Stephen Bunting headlines Grand Slam of Darts qualifiers, Cullen takes down Smith as Chisnall, Wright, van Barneveld miss out
PDC
All eyes were on the Mattioli Arena in Leicester as 91 PDC
Tour Card holders looked to clinch a last-minute spot in the Grand Slam of
Darts. The next major event takes place from November 14-22, with some
big names set to miss out after a hugely dramatic day of darting action.
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Bunting headlines victors as Cullen defies Smith return
The number one seed, Stephen Bunting, headlined the action and
was the most impressive on the day. His average never dipped under a tonne,
averaging 101.55 and 107.72 to defeat Arno Merk and Callan Rydz. He then saw
off Jimmy Van Schie with another 101 average. He is finding some form on the oche
and will be a huge threat at the major event.
For the first time since 2016, Michael Smith will not be at
the Grand Slam of Darts. He bowed out in the final match after blowing a 3-0
lead against Joe Cullen, who will feature for the first time since 2022. ‘The
Rockstar’ defied a 101 average by Stephen Burton before taking down Greg
Ritchie 5-0 ahead of his win over the former world champion.
Dave Chisnall and Mike De Decker were other established
names to fall at the final hurdle. ‘Chizzy’ fell 5-2 to Bradley Brooks and missed
out for the second consecutive year for the first time in his career. De Decker
was stunned by 2022 quarter-finalist Alan Soutar. A 5-3 result going the way of
the Scot concluded another damaging day for Belgian darts.
Dave Chisnall will not be in Wolverhampton
Niko Springer stood out at the business end. He averaged a staggering
112.25 average to see off Stefaan Henderyck and confirm his participation for
the second year running. Last year’s quarter-finalist Ricky Evans is back for
more. Finally, a positive note on a dreadful campaign after defying Cristo
Reyes 5-3.
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez is in for the first time since 2021.
His brother, Rowby-John, picked up a famous win over Luke Humphries two years
ago in the group phase, and the Austrian will look to follow in suit. Carl Snyed prevented Andy Boulton from returning for the first time since 2015 with Maik Kuivenhoven and Tom Sykes set to debut.
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Results Grand Slam of Darts qualifier last-20
| Player 1 | Average | Score | VS | Score | Average | Player 2 |
| Top 20 | ||||||
| Stephen Bunting | -101.23 | 5 | VS | 2 | -91.54 | Jimmy van Schie |
| Maik Kuivenhoven | -95.11 | 5 | VS | 2 | -90.89 | Chris Landman |
| Tom Sykes | -88.16 | 5 | VS | 3 | -83.81 | Adam Leek |
| Rusty-Jake Rodriguez | -94.01 | 5 | VS | 2 | -87.96 | Tom Bissell |
| Niko Springer | -112.25 | 5 | VS | 1 | -94.32 | Stefaan Henderyck |
| Ricky Evans | -97.33 | 5 | VS | 3 | -97.25 | Cristo Reyes |
| Carl Sneyd | -81.38 | 5 | VS | 2 | -80.2 | Andy Boulton |
| Bradley Brooks | -106.31 | 5 | VS | 2 | -88.47 | Dave Chisnall |
| Joe Cullen | -93.62 | 5 | VS | 3 | -96.03 | Michael Smith |
| Alan Soutar | -95.09 | 5 | VS | 3 | -92.32 | Mike De Decker |
Big names miss out
The number two, three and four seeds all departed in the
opening round. Danny Noppert was the second highest ranked player involved, but
he could not produce the goods against Kean Barry. Dirk van Duijvenbode and
five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld are other Dutchmen that miss
out.
On the topic of former world champions, Peter Wright is
again absent after a tragic 5-2 loss to Oskar Lukasiak. Damon Heta is a more
surprising exclusion. It is the first time he has missed consecutive Grand Slam
of Darts tournament in his time on the PDC Tour. Gary Anderson did not even bother showing up, forefiting any chance of qualifying.
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Ryan Joyce, Daryl Gurney and William O’Connor are other
seeds to have fallen in the early stages. The future also looks bleak for
Dimitri Van den Bergh, who averaged just 73 in his opening round defeat. The
same goes for the 2024 finalist Martin Lukeman. He will not defend any of the
prize money earned from that stunning run.
Three-time finalist Peter Wright misses out on Grand Slam of Darts qualification
10 names join stacked field in Wolverhampton
The 48 players are set for the Grand Slam of Darts, with 37 players
before today having already had the luxury of entering their name into the
event via a title triumph or other qualifying route.
The Grand Slam of Darts is a unique event to qualify for. Reaching
a major final along with European Tour and Players Championship title successes
are the main way for Tour Card holders to get in. However, that has been made
harder with Luke Littler’s dominance.
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Luke Humphries and Ross Smith swept up the other major
titles, with Gian van Veen, Gerwyn Price, James Wade, Michael van Gerwen,
Nathan Aspinall and Martin Schindler all receiving the call-up after coming
second fiddle in finals. Joe Hunt and Sebastian Bialecki respectively topped
the Challenge Tour and Development Tour Order of Mert with Cam Crabtree and Jan
Schmidt getting their spots ahead of his participation in the World Youth
Championship final in Minehead.
Adam Sevada (North American Championship), Paolo Nabrida (Asian
Championship) and Raymond Smith (ANZ Premier League) were victorious in their
quests. Beau Greaves has a plethora of accolades earned on the Women’s Series
already placed her in good stead. Lisa Ashton capitalised from this as she is
set to make a sixth appearance.
Read also
Wessel Nijman, Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock, Luke Woodhouse,
Krzysztof Ratajski and Niels Zonneveld picked up European Tour titles while
Chris Dobey, Cameron Menzies, Ryan Searle, Jermaine Wattimena, Kevin Doets,
Andrew Gilding, Rob Cross, Jeffrey de Graaf, Karel Sedlacek, Gabriel Clemens,
Charlie Menby, Henry Coates and, most recently, PC 34 champion Tommy Morris all
struck gold on the floor.
After today’s qualifying session, there is just one more
place up for grabs, that being the Nordic and Baltic Championships, which takes
place from November 6-8.
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Lucas MichaelDarts Journalist
Lucas Michael is a darts journalist and reporter based in Cambridge, UK, and has been part of the DartsNews team since 2025. He covers professional darts through reports, analysis, round-ups, and live coverage, with a focus on clear context and accurate reporting across the PDC calendar.
A key part of his work is liveblogging major tournaments throughout the year, providing real-time updates, match coverage, and contextual reporting across the professional circuit. He also reports regularly from events on site and has covered the PDC World Darts Championship from the venue, delivering first-hand insight throughout the tournament.
Within the newsroom, Lucas works closely with the editorial team and supports coverage alongside Chief Content Officer Samuel Gill and reporter Kieran Wood.
Lucas holds a BA (Hons) in Sports Journalism. In his work, he places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating content promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026