PDC Order of Merit update: James Wade closes in on Van Gerwen after UK Open final, Van den Bergh sinks 11 places and drops out the top 32

The UK Open has once again triggered a raft of changes on the PDC Order of Merit. While most shifts were minor, typically one or two places, two players in particular slid significantly. For now, Luke Littler remains the unassailable world number one.

The 19-year-old world champion managed to retain his UK Open title yet again by beating James Wade 11-7 in the final, the same opponent he defeated in last year’s decider. With that, “The Nuke” moves to a total of £2,961,000 in prize money and is now extremely close to the three-million mark. It seems only a matter of time before he breaks that record as well.

There are no changes in the top five either. Luke Humphries stays second, well adrift of his namesake. “Cool Hand Luke” sits on £1,206,500. The Dutchmen Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen remain third and fourth.

Van Veen suffered a disappointing first-match exit in the fourth round and stays on £943,250, followed by Van Gerwen with £710,250. “Mighty Mike” reached the last eight in Minehead, where he lost heavily to eventual finalist James Wade. Jonny Clayton rounds out the top five with £649,000 in total earnings.

James Wade was the big mover inside the top 10. There were several small shifts from places 6 to 10, and “The Machine” climbed two spots to sixth thanks to his run to the final. By making the decider the Englishman banked £60,000, taking his tally to £637,250.

As a result, Stephen Bunting drops one place to seventh on £615,250. Josh Rock and Gerwyn Price both reached the semi-finals at the UK Open and each move up one spot to eighth and ninth. The biggest loser within the top 10 is Gary Anderson. “The Flying Scotsman” lost in the last 16 to Luke Littler and, due to strong results around him, has slipped three places to 10th with £600,250 in prize money.

Danny Noppert follows close behind in 11th. The Dutchman wasn’t fully fit at the UK Open but still fired a nine-darter, knocked out world number two Luke Humphries, and made the quarter-finals. There he ultimately had to bow to Luke Littler. Despite those strong displays, he remains 11th on £589,000.

Dimitri van den Bergh reached the final two years ago and therefore had a sizable chunk of prize money to defend in Minehead this weekend, over one third in total. The Belgian has been out of form for months, so a deep run was never likely. Although he had the advantage of entering in the fourth round, he lost there immediately, 10-4, to Danny Noppert. That saw him tumble 11 places from 26th to 37th, dropping out of the top 32. Van den Bergh now sits on £228,000 and, in his current form, will have to look down the rankings rather than up.

Ricky Evans also fell several places due to the UK Open. “Rapid Ricky” was 41st before the tournament but slid five places to 46th on £162,000. This is mainly because the Englishman reached the semi-finals at the major two years ago. This weekend he went out in the fourth round, losing a significant portion of his prize money.