Owen Bates snatches World Championship spot and Tour Card from John Henderson after final Challenge Tour event; title goes to James Hurrell
PDCMonday, 30 October 2023 at 16:00
Owen Bates finished second on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit behind Berry van Peer. As a result, he, like Van Peer, may compete in the World Darts Championship and will receive a PDC Tour Card for the next two seasons.
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It wasn't really even about the title anymore during the final tournament of the 2023 PDC Challenge Tour. All eyes were on the battle for second place. After all, Van Peer had already secured the lead position, which also allows 'Bionic' to compete at the Grand Slam of Darts.
Prior to the final tournament, five players still had a chance at second place. In addition to Henderson and Bates, these were Andy Boulton, Cam Crabtree and Christian Kist.
Henderson and Kist were eliminated at the last 64. Then the long wait began for Henderson. The Scot had to hope that Boulton, Crabtree and Bates would not make the final. Boulton and Crabtree dropped out at the last sixteen.
Bates then won 5-4 over Peter Jacques in the quarter-finals and played a deciding leg against Mike Warburton in the last four. Warburton was ahead 4-1 and needed only one more leg to put Henderson in safe harbor, however, the Welshman lost 4-5 after several missed match darts. Bates thus secured his second place in that way.
The Englishman then played another final against James Hurrell, who was previously responsible for Henderson's elimination and had also defeated Jelle Klaasen, Martijn Dragt, Max Hopp, Steve Haggerty and Darryl Pilgrim. Hurrell eventually walked away with the title after a 5-2 win over Bates, who no doubt will not mourn this loss for a moment.
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Results PDC Challenge Tour 24
Last 16
Steve Haggerty 5 | 2 Harry Lane
James Hurrell 5 | 1 Max Hopp
Andy Jenkins 5 | 3 Alexander Merkx
Darryl Pilgrim 5 | 1 Cam Crabtree
Thibault Tricole 5 | 1 Andy Boulton
Mike Warburton 5 | 4 Danny Lauby
Owen Bates 5 | 1 Darren Armstrong
Peter Jacques 5 | 4 Chris Landman
Quarterfinals
James Hurrell 5 | 2 Steve Haggerty
Darryl Pilgrim 5 | 1 Andy Jenkins
Mike Warburton 5 | 2 Thibault Tricole
Owen Bates 5 | 4 Peter Jacques
Semi-final
James Hurrell 5 | 2 Darryl Pilgrim
Owen Bates 5 | 4 Mike Warburton
Final
James Hurrell 5 | 2 Owen Bates
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I loved Jan and loved his walk on music "Explode" by Jordan & Baker. I think if he stuck around the BDO he definitely would have been World Champion, should have won in 2014, he never really showed any of his talent in the PDC. I remembered he worked in a bank or in finance and maybe that was his priority, he was also a fan and interested in magic. Definitely should have achieved much more in darts than he did. Wherever you are nowadays Jan, hope all is well and I was always a fan.richieburnettrocks11-09-2026
- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
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