for the draw & results from EU Final Stage Day One
2026 PDC Qualifying Schools
UK Final Stage Day One
Last 16
Scott Waites 6-5 Jarred Cole
Stephen Rosney 6-1 Sam Spivey
Derek Coulson 6-0 John Henderson
Rhys Griffin 6-5 Harry Ward
Steve Beaton 6-4 Thomas Cromwell
Adam Leek 6-5 Aden Kirk
Jack Aldridge 6-2 Jamie Hughes
Tyler Thorpe 6-1 Jenson Walker
Quarter-Finals
Scott Waites 6-5 Stephen Rosney
Rhys Griffin 6-2 Derek Coulson
Adam Leek 6-5 Steve Beaton
Tyler Thorpe 6-1 Jack Aldridge
Semi-Finals
Rhys Griffin 6-0 Scott Waites
Adam Leek 6-5 Tyler Thorpe
European Final Stage Day One
Last 16
Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-1 Ron Meulenkamp
Andreas Harrysson 6-3 Adam Sevada
Damian Mol 6-4 Jimmy van Schie
Arno Merk 6-4 Jeffrey Keen
Maikel Verberk 6-1 Adam Gawlas
Filip Bereza 6-2 Marcel Otter
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-2 Bjorn Quoiffy
Benjamin Pratnemer 6-5 Ricardo Ulrich
Quarter-Finals
Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-2 Andreas Harrysson
Arno Merk 6-5 Damian Mol
Filip Bereza 6-3 Maikel Verberk
Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-1 Benjamin Pratnemer
Semi-Finals
Arno Merk 6-5 Jeffrey Sparidaans
Filip Bereza 6-5 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Nine-Darter!
Martin Grearson hit a nine-darter in leg four of his second round game with Mervyn King.
NB: Shaun Carroll was unable to compete in Day One following a RTA on the way to the venue. He was replaced for Thursday's draw in an exemption to PDC Rule 5.2, but is expected to compete in the remaining days.