"I was so close to getting a Tour Card..." – Brandon Weening recalls nervy wait with Simon Whitlock after heart-breaking Q-School 2025 near miss

For Australian prospect Brandon Weening, 2025 Q-School represented a golden opportunity — a genuine shot at a breakthrough onto the professional circuit. But after four gruelling days in Milton Keynes, Weening was left empty-handed, agonisingly short of securing a coveted PDC Tour Card.

Speaking to the Weekly Dartscast, the 24-year-old reflected on a decisive final day filled with pressure, promise, and ultimately, pain.

Heading into the final round of play, Weening was firmly in contention. With everything on the line, he kept his approach deliberately simple. “Yep, I woke up that day the same way I did every other day,” he said. “Just woke up thinking, okay, one leg at a time, one game at a time. I don’t even think I had a match dart thrown at me on that last day.”

He was immediately tested in his opening match, drawn against former major quarter-finalist John O’Shea. Despite a rocky start, Weening found his scoring power but a little too late. “I went 3–1 down to John O’Shea and then won four legs on the trot,” he recalled. “I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I know when I went 5–3 up, I was averaging just over 110. I finished the match with a 95–98 average, something like that. Can’t really say much more about it, but I was just happy I got my revenge in the Modus.”

Despite that impressive display, Weening would fall to 'The Joker' — leaving him stranded just outside the qualifying spots on the Order of Merit.

With no further matches to play, all Weening could do was watch and wait as the results of others dictated his fate. “That’s a funny story,” he said with a smile. “We were in the car heading back to Simon’s [Whitlock’s], and we were watching DartConnect to see who needed to win and who needed to lose."

"It was like: ‘We need Adam to lose this game, Cam to win that one, and this other bloke to win his.’," he recalled. "It was all over the shop. It was exciting, but once the news finally came through, it hurt. I was so close to getting a Tour Card, yet so far.”

Despite falling just short, there was plenty in Weening’s Q-School campaign to suggest this won't be the last we see of him. With a composed mentality, high scoring power, and solid experience already under his belt — including time in the Modus Super Series — the Aussie is positioning himself as a name to watch in the coming year.

While the immediate aftermath brought disappointment, Weening’s performances caught the attention of many within the darting community. If his upward trajectory continues, it may only be a matter of time before he takes that final step into the professional ranks.

After all, in the words of the man himself: “One leg at a time, one game at a time.”