IN THE battle for Holsten Premier League Darts places, Roland Scholten was the big winner over the weekend's tournaments at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin.
The top six players in the world rankings after the SkyBet World Grand Prix will get an automatic place in next year's Premier League.
Colin Lloyd and Phil Taylor are already assured of a place, and Dennis Priestley is within touching distance of sealing his spot.
Two PDC Pro Tour events were staged over the weekend in Ireland, with Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld taking the honours and 20 ranking points.
A good weekend for 2006 Premier League runner-up Scholten, where he reached a quarter-final and a semi-final, saw him move into the provisional top six, at the expense of Ronnie Baxter.
Peter Manley and Wayne Mardle are also occupying current top six spots, but Baxter and Andy Jenkins are hot on their heels.
Adrian Lewis and in-form Terry Jenkins are also still in contention, but Denis Ovens and Kevin Painter would need to win the World Grand Prix - and hope other players fail to pick up points - to earn a Premier League debut.
SkyBet World Grand Prix - Ranking Points
Winner: 30 points
Runner-Up: 24 points
Semi-Finalists: 20 points
Quarter-Finalists: 16 points
Second Round Losers: 12 points
First Round Losers: 8 points
The table below shows the current standings in the race for Holsten Premier League Darts places, which is each player's ranking points minus the points they are defending up to and including the SkyBet World Grand Prix.
|
1 |
Colin Lloyd |
541 |
|
|
2 |
Phil Taylor |
515 |
|
|
3 |
Dennis Priestley |
426 |
|
|
4 |
Peter Manley |
421 |
|
|
5 |
Roland Scholten |
417 |
|
|
6 |
Wayne Mardle |
415 |
|
|
7 |
Andy Jenkins |
412 |
(-3) |
|
8 |
Ronnie Baxter |
412 |
(-3) |
|
9 |
Adrian Lewis |
409 |
(-6) |
|
10 |
Terry Jenkins |
406 |
(-9) |
|
11 |
Denis Ovens |
399 |
(-16) |
|
12 |
Kevin Painter |
396 |
(-19) |
Click here for the latest SkyBet World Grand Prix odds from SkyBet