European & UK Q-School Final Stage Round-up | Arno Merk and Rhys Griffin headline tour card winners as big names falter early on

The final stage of UK and European Q-School has commenced, with four tour cards being offered out to 256 darters looking to get themselves on the PDC Tour.

After experiencing a fantastic PDC World Darts Championship, Arno Merk will now be on the PDC Tour for two years after he fended off the competition, overcoming Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-5 in what was a very tense last match.

Prior to this, he got the better of Danny Jansen (6-3), Romeo Grbavac (6-2), Mylo Michiels (6-4), Jeffrey Keen (6-4), and Damien Mol (6-5) before getting another final-leg decider go his way in a comeback win.

Filip Bereza was a less familiar name of the 128 players who entered the venue in Kalkar. However, he showed his quality by earning himself a tour card, surviving a very tense clash against former World Matchplay semi-finalist Jeffrey de Zwaan to complete the job.

Throughout the day, he defeated Michael Hurtz (6-2), Peter Keleman (6-5), Michael Unterbuchner (6-2), Marcel Otter (6-2), and Maikel Verberk (6-3). In the final match, he found himself 5-1 down, with de Zwaan looking likely to get back on the tour for the first time since 2024. However, the Pole did the seemingly impossible and racked off five legs on the bounce to take victory and add his name to the players who will be competing in the PDC over the next two years.

Rhys Griffin will make his return to the tour in convincing fashion after defeating Scott Waites 6-0 in the semi-final at the Marshall Arena.

The Welshman upped the gears throughout the day, getting through tight matchups against Kelvin O’Keefe (6-4), former BDO World Champion Shane McGuirk (6-5), Steve Lennon (6-4), Harry Ward (6-5) before averaging 103.89 against fellow Welshman Derek Coulson to confirm himself a tie against Waites. He did not waste anytime in disposing of the Englishman, getting the job done on the first day.

It was a lot more hotly contested between Adam Leek and Tyler Thorpe. With both pushing each other right to the end, it was Leek who just edged in front to clinch his tour card.

He got past Jonathon Kavanagh (6-2). Dylan Slevin (6-4), Nathan Potter (6-5), Aden Kirk (6-5) and Steve Beaton (6-5). He certainly did not make it easy for himself near the end of the event, but he kept his cool and was always able to find a way to victory.

There were a number of big names who fell in the early stages of the event. One of the most noticeable ones was Charlie Manby, who lost his first match 6-5 to Jack Albridge, with both players averaging a ton. ‘Champagne,’ who made a name for himself at Ally Pally, will take consolation that he played well but after day one of the final stage is left on zero points.

That is the same for Fallon Sherrok, who is looking to become a regular back on the tour. The likes of Ted Evetts, Adam Hunt, William Borland and John Part also leave with zero points on the board. Darren Beveridge, Steve Lennon and Mervyn King sit on two points while John Henderson finishes with three points after averaging 69 in his last-16 whitewash defeat.

Over in Germany, and it was a surprise early exit for Andy Baetens, who was hotly tipped to be in contention of a tour card. There were a load of familiar names walking away with few points, which included Jurjen Van der Velde, Matt Campbell and Boris Krcmar with one point; Jose de Sousa and David Cameron with two and Jimmy van Schie and Ron Meulenkamp with three. Andreas Harrysson was one win away from confirming his tour card at the recent World Championship on debut, and once again he came very close to getting it after exiting in the quarter-final stage. He sits on four points raring to go for tomorrow.

The final stage of Q-School will take place over the next three days, with more tour cards on offer for darters eager to immerse themselves in the big time of the sport.