"I do go to Q-School with a good feeling" - Jurjen van der Velde determined to start 2025 on a high after World Youth final heartbreak
PDC
Jurjen van der Velde lost out in the final of the PDC World Youth Championship 6-5 against his compatriot Gian van Veen late last month. Van der Velde thus missed out on qualification for the World Darts Championship and subsequently lost his Tour Card.
Van der Velde is currently 85th in the world rankings, with only the top 64 are guaranteed a Tour Card for the next two years after the World Darts Championship. This means that the 22-year-old Dutchman must go to Q-School to regain his Tour Card. "I do go to Q-School with a good feeling, although I also realize that it will not be the easiest week of the year," Van der Velde says to the Double Top podcast though. "Everything has to be right there, although I do have the advantage that I don't have to be in action until the final stage, so I get to skip the first three qualifying days."
"But of course you never know how things will go there," admits the Dutchman honestly. "Just look at Wesley Plaisier, who was also seen as a certainty to capture his Tour Card for several years, but still it kept going wrong at Q-School. Although Wesley has now finally got his Tour Card, and rightly so."
But what if things do go wrong at Q-School? "Then I'll do the Development Tour and the Challenge Tour anyway," Van der Velde said. "I also thought about Lakeside, but when qualifying for the WDF World Championship you only get 750 euros for the first round. To go down the WDF Tour for that is also quite expensive. Of course, it remains an iconic venue, so I'll have to see."
Van der Velde is guaranteed participation in the 2025 Grand Slam of Darts anyway because of his final place at the World Youth Championship. "Of course I hope to play there as a Tour Card holder. But even otherwise it's obviously something to look forward to. Although it's still a long way off and right now I'm mainly busy recapturing my Tour Card."
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UndartedWaters06-01-2025 - Two from the three of Price, Aspinall and Dobey should have been excluded, De Decker and Edhouse should have been in. I would have offered a place to Beau Greaves though i doubt she would have accepted it and probably not really ready for it confidence wise.Mysstree06-01-2025
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- That's true, Richie. Taylor used to call it, "Manley's millions."MrYnyslas197103-01-2025