Scott Waites, Ted Evetts & Jenson Walker lead list of Challenge Tour and Dev Tour qualifiers for the Winmau World Masters and UK Open
PDCSunday, 18 January 2026 at 14:00
From January 28 through February 1, the Winmau World Masters takes place at Arena MK in Milton Keynes. Since last year, this has been a ranking event, which therefore counts toward the PDC Order of Merit. The tournament was won in 2025 by Luke Humphries, who edged Jonny Clayton 6-5 in the final.
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Humphries again enters the Winmau World Masters as one of the top favourites this year. However, that is no longer as world number one, as that spot now belongs to two-time reigning world champion Luke Littler.
The top 24 of the PDC Order of Merit are seeded directly into the main draw. In addition, eight places are available through the qualifying event. Various players from affiliated tours take part in this, including the top eight from both the Challenge Tour and Development Tour.
For that ranking, last year’s end standings are used. The players who were then inside the top eight, and have not since secured a PDC Tour Card, receive automatic entry into the qualifier.
Via the Challenge Tour, Ted Evetts, Michael Unterbuchner, Jack Tweddell, Sam Spivey, Scott Waites, Scott Campbell, Danny van Trijp, and Graham Hall may compete on the opening day of the Winmau World Masters to try to claim a spot in the main draw.
Former Grand Slam champion Scott Waites is among those qualifiers through the Challenge Tour
An additional eight players qualify for the UK Open
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Via the Development Tour, the list of qualifiers is led by Dutchman Jamai van den Herik, who made his Ally Pally debut at the recent 2026 PDC World Darts Championship. He will be joined from the Development Tour by Ryan Branley, James Beeton, Jenson Walker, Jannis Barkhausen, Patrik Williams, Nathan Potter, and Henry Coates.
These players are not only assured of participating in the Winmau World Masters; a month later they will also line up at the UK Open, where they start in the first round.
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Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
- It's great to see Mark Webster looking well,he's a top ladrick6715-08-2026
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