Joe Hunt ends Challenge Tour as No. 1 and secures Tour Card, Grand Slam spot and World Championship debut
PDCSunday, 27 September 2026 at 22:00
Joe Hunt capped an outstanding season on the PDC Challenge Tour in style. The 33-year-old Englishman won his fifth title of 2026 on Sunday in Wigan, sealing top spot on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. Later in the day, Patrik Williams claimed the season’s final tournament.
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The last two Challenge Tour events were played at the Robin Park Leisure Centre. For Hunt, Event 23 opened with a pivotal match. The rankings leader drew Derek Coulson in round one, who sat second before play began.
A tight contest never materialised. Hunt swept aside his main rival 5-0, then made a major statement against Nathan Rafferty. With a 109.56 average, he won 5-1.
Mike Warburton also fell with Hunt averaging over a ton. In the next two matches, Hunt dropped just two legs combined and marched into the quarter-finals. There he met far sterner resistance from Jack Aldridge. Hunt posted his third ton-plus average of the day and edged the decider. A 5-3 win over Harrison Leigh then booked his place in the final.
Joe Hunt was the standout player on the PDC Challenge Tour this year
Fifth title for Hunt
Jack Tweddell awaited in the final, the Event 5 winner earlier this season. Hunt, however, was rarely troubled and ran out a 5-1 winner. It secured his second title of the Wigan weekend and his fifth Challenge Tour crown of the season.
Topping the rankings earns Hunt a Tour Card for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. He will also make his debut at the Grand Slam of Darts in November and is assured of a spot at the World Darts Championship in December.
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First Challenge Tour title for Williams
The final Challenge Tour event of 2026 went to Patrik Williams. The 25-year-old, who tasted success on the Development Tour last year, beat Aldridge 5-3 in the final to pocket £3,000 in prize money.
Williams opened with a 5-0 win over Llewellyn Roberts, averaging exactly 100. He then posted back-to-back 5-2 victories over Tony Fleming and former UK Open quarter-finalist Steve Hine.
Matty Washbrooke was dispatched 5-0, before Williams had to dig deep against Oliver Mitchell. A 5-4 success took him into the quarter-finals, where he overcame Belgian Jenson Remory.
In the semi-final his run looked over when Sam Jackson led 4-1. Williams turned it completely around to reach his first final of the year. Against Aldridge he trailed 2-1, but by winning four of the last five legs he secured his maiden Challenge Tour title.
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Coulson, Morris and Klose also heading to the Worlds
Despite two first-round exits on Sunday, Coulson finished second on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. The Welshman also receives a Tour Card for 2027 and 2028 and will make his World Darts Championship debut in December.
Tommy Morris took third and likewise secured a Worlds berth at Alexandra Palace, narrowly keeping Daniel Klose at bay in the standings. Klose, however, will also book a trip to London. Hunt is set to qualify for the World Darts Championship via the Pro Tour rankings, which shifts his Challenge Tour spot to the fourth-placed German.
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Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
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- I believe he has it in him to qualify for the Worlds as he consistently wins matches, even if it is only one or two at a time, although his recent PC quarter-final run was somewhat encouraging in that regard. I think there is a lot of pressure for him to retire, people in the media accusing him of tarnishing his legacy. I think that is a ridiculous line of thinking. How ungrateful it is to attach terms and conditions to the amazing moments he has provided us over the course of his career. What position are we in to dictate to him how he should manage his career when it is he who achieved those successes in the first place? What's more, this is his life and the passion that sustains it, it is not for us to decide when his career is over when it is he who must bear the genuine ramifications of that decision. Since I'm sure money is not a concern, the only question on which the decision should rest is whether he truly continues to enjoy competing. He has retired once before, but the desire to compete is what brought him back. We see a lot of negative body language and he does genuinely look miserable when he is not playing well, but only he will know when he wakes up the next day whether he wants to go and do it all over again. If he wants to compete, he should, it's as simple as that, this is a decision that should not involve anyone else but him and his family. He should not retire to indulge the whims of the media or the public. What satisfaction would he receive by being forced into retirement? What closure would it bring to such a brilliant career? When Phil Taylor decided to retire, his decision was final and resolute. I believe RvB needs to get to this point himself, no matter how many 70 averages it might take. We see the likes of John Part continue to compete on a regular basis well past his prime, I say more power to him, and who knows, further glory could be around the corner, it's darts after