Luke Littler virtually passes Michael van Gerwen in provisional Order of Merit, huge drop for Michael Smith

The PDC Order of Merit will be shaken up considerably after the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. The first outlines of that are already visible on the Live PDC Order of Merit which can be seen on dartsrankings.com.

With Michael Smith's huge drop, many players will move up a spot at the top of the world rankings. Smith lost in the second round of the World Darts Championship after a thriller to Kevin Doets. A sensitive defeat, as "Bullyboy" had to defend the prize money he won from his 2023 world title. Smith has already fallen 14 spots down, and the damage threatens to get worse after Christmas. Three players can pass Smith with one more Worlds victory.

Dimitri van den Bergh is also at risk, he currently has had to surrender seven spots. That's because Van den Bergh was in the semifinals at the World Darts Championship two years back. With a good result, however, the Belgian can quickly make leaps and bounds again. The difference between his virtual 18th spot and the sixth spot in the world rankings is less than a ton.

At least Luke Humphries knows for certain that he still holds the number-one position after the tournament. 'Cool Hand Luke' has a street-length lead over his competitors and, with a second world title in a row, will become the first player ever with more than two million pounds of prize money in the rankings. Luke Littler virtually holds the second spot, although his lead over Van Gerwen is negligible at 3,000 pounds.

The top-24 after the World Darts Championship are directly qualified for the final tournament of the Winmau World Masters in Milton Keynes. The 24th spot is currently held by Mike de Decker. Number 25 Daryl Gurney is still in the tournament, but will need to win two more matches to pass De Decker. Good news for De Decker, however, is that numbers 26 through 28 have all already been eliminated. Number 29 Ryan Joyce already needs a World final to play Decker out of the top-24.

A lot lower down the world rankings, there is another battle going on. Namely, the top-64 on the PDC Order of Merit is sure to have a Tour Card in 2025. This year, the No. 65 will also retain a Tour Card, as Steve Beaton is expected to surrender his Tour Card.

The 65th spot is currently held by Robert Owen. The Welshman thought he had as good as renewed his Tour Card, but may still have to compete. Due to Nick Kenny's upset win against Raymond van Barneveld, Owen already dropped to 65th place, while Kenny is now 63rd. Jeffrey de Graaf can send Owen to 66th place if De Graaf manages to win over Paolo Nebrida in the third round of the World Darts Championship. Owen, however, is still in the tournament himself. 'Stack Attack' can definitely secure a Tour Card when he beats Ricky Evans in the third round. In that case, Karel Sedlacek has yet to fear for his Tour Card.