David Davies beats Alexander Merkx in Challenge Tour 18 final and takes first PDC title
PDCSaturday, 16 August 2025 at 17:10
David Davies has won the eighteenth tournament of the PDC Challenge Tour 2025. This marks the first PDC title for the Welshman, who was too strong for Dutchman Alexander Merkx in the final 5-3.
Davies began his winning streak with a 5-3 victory over Englishman Lee Barrow at the last 256. Then Adrian Gray (5-1) was also defeated in the last 128. In the last 64 the Welshman was 5-3 too strong for Dutchman Vinay Ramnath, after which he beat Jamie Atkins 5-4 in the last 32.
In the last 16 he faced Scot Nathan Girvan, and again he had no problems. Davies averaged over 96 and won 5-1 to reach the quarterfinals. There he was 5-3 too strong for his compatriot Kurt Parry. And in the semifinals he made sure there was no Dutch final by beating Jamai van den Herik 5-2.
Losing finalist Merkx started his tournament at the other end with a 5-2 victory over Frenchman Nicolas Thuillier, before dealing with Englishman Danny Goddard at the last 64. He then beat Scott Campbell 5-2 in the last 32. Merkx then took on Graham Hall (5-3), Martin Thomas (5-1) and Charlie Manby (5-3) before facing David Davies in the final.
In that final it was Davies who started excellently and through a 15-darter, 14-darter and another 15-darter quickly took a 3-0 lead. Then it was Merkx who came back in 16 darts to make it 3-1, but then it was Davies again who made it 4-1 with an 18-darter and could already smell the victory. Merkx then managed to come back cleverly to 4-3, but the deficit was already too big. Davies decided the match with an 18-darter to end the final 5-3.
Sunday afternoon concludes the weekend with the 20th Challenge Tour tournament. The Challenge Tour circuit is open to players who participated in the Q-School but did not win a Tour Card. Through the Challenge Tour, the highest ranked players can gain entry to the Players Championship tournaments as alternates. The top two players at the end of the season receive a PDC Tour Card and may compete in the World Darts Championship.
| Player 1 | Average | Score | VS | Score | Average | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finals | ||||||
| David Davies | (91.50) | 5 | VS | 3 | (86.17) | Alexander Merkx |
| Semi-Finals | ||||||
| David Davies | (93.12) | 5 | VS | 2 | (92.49) | Jamai van den Herik |
| Alexander Merkx | (86.73) | 5 | VS | 3 | (85.84) | Charlie Manby |
| Quarter-Finals | ||||||
| Jamai van den Herik | (100.20) | 5 | VS | 0 | (88.96) | Tom Lonsdale |
| David Davies | (88.29) | 5 | VS | 3 | (84.12) | Kurt Parry |
| Charlie Manby | (98.88) | 5 | VS | 0 | (88.43) | Lee Cocks |
| Alexander Merkx | (96.60) | 5 | VS | 1 | (79.03) | Martin Thomas |
| Top 16 | ||||||
| Tom Lonsdale | (85.31) | 5 | VS | 1 | (82.46) | Daniel Perry |
| Jamai van den Herik | (83.15) | 5 | VS | 3 | (77.83) | Owen Maiden |
| Kurt Parry | (89.66) | 5 | VS | 3 | (88.79) | Jeffrey De Zwaan |
