“It should never be classed as a major” - Panel split on whether Ross Smith’s World Series Finals win makes him impossible to ignore for the 2027 Premier League

Ross Smith left Amsterdam with £100,000, his second televised PDC title and another sizeable addition to his 2027 Premier League case. Whether he left with a major title depends on who you ask.

The manner of Smith’s World Series of Darts Finals victory was beyond dispute. He struck eleven 180s, averaged 103.89 and reeled off six consecutive legs from 5-5 to defeat Gerwyn Price 11-5. It was his fifth PDC title of 2026, following two European Tour successes and two Players Championship wins.

Four years after capturing the European Championship without receiving a subsequent Premier League call-up, Smith is once again relying on a major-labelled trophy to push him towards a debut. This time, though, the status of the tournament itself has become part of the discussion.

On the latest DartsNews Podcast, Kieran Wood was joined by regular co-host Nicolas Gayer and DartsNews chief content officer Samuel Gill to debate Smith’s chances of making the 2027 line-up and the value that should be placed on his Amsterdam triumph.

Gill expects Smith to be included when the eight-player Premier League field is confirmed after the World Championship. “I think he will be,” he said. “In my view, you’ve got to probably shoehorn Ross Smith and James Wade as well, of course. Ross Smith’s box office, realistically. He could hit 180s, score for fun. And he’s great to watch. I’ve always kind of said this about Ross and he’s long overdue, in my opinion. He kind of has everything about him really to thrive in that environment.”

Gayer was far less confident. James Wade and Danny Noppert were both overlooked for the 2026 competition after strong previous seasons, and Smith’s current position of 14th on the PDC Order of Merit leaves him outside the automatic qualification places.

“As much as I hope that he will be in, I really do, because I can totally agree with you, Sam,” said Gayer. “I really like watching Ross and I think he’s already deserved the nomination and then to get into the Premier League for the first time."

“I think he will be one of the big names that will be snubbed, like we see it every year. I think last year we had James, of course, and Danny Noppert, who were prominent names who didn’t get in. You just have these names every single year," he adds. “Without just anything extraordinary happening in him, like winning the Grand Slam or the Grand Prix or the Worlds even, or getting into the final, I think he will be snubbed this year.”

Smith has been here before. His 2022 European Championship victory was followed by disappointment when the 2023 Premier League field was announced, although he has since returned with the most prolific season of his career.

“Even Ross Smith, when he won his first major, he was snubbed the year after when he won the European Championship,” Gill continued. “He’s kind of had it before and has regrouped.”

The lack of different televised winners in 2026 could yet work in Smith’s favour. Luke Littler’s dominance has denied several established Premier League contenders the trophies that have traditionally supported wildcard selections.

“Nobody else compared to previous years has been winning majors,” said Gill. “Luke Littler has basically won everything. So that perhaps is the feather in Ross Smith’s cap this time around. That’s why I think he gets it. Nobody else is really winning majors either. So he kind of has set out his stall.”

Wood agreed: “Littler’s won everything. When you look at the likes of Bunting and Aspinall, they haven’t got that trophy to put themselves forward against the rest. Now Ross Smith has.”

Smith himself was more cautious when his Premier League ambitions were put to him after the final. “Of course, I want to be in it,” he said. “If you give me the opportunity, I’m going to grab it with both hands. I think I’m ready, but that’s not up to me, is it? It’s out of my hands.”

Wood then asked whether the World Series of Darts Finals deserved the major status routinely attached to Smith’s victory. Gill questioned the purpose of the event itself as well as its qualification system.

“No, I don’t think it should be a tournament in general, if I’m being quite honest,” he said. “It’s an excuse to put another event in the Netherlands apart from the Premier League. It doesn’t really serve a lot of purpose. Of course, it’s the season-ender for a tournament, but it’s a tournament that people are invited to, as opposed to the Players Championship Finals or even the European Championship, where they have to fight to get into this tournament."

“As you kind of saw with the qualification criteria, it was a bit of a farce where you have players pulling out and then you have players getting brought in who hadn’t actually qualified in the first place, like Daryl Gurney even, who beat Van Gerwen," he continued. “If they made it a more open qualification criteria, sure, or made it a ranking event, but it doesn’t really serve much.”

Smith himself reached Amsterdam through the World Series rankings after losing in the opening round of his invited appearances in Australia and New Zealand.

Gayer also rejected the tournament’s place among the leading events on the PDC calendar. “I would never class it as a major, to be honest,” he said. “It just doesn’t really feel serious enough. If you are being honest, it’s just a marketing series to help make the sport grow in different parts of the world."

“With all that, it’s just not serious enough in my opinion. It’s a marketing event and that’s fair enough, and if you want an event to end that season, that’s also okay in my opinion. But it should never be classed as a major," the German added. “Especially, as Sam has also said, with the qualification. You just need to get an invite as an Australian or even as a Saudi Arabian or Qatari player and you will be in the Finals at some point. Definitely not a major in my opinion.”

Gill awarded the tournament six out of ten and remained unconvinced that winning it would secure Smith’s Premier League place.

“I’m very glad that Ross Smith, as a fan of him, won the title,” he said. “But when you’re not even sure if he’s going to make the Premier League based off winning a major title, question marks have to be asked. It doesn’t really mean much in the context of the season for me. There’s other tournaments that mean a lot more coming up. I’d probably say European Tour means more at this rate, to be honest. And Ross Smith has won a few of them.”

The World Series Finals prize money is non-ranking, meaning Smith remains world number 14 despite collecting £100,000 in Amsterdam.

Five major tournaments remain before the Premier League line-up is decided, giving Smith further opportunities to strengthen his position and his rivals time to build cases of their own. His experience after the 2022 European Championship gives him little reason to consider his place secure.

Smith nevertheless defeated Daryl Gurney, Dave Chisnall, Josh Rock and Gian van Veen before dismantling Price in the final. After an even opening ten legs, checkouts of 123 and 127 helped him race through the second half of the contest without conceding another leg.

“The final, for me, is the performance of the tournament,” said Wood. “Smith threw eleven 180s and averaged nearly 104 to thrash Gerwyn Price in the final. That, to me, is the big one. It showed that he can do it on that big stage in a final and is a real statement display when it comes to performance of the weekend.”

For Gayer, the title also rewarded a sustained run of form that had already delivered success across the ProTour. “It’s a big win for him because I believe that it can also be mentally challenging to actually turn a run of such good form into a title,” he said. “Especially if you are a player like Ross Smith, who isn’t used to being in finals every weekend, especially in so-called major finals.

“I think it can be difficult to then turn your good form into an actual title because you get that feeling of, ‘Now I have to make use of this. Now I have to win something because I’m playing so well.’ He got that off his chest with pretty much the first major tournament that was around the corner.”

The World Grand Prix begins the final run of major tournaments before the Premier League line-up is selected. Smith will enter it with five titles across the floor, European Tour and television, but with the lesson of his 2023 omission still fresh.

Amsterdam may not carry the ranking money or prestige of the PDC’s established majors. Smith’s performance there has still ensured that another Premier League omission would be considerably more controversial than the last.