PDC Order of Merit Update: Luke Littler closing in on World Number One as James Wade and Gerwyn Price big Blackpool winners

Luke Littler took a big bite out of his lead over Luke Humphries on the PDC Order of Merit after winning the World Matchplay Sunday night for the first time in his career.

Humphries has led the PDC Order of Merit since winning his world title in January 2024, but a changing of the guard is imminent in the coming months. The difference between Littler and Humphries is now nearly thirty thousand. However, Littler has nothing to defend until the World Darts Championship, while Humphries has a lot of prize money to defend. After all, "Cool Hand Luke" won in the bulk of the major tournaments in the autumn of 2023.

Currently Littler on provisional Order of Merits will become World No.1 after the World Darts Championship anyway. He has already spoken about his desire to become World No.1 but admitted that he needs Humphries in reality to trip up. But he will potentially sit on £1,523,500 post World Championship in front of Humphries £1,349,500 so while it will be close, those who have wanted Littler as top dog will get their wish potentially.

Humphries of course wasn't helped by his early exit at the World Matchplay which he was defending. He also defends the Grand Slam, World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals while Littler on the other hand defends zilch still. He only joined the PDC ranks two years ago properly so apart from his World final on debut, he defends very little. This means that for someone like Humphries, it is almost inevitable that he will get top spot taken.

Michael van Gerwen is well behind in third place, with half the prize money of number two Littler. Van Gerwen does still have a big lead over first pursuers Stephen Bunting and James Wade.

Wade was one of the big winners in the world rankings after the World Matchplay. 'The Machine' reached the final in Blackpool for the first time since 2015 and is now ranked number five in the world, up three spots. Gerwyn Price also moved up three spots, after 'The Iceman' saw a good tournament run aground in the quarter-finals.

Albeit Price has to defend a lot too and is currently slated to move down to World No.15 after the World Darts Championship. Wade too despite likely closing in on Bunting for the time being is slated to be World No.6. This is on money which will come off and minimum amounts for reaching majors and will seee Bunting remain as World No.4 ahead of Jonny Clayton and Wade.

Chris Dobey lost one spot and is now number seven, while Jonny Clayton dropped back from fifth place to eighth but like alluded to The Ferret is in a good position in the coming months after a poor end to 2023 after a family bereavement. Rob Cross moved up two spots despite his defeat in the first round. He is now ninth, while Damon Heta closes out the top-10.

Josh Rock has made quite a jump thanks to his semi-final in Blackpool. He now holds the 11th position and is just 4500 pounds away from a debut in the top 10. Behind them, Gary Anderson (12th), Dave Chisnall (13th) and Ross Smith (14th) remain in the same position. For Rock it seems like a matter of time and with Cross slated to drop to World No.12, the Northern Irishman is provisionally in World No.8.

Danny Noppert has taken over the fifteenth spot from Peter Wright. while there Gian van Veen has moved up four spots and can now call himself the world number eighteen. Martin Schindler is one spot above him, while Mike de Decker is the best Belgian at the moment at spot nineteen.

Wright is also in ranking peril in a similar way to Michael Smith. While currently qualified for certain majors, 'Snakebite' is likely to end the year towards the top 30 in World No.26 so the early loss to Jermaine Wattimena is damning. He also is on the cusp in certain ranking majors from not qualifying e.g the World Grand Prix. With the likely ranking drop, he will also lose benefits next season including European Tour qualification so an interesting few months awaits for the two-time World Champion.

As also previously alluded to, it is bad news for Michael Smith also who follows Peter Wright in a sort of old guard leaving the top of the sport and a new guard such as Rock and even Van Veen joining the upper ranks for the first time. He like Wright will skip ProTours this week and like Smith unless it is a break being mooted isn't really in the position to be picking and choosing.

Smith will also miss further European Tours and heading towards the PDC World Darts Championship, he is likely to miss the World Grand Prix at least and could head into Ally Pally on the cusp of the top 32 seedings. A far cry from World Champion two years ago.

Ryan Joyce (+2) and Andrew Gilding (+3) have also progressed, as have Ricardo Pietreczko (+1), Cameron Menzies (+1), Raymond van Barneveld (+1) and Wessel Nijman (+2) following their performances at the World Matchplay.

The biggest loser was Nathan Aspinall, who dropped a whopping 16 spots on the PDC Order of Merit. 'The Asp' had won the 2023 World Matchplay, which meant he had to defend a whopping £200,000 in prize money. However, Aspinall flew out in the first round, keeping only £10,000 in prize money from his participation. He thus lost 190,000 pounds on his ranking, dropping from seventh place to 23rd position.

In addition to Aspinall, Joe Cullen also had to give up some positions. 'The Rockstar' made it to the semifinals two years ago, and now lost in the opening round. He fell from 24th place to 29th place and in time he must fear for his position among the 32 best darters in the world.