Preview PDC Development Tour 11-15: Will Littler and Van Veen make the difference again?

The third tournament weekend of the PDC Development Tour in 2023 will be played this weekend. They are tournaments 11 through 15 in a series of 24 events in total.

The first ten tournaments were mainly dominated by Luke Littler and Gian van Veen. Both players have already reached three finals. Littler won two and had to settle for second place once. Van Veen won all three of his finals and thus almost closed the huge gap with Littler, despite the fact that the Dutchman had to skip two tournaments due to other obligations. Littler earned £8,900 on the Development Tour this season, followed by Van Veen with £8,450. Wessel Nijman follows suit behind with £5275, he can also dream of playing for the main prizes later this season.

What is the PDC Development Tour?

The PDC Development Tour is the training institute of the PDC. Talented players have the opportunity to further develop their gift on this circuit.

Players may enter as soon as they reach the age of sixteen. They may then participate up to and including the season in which they turn 24.

Today, the Development Tour circuit consists of 24 tournaments. These will be completed over five weekends. One of those five weekends will be played in Hildesheim, Germany, the other four weekends in the United Kingdom.

What are the follow-up options through the PDC Development Tour?

A PDC Youth World Championship is organized every year. This will take place on August 20 this season. The best players of the Development Tour are allowed to participate. They play a tournament until two players remain. The final is traditionally on the final night of the Players Championship Finals on November 26.

The reward for the junior world champion is a check for £10,000, participation in the World Darts Championship and qualification for the Grand Slam of Darts the following season. The latter also applies to the runner-up of the PDC World Youth Championship.

But there are even more rewards to be earned through the Development Tour. The numbers one and two in the final ranking are allowed to participate in the World Darts Championship and receive a PDC Tour Card for the following two years. The number one on the Development Tour Order of Merit may also participate in the Grand Slam of Darts in the current season.

If one or more players from the top 2 of the PDC Development Tour Order of Merit have already qualified for a specific TV tournament, they will move on to the next player in the ranking. The same applies to the distribution of the Tour Cards.

Prize money distribution during PDC Development Tour

Each tournament is worth £15,000 in prize money, so the prize pool for the entire circuit of 24 tournaments in total is £360,000.

From reaching the last 64, players can earn prize money, starting with £75. That amount then increases per round. The winner collects a nice amount of 2500 pounds.