all, you just never know. Sometimes I worry that RvB is acutely aware of the clamour for him to retire and that this pressure may even have an impact on his performances as he begins to question whether there is even a place for him in darts anymore, further compounding his poor form and creating a vicious loop. Perhaps to take his future into his own hands would provide him with a levity and freedom that would lend itself to better performances, not to mention an improved wellbeing. In any case, it is under these conditions that one can clear-headedly and definitively settle an issue so profound as retirement, not when you feel you're being rushed out the door. If his performances can no longer sustain his presence on the tour, so be it; as it stands his card seems safe for this year but is in serious jeopardy next year. He could always allow himself to drop off the tour naturally rather than forfeiting his place in the top 64, this could provide a sense of finality while offering a route back through Q-School if he so desired; after all, he's done it before. In conclusion, I just hope that RvB can play - or not play - for his own sake, rather than anyone else's, so that when the time comes he can be in no doubt as to his decision, leaving no lingering questions, so that he can reflect with no regret or uncertainty on the marvelous career he has had.Deduce635826-09-2026
- Luke Littler has been good for the sport of darts, no question. But he is not above it. For his sake and ours, he needs to be put in his place sometimes, rather than having his every whim catered to. That is not how you build a good person nor a good sporting organisation, and it's beginning to have consequences.Deduce635826-09-2026
- Extremely disappointing decision. It used to be that, along with major events and Euro Tours, the Players Championship series constituted one of three standards against which successful darts players could be measured, one of three challenges every successful darts player should be expected to master to consider themself among the elite. Now they are dead weight in the darting calendar, and player turnout and the standard of competitiveness will reflect that. The truth is that Luke Littler and other big names would rather play lucrative exhibitions than put in the hard graft that being a successful dart player requires. It undermines the authority of the PDC and the game in general. So what do they do about it? Give them exactly what they want. Of course, why wouldn't they? They are their star attractions. It is ironic that an organisation formed in protest by the sport's elite should be undermined and disrespected by their contemporary equivalents, but the PDC had a chance to stand up to them with a firm message: play 2 events all year and expect the final to be played without you. Instead, they caved in. These events will be hardly worth playing anymore and this decision may have grave consequences for the future of floor events at the elite level. Some may say the calendar is overstuffed, yet these elite players have more than enough time to play plenty of exhibitions. The Premier League in particular is gruelling, but busy players are not expected to play every event, they are expected to manage their playing schedule carefully in order to apportion their time and energy appropriately. Clayton and Humphries, for instance, both sit in the top 20 of the Players Championship and European orders of merit, in addition to competing in the Premier League; they have proven it is absolutely possible and this change is an insult to their efforts in effectively managing their calendars. I think we are seeing players who simply think they are too good for Pro Tour events, arrogance which should be punished rather than rewarded as we are seeing here. Furthermore, why should success in Euro Tours qualify you for the Players Championship Final? The PDC are blurring the lines between those three disciplines of darting excellence, and in so doing destabilising the very foundations upon which the organisation and its success is built. Some may say I'm overreacting, but this, in addition to the PDC's subservience and snivelling obsequiousness toward their biggest assets, makes me fear for the future of professional darts.Deduce635826-09-2026
- I guess this will mean the top players will turn up even less? Taken all the excitement of qualifying away I think. Wish they made it top 32 to qualify and the finals to last all week.Baphomet26-09-2026
- Great article - but not written by this site. It's taken wholesale from last Sunday's Observer with this interview published online on Saturday.Scoobedybop22-09-2026
- Such sad and pathetic little losers giving abuse to young woman for any reason, let alone who she is in a relationship with. Go Beau! An absolute star and comes across as a genuinely nice and kind person. Wish her nothing but the best.BandB22-09-2026
- I wouldn't mind if he quit now to be honest. He's not bigger than darts. Let's face it without darts he'd just be a normal fat gamer kid.medinabello22-09-2026
- You know,I said this,in a sentence,not 5 paragraphs!!rick6721-09-2026
- Oh dear,he lost. Well any competitive sport runs the risk of defeat. He is, currently,his own worst enemy. Wind the crowd up,and you get it back bigger. Put your dummy in kidrick6721-09-2026
- Does an exhibition count in the clean sweep though?BandB21-09-2026
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