| David Davies | (96.72) | 5 | VS | 1 | (82.32) | Nathan Girvan |
| Charlie Manby | (96.36) | 5 | VS | 2 | (84.81) | Jack Tweddell |
| Lee Cocks | (86.82) | 5 | VS | 3 | (86.81) | Joe Hunt |
| Martin Thomas | (88.17) | 5 | VS | 3 | (84.80) | Lee Budgen |
| Alexander Merkx | (92.93) | 5 | VS | 3 | (84.70) | Graham Hall |
| Top 32 | ||||||
| Daniel Perry | (88.71) | 5 | VS | 4 | (88.55) | Chris Hurds |
| Tom Lonsdale | (86.25) | 5 | VS | 1 | (72.86) | Daniel Astbury |
| Owen Maiden | (81.90) | 5 | VS | 4 | (83.96) | Eddie Lovely |
| Jamai van den Herik | (81.29) | 5 | VS | 3 | (79.52) | James Waite |
| Kurt Parry | (84.94) | 5 | VS | 3 | (73.16) | Gary Blades |
| Jeffrey De Zwaan | (94.54) | 5 | VS | 2 | (94.11) | Michael Flynn |
| Nathan Girvan | (83.16) | 5 | VS | 4 | (85.29) | Christopher Wickenden |
| David Davies | (84.50) | 5 | VS | 4 | (80.52) | Jamie Atkins |
| Charlie Manby | (85.49) | 5 | VS | 4 | (82.45) | Jeffrey Sparidaans |
| Jack Tweddell | (87.04) | 5 | VS | 3 | (80.60) | Ben Goodger |
| Joe Hunt | (85.08) | 5 | VS | 3 | (81.99) | Patrick Quinn |
| Lee Cocks | (81.30) | 5 | VS | 3 | (74.19) | Jamie Durrant |
| Lee Budgen | (93.46) | 5 | VS | 3 | (88.34) | Nathan Potter |
| Martin Thomas | (78.52) | 5 | VS | 2 | (84.44) | Ultan McDyer |
| Alexander Merkx | (87.31) | 5 | VS | 2 | (84.31) | Scott Campbell |
| Graham Hall | (93.48) | 5 | VS | 4 | (97.30) | Darius Labanauskas |
| Top 64 | ||||||
| Daniel Perry | (94.00) | 5 | VS | 3 | (78.31) | Conor Roberts |
| Chris Hurds | (76.80) | 5 | VS | 4 | (81.21) | Carl Sneyd |
| Tom Lonsdale | (92.54) | 5 | VS | 3 | (85.10) | Carl Wilson |
| Daniel Astbury | (78.14) | 5 | VS | 3 | (76.45) | Conor Heneghan |
| Eddie Lovely | (76.90) | 5 | VS | 4 | (73.48) | Nigel Prior |
| Owen Maiden | (80.77) | 5 | VS | 3 | (71.85) | Jarred Cole |
| Jamai van den Herik | (95.31) | 5 | VS | 2 | (81.95) | Paul Rowley |
| James Waite | (79.72) | 5 | VS | 4 | (79.90) | Jack Male |
| Kurt Parry | (86.39) | 5 | VS | 2 | (85.16) | Henry Coates |
| Gary Blades | (86.18) | 5 | VS | 4 | (84.83) | Jack Vincent |
| Jeffrey De Zwaan | (96.92) | 5 | VS | 1 | (78.07) | Dmitriy Zhukov |
| Michael Flynn | (93.08) | 5 | VS | 2 | (89.53) | Tommy Morris |
| Christopher Wickenden | (90.25) | 5 | VS | 3 | (89.10) | Jamie Hughes |
| Nathan Girvan | (82.91) | 5 | VS | 2 | (79.46) | Rowby-John Rodriguez |
| David Davies | (82.72) | 5 | VS | 3 | (77.30) | Vinay Ramnath |
| Jamie Atkins | (84.13) | 5 | VS | 3 | (81.52) | Scott Baker |
| Jeffrey Sparidaans | (83.37) | 5 | VS | 3 | (81.72) | Tom Sykes |
| Charlie Manby | (98.29) | 5 | VS | 1 | (82.16) | Martin Tonks |
| Ben Goodger | (93.40) | 5 | VS | 3 | (96.92) | David Pallett |
| Jack Tweddell | (82.79) | 5 | VS | 1 | (76.69) | Kirk De Ruyter |
| Joe Hunt | (94.17) | 5 | VS | 4 | (88.18) | Kevin Burness |
| Patrick Quinn | (79.75) | 5 | VS | 3 | (85.15) | Daniel Klose |
| Jamie Durrant | (76.72) | 5 | VS | 4 | (78.92) | David Sumner |
| Lee Cocks | (90.26) | 5 | VS | 4 | (91.60) | Lee Williams |
