The Host Nation Qualifiers for the European Tour tournaments in Munich (March 30-April 1) and Riesa (April 12-14) took place Saturday. All players who are residents of the respective host country - in this case Germany - and do not have a Tour Card can participate in these tournaments. Four starting places for the respective European Tour tournament are awarded per host country qualification.
Former Tour Card holder Michael Unterbuchner was doubly successful, qualifying for both the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich and the International Darts Open in Riesa. After his last appearance in 2020, the Munich resident will therefore celebrate his comeback on the European Tour on his home stage. In the final match of the first qualifying tournament, Unterbuchner defeated two-time World Championship participant Dragutin Horvat 6-3. A few hours later, the two-time Lakeside semi-finalist crowned his working day with a 6-1 victory over Moritz Hilger to qualify for the European Tour event in Riesa.
Oliver Müller, Matthias Ehlers and Franz Roetzsch also qualified for the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich. Müller and Ehlers will celebrate their debut on the European Tour stage at the end of March, while Roetzsch returns to the tournament series after a year's absence. In his deciding match (6-1 against Sascha Stuhlhemmer), he achieved the highest average of the tournament with an average of 97.8.
In addition to Unterbuchner, Patrick Klingelhöfer, Kai Gotthardt and Jan Dückers qualified for the International Darts Open in Riesa. With Dückers and Klingelhöfer, two German players will also make their European Tour debut in Riesa. Gotthardt, who was already in strong form during the first PDC Europe Next Gen tournaments, returns to the PDC stage for the second time since 2020.
PDC ET02 Host Nation Qualifier
Final round
Oliver Mueller 6-1 Marvin Koch
Michael Unterbuchner 6-3 Dragutin Horvat
Matthias Ehlers 6-4 Niko Springer
Franz Roetzsch 6-1 Sascha Stuhlemmer
PDC ET03 Host Nation Qualifier
Final round
Michael Unterbuchner 6-1 Moritz Hilger
Patrick Klingelhoefer 6-4 Kevin Troppmann
Kai Gotthardt 6-5 Thomas Kohnlein
Jan Dueckers 6-2 Oliver Ufer