PDC European Tour rules change again in controversial move seeming to protect big names
PDC
The European Tour rules will change again for 2025 with more protection seemingly for the big names as a vital ProTour perk has been removed.
The top 16 of the main Order of Merit who got automatic entry into 2024 tournaments will now get through to Round Two automatically so the likes of Van Gerwen, Littler, Humphries and in particular Nathan Aspinall who is currently not in position to qualify for the World Grand Prix and other majors will get multiple bites of the cherry in order to qualify not using the Players Championship series.
The top 16 in the ProTour instead will be seeded in Round One so it will consist of 32 pre-qualified players (the top 16 from the Main Order of Merit and the 16 highest ranked from the ProTour as well as 16 qualifiers. The top 16 ranked from the Order of Merit will be exempted and seeded into the second round where they will play the 16 from the remaining 32.
One pot in the draw will consist of 16 ProTour Order of Merit qualifiers and one pot will consist of the other 16 qualifiers with no seeding in place. This also is likely done for a blanket for Premier League stars who had to travel on the Thursday night to get to European Tour events on the Friday so means they don't enter until Saturday like a ProTour player would in the past.
It is a move that has already stirred debate on Social Media and likely will continue to do so as the European Tour continues to deviate from its initial model further in 2025.
The European Tour will be changed once again this year. The top 16 of the Main Order of Merit will be seeded in round two this year (instead of the top 16 of the Pro Tour), while the top 16 of the Pro Tour will be seeded in round one.
— Jetze Jan Idsardi (@JJIdsardi) January 13, 2025
More protection for the big boys. Sigh. pic.twitter.com/xRzwqvJkC2
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