Challenge Tour Order of Merit update: Race to Ally Pally led by leading trio as King and Greaves see hopes fade

As we reach the final event of the Challenge Tour weekend, there is a feel of players coming to the fore and those falling away as Jamai van den Herik, Ted Evetts and Stefan Bellmont alongside Darius Labanauskas are in line for Tour Cards or World Championship spots. While Mervyn King and Beau Greaves are currently falling away.

Van den Herik had already won the twelfth tournament of the Challenge Tour 2025 earlier this year, and was now also the best at the nineteenth tournament of the series, beating Patrick Dekker (5-2), Nicholas Ellis (5-3), Nicolas Thuillier (5-4), Shane McGuirk (5-3), Paul Rowley (5-2), David Pallett (5-1), Bruno Stoeckli (5-2) and Jenson Walker (5-4) in succession. In the final against Walker, Van den Herik managed to win five legs in a row after falling behind 0-4.

The title earned Van den Herik 2,500 pounds of prize money, which now puts him third on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit with 7,100 pounds. Darius Labanauskas still leads the rankings with 9700 pounds, while Stefan Bellmont is in second place with 8150 pounds. Labanauskas managed to scoop the necessary pounds again on Saturday. At Challenge Tour 18, the Lithuanian made it to the last 32, and at Challenge Tour 19, 'Lucky D' made it to the last sixteen. For Bellmont, the tally remained at zero. The Swiss lost twice at the last 128.

Ted Evetts is number four behind Van den Herik. 'Super Ted' did manage to grab some prize money Saturday afternoon by reaching the last 32 at the nineteenth tournament of the Challenge Tour. Mervyn King and Jack Tweddell are in fifth and sixth place, respectively, followed by Beau Greaves in seventh. The world's best female player had won two of the first five tournaments of the season. After that, Greaves played only five of the 14 subsequent tournaments. This weekend she is absent again.

Behind number eight Carl Sneyd (4525 pounds), there is another Dutchman in the top-10 with Danny van Trijp. Van Trijp is the number nine with 4225 pounds, while Graham Hall closes out the top-10 with 4200 pounds.

Joe Hunt, winner of a Challenge Tour tournament on Friday, is in eleventh place with 4125 pounds. Alexander Merkx moved up to twelfth place after he managed to reach the final at Challenge Tour 18 on Saturday. That was lost against David Davies, who now occupies the sixteenth spot.

Sunday will be the final tournament of this weekend. The final weekend of the Challenge Tour is next on Oct. 25-26. The Challenge Tour season consists of a total of 24 tournaments and is open to players who participated in the Q-School early this season, but did not win a Tour Card there. In addition to reserve spots for the Players Championship tournaments, there are some great prizes to be earned through this circuit.

The top three players get to compete in the World Darts Championship. Since Labanauskas has already virtually qualified for the World Championship via the Pro Tour, Van den Herik is now on a virtual World Championship spot along with Bellmont and Evetts. The top two players at the end of the season will also receive a PDC Tour Card for 2026 and 2027.