“I gave my job up to do this, to be a full-time dart player" – Tom Sykes makes dream come true at Q-School

On the third day of the final phase of the UK Q-School, there was success for Tom Sykes. The 33-year-old Englishman defeated Stephen Burton 6-4 in his decisive match to claim a PDC Tour Card for the first time in his career.

“Yeah, it's unbelievable,” Sykes began in conversation with Dan Dawson immediately following his win. “I've been absolutely dreadful for the first two days, but today I've scraped a few wins early on, and I've managed to get the job done. So I'm really happy."

In the final, Sykes quickly built a big lead, but Burton almost clawed his way back. “I was absolutely crapping myself,” he laughed. “As soon as I missed the double 12 for 5-0 and then he cleaned up, I just started getting more and more shaky, and you can tell he's been on the tour before and he's had a Tour Card before. Every time I missed, he put pressure on me and hit big shots. Just glad to get over the line in the end and hit that double."

Many people had Sykes down beforehand as one of the contenders for a PDC Tour Card. “I gave my job up to do this, to be a full-time dart player, and I've accomplished that," Sykes beams. "Now the hard work starts, and I've got two years of getting beat up every week so we'll see what happens.

As for how far he believes he can go now on the Pro Tour? "I just want to compete. I know my game is up there. I've shown glimpses today that I can average 99, 100+, but yeah, it's just a lot of hard work now up to the first Pro Tours of the year and we'll see how we go."

UK Q-School enters its final day this afternoon. Once again, both finalists will secure a PDC Tour Card for the next two years. The top 5 of the UK Q-School Order of Merit will also earn a PDC Tour Card.