THE countdown is on to the Gibraltar Darts Trophy, with the 16 automatic qualifiers confirmed ahead of Friday's UK Qualifier in Crawley.
The £100,000 European Tour event in Gibraltar will be held from June 27-29 at the Victoria Stadium, with reigning champion Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen amongst the 16 players who automatically qualify from the PDC ProTour Order of Merit.
Gary Anderson, who won the German Darts Championship earlier this year, will be the number two seed behind van Gerwen, with Brendan Dolan and Robert Thornton also in the top four seeds.
Premier League Darts stars Dave Chisnall, Peter Wright, Adrian Lewis and Simon Whitlock are also seeded, along with Kim Huybrechts, Ian White, Steve Beaton, Mervyn King, Jamie Caven, Justin Pipe and Andy Hamilton also qualifying by right.
The UK Qualifier features 94 entries from PDPA members, with stars including Wes Newton, Kevin Painter, Michael Smith, Paul Nicholson, Terry Jenkins, Ronnie Baxter, James Wade and last year's Gibraltar Darts Trophy runner-up Jamie Lewis all competing for 20 places in the main event.
The UK Qualifier will be held on Friday May 23 at the K2 Centre in Crawley, commencing at 8pm. All games are the best of 11 legs, with the top 20 players from the ProTour Order of Merit seeded.
The final 12 places in the tournament will be determined in Gibraltar on Thursday June 26, with four spots going to players from the Host Nation Qualifier and a further eight available in the European Qualifier.
Tickets for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy are available now, and can be purchased in person from the Ministry of Culture, 310 Main Street, Gibraltar, by calling +350 200 47592/+350 200 41687 or by emailing mschy@gibtelecom.net or daniel.guerrero@culture.gov.gi.
Travel packages, including flights from the UK, hotel and event tickets are available from Queens Travel by calling +350 200 47444 or via patrick.cabezutto@queenstravel.eu.
Gibraltar Darts Trophy
Top 16 Seeds - Automatic Qualifiers
Michael van Gerwen (1)
Gary Anderson (2)
Brendan Dolan (3)
Robert Thornton (4)
Phil Taylor (5)
Dave Chisnall (6)
Peter Wright (7)
Kim Huybrechts (8)
Ian White (9)
Steve Beaton (10)
Mervyn King (11)
Jamie Caven (12)
Adrian Lewis (13)
Simon Whitlock (14)
Justin Pipe (15)
Andy Hamilton (16)
UK Qualifier Entries
K2 Centre, Crawley, Friday May 23
Paul Amos
Kyle Anderson
Chris Aubrey
Jamie Bain
Mark Barilli
Michael Barnard
Barrie Bates
Ronnie Baxter
John Bowles
Keegan Brown
Steve Brown
Stephen Bunting
Richie Burnett
Simon Burt
Matt Clark
Mark Cox
Joe Cullen
Steve Douglas
Kevin Dowling
Mark Dudbridge
Pete Dyos
Matthew Edgar
Ricky Evans
Connie Finnan
Jay Foreman
Andrew Gilding
Adrian Gray
Steve Grubb
Daryl Gurney
Johnny Haines
John Henderson
Nigel Heydon
Steve Hine
Richie Howson
James Hubbard
Peter Hudson
Adam Hunt
Mark Hylton
Campbell Jackson
Terry Jenkins
Darren Johnson
Mark Jones
Wayne Jones
Stuart Kellett
Aden Kirk
Jamie Lewis
Colin Lloyd
Jason Lovett
Steve Maish
Michael Mansell
Kevin McDine
Lee Moffat
Arron Monk
Ian Moss
Joe Murnan
Wes Newton
Paul Nicholson
William O'Connor
Colin Osborne
Denis Ovens
Matt Padgett
Kevin Painter
David Pallett
Kurt Parry
Andy Parsons
John Part
Josh Payne
Andy Pearce
Gerwyn Price
Scott Rand
James Richardson
Jamie Robinson
Alex Roy
Dan Russell
Kirk Shepherd
Andy Smith
Dennis Smith
Michael Smith
Ross Smith
Glenn Spearing
Gary Stone
Terry Temple
Kevin Thomas
Mick Todd
James Wade
Jim Walker
Mark Walsh
Ben Ward
Darren Webster
Mark Webster
Steve West
Stuart White
Dean Winstanley
Brian Woods
UK Qualifier Seeds
Wes Newton (1)
Kevin Painter (2)
Michael Smith (3)
Paul Nicholson (4)
Terry Jenkins (5)
Ronnie Baxter (6)
Jamie Lewis (7)
James Wade (8)
Darren Webster (9)
Dean Winstanley (10)
Wayne Jones (11)
Andy Smith (12)
Richie Burnett (13)
Andrew Gilding (14)
Stephen Bunting (15)
Stuart Kellett (16)
John Henderson (17)
John Part (18)
Mark Walsh (19)
Mark Webster (20)