DRAW PDC Players Championship 30 - Van Gerwen headlines as Smith, Wright, Aspinall and Rock face crucial Minehead day
PDC
Players Championship 30 takes place at the Maaspoort in Den Bosch on Wednesday, September 23, with play getting underway at 12:00 BST for viewers in the UK. Cameron Menzies lifted the first title of the Dutch double-header on Tuesday, and the complete first-round draw for Wednesday's action can be found below.
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Michael van Gerwen is again among the headline names and opens against Benjamin Pratnemer, while Players Championship Order of Merit leader Wessel Nijman faces David Sharp. Beau Greaves, currently eighth in the season standings after becoming the first woman to win a PDC ranking title earlier this year, begins against Joe Hunt.
One of the standout first-round matches pits Mike De Decker against Peter Wright, and there is considerably more at stake than a place in round two for both. De Decker starts PC30 in 61st position on the Players Championship Order of Merit, only £1,000 above the current Minehead cut-off, while Wright is down in 89th with £20,500.
Peter Wright has work to do if he's to qualify for the 2026 Players Championship Finals
Minehead race puts big names under pressure
Michael Smith is another former world champion with little margin for error. He sits 62nd on £29,250 and meets Marvin Kraft, with Martijn Dragt currently holding the 64th and final qualifying position on £28,250. Directly around that line, Jim Long is 65th, Bradley Brooks 66th and Wesley Plaisier 67th, and all three are in action again on Wednesday.
Josh Rock and Nathan Aspinall have more ground to make up. Rock starts the day 71st on £26,000 before facing Mario Vandenbogaerde, himself only four places above the cut, while Aspinall is 78th on £23,500 and takes on Mervyn King. With only four Players Championship events remaining after PC30, opportunities to force their way into the top 64 are beginning to run short.
Menzies begins his attempt at back-to-back titles against Callan Rydz after climbing from 35th to 11th in the standings with Tuesday's PC29 victory. Elsewhere, Danny Noppert faces Adam Warner, Chris Dobey meets Gilbert van der Meijden, Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on Viktor Tingstrom and Raymond van Barneveld starts against Stephen Burton.
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DRAW PDC Players Championship 30
| Brendan Dolan | vs | Chris Landman |
| Owen Bates | vs | Ben Townley |
| Wessel Nijman | vs | David Sharp |
| Ricky Evans | vs | Kai Gotthardt |
| Dave Chisnall | vs | Carl Sneyd |
| Jimmy van Schie | vs | James Beeton |
| Michael van Gerwen | vs | Benjamin Pratnemer |
| Ian White | vs | Nathan Potter |
| Richard Veenstra | vs | Greg Ritchie |
| Stefaan Henderyck | vs | Dan Hands |
| Danny Noppert | vs | Adam Warner |
| Mensur Suljovic | vs | Scott Williams |
| Beau Greaves | vs | Joe Hunt |
| Henry Coates | vs | Ritchie Edhouse |
| Andrew Gilding | vs | Maximilian Czerwinski |
| Tommy Lishman | vs | Adam Lipscombe |
| Mickey Mansell | vs | Andy Boulton |
| Stef Kosters | vs | Lukas Wenig |
| Kevin Doets | vs | Rhys Griffin |
| Adam Leek | vs | Lewis Pride |
| Kim Huybrechts | vs | Rob Owen |
| Bradley Brooks | vs | Ryan Meikle |
| Cameron Menzies | vs | Callan Rydz |
| Darryl Pilgrim | vs | Steve Lennon |
| Gabriel Clemens | vs | Florian Preis |
| Niall Culleton | vs | Adam Gawlas |
| Jermaine Wattimena | vs | Jim Long |
| Samuel Price | vs | Marvin van Velzen |
| Martin Schindler | vs | Matthias Ehlers |
| Alan Soutar | vs | Madars Razma |
| Josh Rock | vs | Mario Vandenbogaerde |
| Tommy Morris | vs | Levy Frauenfelder |
| Keane Barry | vs | Martin Lukeman |
| Mike De Decker | vs | Peter Wright |
| Luke Woodhouse | vs | Justin Hood |
| Leon Weber | vs | Dennie Olde Kalter |
| Sebastian Bialecki | vs | Connor Scutt |
| Shane McGuirk | vs | Martijn Dragt |
| Niels Zonneveld | vs | Sietse Lap |
| Ricardo Pietreczko | vs | Stephen Rosney |
| Daryl Gurney | vs | Tyler Thorpe |
| Stephen Burton | vs | Raymond van Barneveld |
| Krzysztof Ratajski | vs | Cam Crabtree |
| Thibault Tricole | vs | Stefan Bellmont |
| Jeffrey de Graaf | vs | Alexander Merkx |
| Ted Evetts | vs | James Hurrell |
| William O'Connor | vs | Oskar Lukasiak |
| Filip Bereza | vs | Jeffrey de Zwaan |
| Max Hopp | vs | Charlie Manby |
| Nick Kenny | vs | Thomas Lovely |
| Chris Dobey | vs | Gilbert van der Meijden |
| Christian Kist | vs | Arno Merk |
| Cristo Reyes | vs | Tom Sykes |
| Jurjen van der Velde | vs | Cor Dekker |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode | vs | Viktor Tingstrom |
| Michael Smith | vs | Marvin Kraft |
| Maik Kuivenhoven | vs | Adam Paxton |
| Tom Bissell | vs | Jeffrey Sparidaans |
| Nathan Aspinall | vs | Mervyn King |
| Archie Self | vs | Pero Ljubic |
| Karel Sedlacek | vs | Tavis Dudeney |
| Daniel Klose | vs | Wesley Plaisier |
| Damon Heta | vs | Dominik Gruellich |
| Darius Labanauskas | vs | Tytus Kanik |
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026
- No point in being there? Champions want to win.Deduce635828-10-2026