Players Championship Order of Merit update: Littler, Humphries, Van Gerwen & Aspinall in danger of missing Minehead

With 23 of 34 floor events completed, only the top 64 on the Players Championship Order of Merit will secure a place in Minehead later this year — but four of the sport’s biggest stars are either hovering just above that line or sitting below it altogether.

Reigning World Matchplay and World Champion Luke Littler, and current World Number 1 Luke Humphries, have both skipped several Players Championship events this year — and it shows in the rankings. Littler is currently 61st on the Order of Merit, while Humphries is 57th, with neither man guaranteed a place at the Finals unless they return strongly after the summer break.

Things look even more precarious for Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen, who are both currently outside the qualifying spots. Aspinall — the 2023 World Matchplay champion — sits 73rd, while Van Gerwen, who has barely featured on the floor this season, is down in 121st. With just 11 events remaining, both men face an uphill battle to avoid missing out on one of the calendar’s key TV tournaments.

Gerwyn Price was absent from this week’s double-header in Hildesheim, yet 'The Iceman' still retained his lead in the rankings. With 23 of the 34 Players Championship events completed, Price sits on £72,000 in prize money, having already claimed three floor titles earlier this season.

Second-placed Damon Heta also opted to skip Hildesheim, leaving him on £70,000 — now level with Dutchman Gian van Veen, who reached the quarter-finals on Tuesday and made it to the last 16 on Wednesday. Ross Smith sits just ahead of Wattimena in fourth, with £61,500, while Wattimena rounds out the top five on £59,500.

Several other top-ranked players were also absent from Germany, including Chris Dobey, Josh Rock, James Wade and Stephen Bunting — currently sixth, eighth, ninth and tenth in the rankings respectively. Cameron Menzies did make the trip and managed to climb into seventh place in the Order of Merit.

Elsewhere, Jermaine Wattimena has surged into the top 10 of the Players Championship Order of Merit after claiming victory on Wednesday at PC23. It was a long-awaited breakthrough for 'The Machine Gun', who had lost all four of his previous Players Championship finals. That run, coupled with his defeat in the European Championship final against Ritchie Edhouse, meant Wattimena had come up short in five major finals and was still chasing his first PDC ranking title. The win earned Wattimena £15,000, lifting him to fifth place in the Players Championship Order of Merit.