PDC European and UK Q-School Final Stage Round-Up | McGuirk and Sykes strike in Milton Keynes as Van Schie finally seals Tour Card despite losing final

Q-School continued on Saturday with the European and UK edition heading into a third day with the theme today being known quantities as for the most part it was well known players making their way through in Milton Keynes and Kalkar.

For many of the top names though such as Jose de Sousa, Andreas Harrysson, Fallon Sherrock, John Henderson and Mervyn King, it is win or bust tomorrow with a big day ahead on Sunday.

After a week where it has been a bit of a lottery at Q-School in regards to who will win through in Milton Keynes with the bigger players losing early and the big shouts not having their time in the spotlight, two well known entities found their way through.

Tom Sykes albeit not known to some will be to others. Anyone tipping the nightmare lottery that is Q-School will know Sykes as a player who in county, MODUS Super Series and various events he has been incredible and is perhaps the best player not to have professional status. Until today.

Sykes after a poor opening stanza to Q-School saw off Stephen Burton in the final 6-4 to seal his spot on the professional tour finally. Quitting his job to do this full time, he now gets to strut his stuff in the pro ranks. He saw off Llew Bevan, Tommy Morris, Andrew Cass, Harry Ward and Harrison Leigh. He never dipped under an 84 average and had a best of a ton. A superb addition to the tour.

As is the former WDF World Champion Shane McGuirk who was a PDC prodigy before he managed to win at Lakeside. He went to Q-School last year burdened with expectation and now he has finally done it a year on.

He saw off World Championship standout Charlie Manby who might have had his chance. He is not secure points wise and will need a good day tomorrow again. He lost 6-2 in the final. But after close wins over Henry Coates and Ted Evetts, he thrashed Adam Hunt, Robbie Martin and Nick Cocks before seeing off Manby. A great day for both.

Burton, David Sharp, Sam Spivey, Harry Ward and Derek Coulson are currently in Tour Card spots but no-one is safe so a big day awaits in MK.

The big news coming from Kalkar is that Jimmy van Schie, the current WDF World Champion will finally make the step up but in Van Schie style of losing in final games, he did so again.

He faced Yorick Hofkens and led 4-2 but the 18-year-old German prodigy who has long been touted as one of the next cabs off the rank in regards to German darts has managed to do it. He won through 6-5 surviving match darts and has been joined by another German, Matthias Ehlers.

Ehlers has come out of nowhere somewhat this week and despite averaging mid 80's in the main, he has managed to string results together and won his Tour Card with a 77 average. He lost to Cristo Reyes yesterday in the final but instead of doing a 'Jeffrey de Zwaan' or last year a 'Jimmy van Schie' of reaching a final and then not winning anymore points up to press, Ehlers came back.

He saw off Faes and prior to that took down Pal Szekely, Ron Meulenkamp, Ricardo Ulrich, Mitja Gustorf and also Bjorn Quoiffy. The latter himself has had a good Q-School thus far so it was a bit of a horror draw for both parties. But he won through. This in turn though helps others. Ehlers like Van Schie went into the final game knowing he'd done enough and now he has won it outright, he drops off the Order of Merit.

This means that Van Schie leads on 11 points and next up is Jeroen Caron with a big race ahead as all of the top eight outside of Van Schie have seven points and there is a minimal gap so anyone on around the five point mark feasibly could make it a completely different Order of Merit tomorrow.

Chris Landman, Benjamin Pratnemer, Adam Gawlas, Patrick Bulen, Faes and Alexander Merkx are in those spots but Marvin Kraft, Michael Unterbuchner, Ron Meulenkamp, Romeo Grbavac, Michele Turetta and David Cameron are breathing down their necks. On the other hand we could have a scenario like today when big names lose early and we could get a new crop of players outside Van Schie. So Kalkar will have eyes on it tomorrow.