| Lee Budgen | (94.33) | 5 | VS | 4 | (82.02) | Bruno Stoeckli |
| Nathan Potter | (85.77) | 5 | VS | 4 | (84.22) | Andy Cass |
| Ultan McDyer | (87.30) | 5 | VS | 3 | (82.69) | Stuart Wares |
| Martin Thomas | (87.15) | 5 | VS | 1 | (79.05) | Jim Moston |
| Alexander Merkx | (94.59) | 5 | VS | 4 | (94.95) | Danny Goddard |
| Scott Campbell | (80.28) | 5 | VS | 4 | (77.85) | Patrick Schwab |
| Graham Hall | (108.54) | 5 | VS | 1 | (88.46) | Pat Scurfield |
| Darius Labanauskas | (95.30) | 5 | VS | 4 | (89.58) | Ciaran Teehan |
| Top 128 | ||||||
| Daniel Perry | (91.91) | 5 | VS | 2 | (80.77) | Tim Scholz |
| Conor Roberts | (72.96) | 5 | VS | 0 | (67.53) | Kieran Evans |
| Chris Hurds | (82.76) | 5 | VS | 2 | (77.53) | Keenan Thomas |
| Carl Sneyd | (78.89) | 5 | VS | 2 | (76.55) | Charlie Symons |
| Tom Lonsdale | (84.96) | 5 | VS | 4 | (77.21) | Daniel Humphries |
| Carl Wilson | (88.35) | 5 | VS | 1 | (77.76) | Ted Evetts |
| Conor Heneghan | (88.92) | 5 | VS | 3 | (88.94) | Samuel Price |
| Daniel Astbury | (81.11) | 5 | VS | 1 | (75.73) | Colin Osborne |
| Eddie Lovely | (70.91) | 5 | VS | 1 | (56.70) | Steven Harbert |
| Nigel Prior | (76.57) | 5 | VS | 2 | (78.99) | Peter Burgoyne |
| Owen Maiden | (69.88) | 5 | VS | 4 | (69.35) | Kyle Richardson |
| Jarred Cole | (88.52) | 5 | VS | 3 | (77.72) | Stefan Bellmont |
| Paul Rowley | (81.00) | 5 | VS | 2 | (64.66) | Robert Nelson |
| Jamai van den Herik | (83.07) | 5 | VS | 2 | (74.68) | Danny van Trijp |
| James Waite | (78.21) | 5 | VS | 3 | (72.31) | Daniel Labbozzetta |
| Jack Male | (74.77) | 5 | VS | 2 | (77.95) | Patrick Dekker |
| Kurt Parry | (86.21) | 5 | VS | 2 | (78.94) | Deian Roberts |
| Henry Coates | (89.34) | 5 | VS | 4 | (82.99) | James Vanbesien |
| Jack Vincent | (83.81) | 5 | VS | 3 | (82.25) | Trevor Burkhill |
| Gary Blades | (84.51) | 5 | VS | 1 | (77.64) | Darren Armstrong |
| Dmitriy Zhukov | (93.76) | 5 | VS | 1 | (82.17) | Kevin Lane |
| Jeffrey De Zwaan | (91.45) | 5 | VS | 2 | (77.41) | Tommy Lishman |
| Tommy Morris | (88.41) | 5 | VS | 0 | (74.54) | Jaikob Selby-Rivas |
| Michael Flynn | (85.03) | 5 | VS | 2 | (80.01) | Jimmy Bristow |
| Jamie Hughes | (87.38) | 5 | VS | 0 | (67.56) | Dimitri Nees |
| Christopher Wickenden | (85.86) | 5 | VS | 2 | (81.21) | Scott Waites |
| Rowby-John Rodriguez | (84.65) | 5 | VS | 1 | (82.71) | Karl Coleman |
| Nathan Girvan | (72.53) | 5 | VS | 1 | (72.00) | Jack Secular |
| Vinay Ramnath | (71.66) | 5 | VS | 1 | (70.27) | Sean Taylor |
| David Davies | (79.45) | 5 | VS | 1 | (72.19) | Adrian Gray |
| Scott Baker | (79.06) | 5 | VS | 2 | (81.35) | Kelvin O'Keefe |
| Jamie Atkins | (90.54) | 5 | VS | 0 | (85.00) | Danny Trueman |
| Tom Sykes | (96.35) | 5 | VS | 0 | (68.21) | David Evans |
| Jeffrey Sparidaans | (84.13) | 5 | VS | 3 | (81.83) | Steve Sewell |
| Martin Tonks | (68.89) | 5 | VS | 4 | (64.52) | Sion Thomas |
| Charlie Manby | (88.84) | 5 | VS | 4 | (86.39) | Sam Spivey |
