Just the 5th player ever! Henry Coates makes history with Players Championship title

Henry Coates has reached a remarkable milestone in PDC history. The Englishman won a Players Championship event despite not holding a PDC Tour Card. That puts him in a highly exclusive group, as only four players had done so before him.

Winning a Pro Tour event without a PDC Tour Card is an exceptional achievement. Players without a Tour Card may only enter Players Championship events when Tour Card holders withdraw.

Those vacant spots are typically filled based on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. As a result, these players get significantly fewer opportunities than the Pro Tour regulars, which makes a tournament win all the more impressive.

Coates is the fifth different player to claim a Players Championship title without a Tour Card. Joe Murnan was the first to do so in 2015. Three years later, Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski produced an even more eye-catching feat by winning two Pro Tour titles before he had a Tour Card. In 2022, Scott Williams joined that illustrious list, before Wesley Plaisier became the fourth name roughly two years ago. The Dutchman capped a strong season with that triumph, and later secured his Tour Card.

With his victory, Coates now takes his place alongside these players in the history books. It confirms his talent and the opportunities the Challenge Tour offers ambitious darters who do not yet have a permanent spot on the PDC circuit. A Pro Tour win demands not only a high level, but also the mental resilience to peak at the right moment against the world’s elite.

For Coates, this title could also mark an important turning point in his career. Previous players who won a Pro Tour event without a Tour Card ultimately managed to establish themselves within the PDC. Both Ratajski and Williams became regular names on the circuit, while Plaisier also secured a Tour Card after his success.

Coates’s historic victory again shows that the step from the Challenge Tour to the very top can be smaller than often assumed. At the same time, his achievement underlines how special it is to win an entire Players Championship event without the status of Tour Card holder.

Only five players in PDC history can be found on that unique honour roll, and as of this week Henry Coates has definitively joined that exclusive group.