| David Pallett | (97.88) | 5 | VS | 3 | (85.05) | Lewis Pride |
| Ben Goodger | (77.20) | 5 | VS | 1 | (75.00) | Adam Smith-neale |
| Jack Tweddell | (93.94) | 5 | VS | 0 | (73.77) | Neilie Brouder |
| Kirk De Ruyter | (81.48) | 5 | VS | 3 | (82.44) | Levy Frauenfelder |
| Kevin Burness | (85.31) | 5 | VS | 1 | (75.15) | Sam Booth |
| Joe Hunt | (87.71) | 5 | VS | 4 | (86.81) | Jenson Walker |
| Patrick Quinn | (80.76) | 5 | VS | 4 | (84.69) | Callum Francis |
| Daniel Klose | (88.83) | 5 | VS | 4 | (89.79) | Ashley Coleman |
| Jamie Durrant | (74.49) | 5 | VS | 4 | (74.34) | Myles Avory |
| David Sumner | (78.75) | 5 | VS | 4 | (77.23) | Patrick Bulen |
| Lee Williams | (82.19) | 5 | VS | 1 | (76.72) | Jason Wilson |
| Lee Cocks | (74.52) | 5 | VS | 3 | (78.55) | Aden Kirk |
| Lee Budgen | (84.35) | 5 | VS | 2 | (74.24) | Gino Vermeersch |
| Bruno Stoeckli | (75.22) | 5 | VS | 2 | (69.67) | Simon Stothart |
| Andy Cass | (78.18) | 5 | VS | 3 | (76.51) | Ash Ling |
| Nathan Potter | (90.81) | 5 | VS | 3 | (86.73) | Shane McGuirk |
| Stuart Wares | (77.60) | 5 | VS | 3 | (75.29) | Ruben Mesters |
| Ultan McDyer | (77.93) | 5 | VS | 4 | (73.71) | Colin Gibson |
| Martin Thomas | (84.17) | 5 | VS | 1 | (82.65) | Sean McKeon |
| Jim Moston | (73.38) | 5 | VS | 3 | (71.23) | Shaun Carroll |
| Alexander Merkx | (91.94) | 5 | VS | 2 | (80.05) | Nicolas Thuillier |
| Danny Goddard | (81.75) | 5 | VS | 4 | (77.48) | Michael Barnard |
| Scott Campbell | (69.42) | 5 | VS | 4 | (67.75) | Przemyslaw Wilanowski |
| Patrick Schwab | (75.76) | 5 | VS | 3 | (82.91) | David Sharp |
| Pat Scurfield | (74.04) | 5 | VS | 2 | (62.63) | Danny Moore |
| Graham Hall | (90.54) | 5 | VS | 0 | (75.56) | Gabriel Rollo |
| Darius Labanauskas | (92.98) | 5 | VS | 3 | (91.56) | Sietse Lap |
| Ciaran Teehan | (82.18) | 5 | VS | 2 | (74.06) | Riccardo Castelli |
| Top 256 | ||||||
| Kieran Evans | (69.58) | 5 | VS | 0 | (51.50) | Bradley Whitehead |
| Carl Sneyd | (75.29) | 5 | VS | 4 | (79.17) | Dave Bayton |
| Charlie Symons | (73.78) | 5 | VS | 4 | (67.14) | Lee Andrews |
| Ted Evetts | (82.99) | 5 | VS | 3 | (82.07) | Matt Gallett |
| Carl Wilson | (90.00) | 5 | VS | 1 | (83.69) | Kevin Troppmann |
| Daniel Astbury | (80.08) | 5 | VS | 2 | (71.85) | Tommie Coleman |
| Colin Osborne | (90.65) | 5 | VS | 3 | (79.69) | Daniel Nicholls |
| Peter Burgoyne | (94.45) | 5 | VS | 1 | (87.83) | Keegan Brown |
| Nigel Prior | (72.04) | 5 | VS | 3 | (73.98) | Michael Huntley |
| Stefan Bellmont | (88.43) | 5 | VS | 3 | (86.30) | Bailey White |
| Jarred Cole | (87.38) | 5 | VS | 0 | (74.22) | Aaron Beeney |
| Danny van Trijp | (84.71) | 5 | VS | 4 | (83.55) | Stu Wilson |
| Jamai van den Herik | (79.57) | 5 | VS | 4 | (80.49) | Paul Mitchell |
| Jack Male | (79.46) | 5 | VS | 1 | (74.71) | Scott Mitchell |
| Patrick Dekker | (80.86) | 5 | VS | 1 | (77.48) | Max Baulcomb |
| James Vanbesien | (77.40) | 5 | VS | 3 | (74.51) | Shane Turner |
| Gary Blades | (81.67) | 5 | VS | 3 | (93.34) | Mervyn King |
| Darren Armstrong | (76.68) | 5 | VS | 0 | (57.00) | Serge Brisset |
| Jeffrey De Zwaan | (82.58) | 5 | VS | 0 | (69.79) | Rob Holroyd |
| Tommy Lishman | (88.10) | 5 | VS | 1 | (73.55) | Ryan O'Connor |
| Jimmy Bristow | (84.93) | 5 | VS | 3 | (79.94) | Kai Fan Leung |
| Michael Flynn | (90.78) | 5 | VS | 2 | (80.36) | Steve West |
| Scott Waites | (71.38) | 5 | VS | 1 | (64.24) | Louis Lucas-Carter |
| Christopher Wickenden | (84.91) | 5 | VS | 3 | (81.57) | Damian Mol |
| Nathan Girvan | (81.34) | 5 | VS | 2 | (83.92) | Nicholas Ellis |
| Jack Secular | (66.18) | 5 | VS | 1 | (55.36) | Reece Colley |
| Adrian Gray | (77.90) | 5 | VS | 1 | (70.91) | Jacques Labre |
| David Davies | (89.47) | 5 | VS | 3 | (89.14) | Lee Barrow |
| Jamie Atkins | (86.59) | 5 | VS | 4 | (84.17) | Pal Szekely |
| Danny Trueman | (90.73) | 5 | VS | 1 | (70.76) | Charlie Martin |
| Steve Sewell | (78.79) | 5 | VS | 2 | (76.50) | Richie Burnett |
| Charlie Manby | (86.43) | 5 | VS | 2 | (83.97) | Andreas Harrysson |
| Sam Spivey | (83.78) | 5 | VS | 3 | (76.22) | Jimmy McKirdy |
| Adam Smith-neale | (81.27) | 5 | VS | 4 | (77.64) | Lee Evans |
| Ben Goodger | (76.43) | 5 | VS | 3 | (80.74) | Bhav Patel |
| Levy Frauenfelder | (76.56) | 5 | VS | 1 | (71.03) | Tom Parradine |
| Kirk De Ruyter | (78.72) | 5 | VS | 3 | (79.54) | Bruno Rangel |
| Jenson Walker | (86.40) | 5 | VS | 2 | (79.87) | Mat Caste |
| Joe Hunt | (87.94) | 5 | VS | 2 | (69.10) | Petros Christodoulou |
| Ashley Coleman | (90.45) | 5 | VS | 3 | (87.64) | Michael Unterbuchner |
| Daniel Klose | (91.27) | 5 | VS | 3 | (93.00) | Mike Warburton |
| Patrick Bulen | (81.76) | 5 | VS | 1 | (74.58) | James Evans-Bradford |
| David Sumner | (74.41) | 5 | VS | 0 | (45.50) | Laszlo B Csato |
| Aden Kirk | (86.13) | 5 | VS | 1 | (69.56) | Janek Hill |
| Lee Cocks | (60.53) | 5 | VS | 1 | (46.42) | Helena Rubes |
| Bruno Stoeckli | (82.64) | 5 | VS | 3 | (69.09) | Paul Higgins |
| Simon Stothart | (79.11) | 5 | VS | 0 | (66.81) | Kyle Manton |
| Nathan Potter | (87.56) | 5 | VS | 1 | (78.24) | Luke Smith |
| Shane McGuirk | (83.47) | 5 | VS | 3 | (87.02) | Kevin Leadenham |
| Ultan McDyer | (87.90) | 5 | VS | 3 | (75.76) | Stevie Moreira |
| Colin Gibson | (76.73) | 5 | VS | 1 | (76.95) | Phil Coward |
| Shaun Carroll | (89.25) | 5 | VS | 2 | (78.89) | Tom Baughan |
| Jim Moston | (77.47) | 5 | VS | 3 | (72.82) | Craig Watkins |
| Michael Barnard | (68.29) | 5 | VS | 4 | (69.59) | Remo Mandiau |
| Danny Goddard | (83.88) | 5 | VS | 4 | (84.17) | Steve Haggerty |
| Patrick Schwab | (68.52) | 5 | VS | 4 | (70.02) | Dylan Dowling |
| David Sharp | (87.38) | 5 | VS | 0 | (79.00) | Derek Maclean |
| Gabriel Rollo | (79.34) | 5 | VS | 3 | (79.16) | Andrew Callary |
| Graham Hall | (95.81) | 5 | VS | 1 | (81.40) | Steven Watts |
| Ciaran Teehan | (76.03) | 5 | VS | 3 | (71.30) | David Hill |
| Riccardo Castelli | (87.53) | 5 | VS | 4 | (90.29) | Joe Croft |
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