“There I was the very best, but here at the PDC...” - Jimmy van Schie admits struggles adapting to life after Lakeside title

Jimmy van Schie has achieved his first major goal since winning his PDC Tour Card. The 32-year-old Dutchman qualified for a Euro Tour event for the first time in his career and will make his debut at the European Tour event in Kiel at the end of May.

For Van Schie, the qualification was not only a sporting success but also a mental boost after a difficult start to his first season among the pros. After the qualifier, Van Schie did not head straight home. Together with Christian Kist and Jeffrey Sparidaans, he missed the return journey due to bad weather and delays on the way to the airport.

“The weather was crap, the taxi drove a lot slower than usual. Because of that we missed our check-in and had to stay an extra day,” Van Schie told Sportnieuws.

“But I didn’t mind that too much,” Van Schie continued. “Just relaxing at the hotel we booked additionally and taking it easy.” Where Kist fell twice 6-5 in the final round, Van Schie and Sparidaans each qualified for a Euro Tour event.

For Van Schie, the breakthrough came at an important moment. Since he won his Tour Card in January, expectations had been high. The tall darter from Breda started well by reaching the main phase of the World Masters, but eye-catching results then dried up. “I needed this boost. The qualification comes later in the season than I expected myself.”

Those words say a lot about the pressure Van Schie felt in his first months on the PDC circuit. After his successful spell with the WDF, where he became world champion in 2025 among other achievements, he had to adjust to a completely different level.

Last week the tide seemed to be turning at a Players Championship in Wigan. There, Van Schie recorded an impressive win over Andrew Gilding, a former UK Open champion.

“That really left me with a good feeling. I had trained a lot recently and my darts were landing well. That win over Gilding gave me a huge boost. I thought: ‘You see, you can do it, it’s in there.’”

In the first round, Van Schie immediately escaped elimination against Mensur Suljovic. Both players had plenty of chances, but the match turned into a real double drama. “But my eighth one went in.”

Suljovic missed six match darts, Van Schie seven himself. In the end, the Dutchman still came out on top and kept his tournament alive. He then beat Adam Gawlas and subsequently Richard Veenstra in the decisive match for qualification.

“Against Richard I was really firing. I needed a good game. In the last legs I started thinking more, because qualification was getting closer. But when I won it, there was a lot of relief. I can finally go to the Euro Tour.”

Van Schie does not want to call it a dip, but admits results have been disappointing in recent months. According to him, that comes with the step up to the absolute top of darts. “There I was the very best, but here at the PDC you get to take part. There are simply 127 other top darters and I had to deal with that.”

The Dutchman is referring to his time with the WDF, where he belonged to the strongest players. Within the PDC it’s different: every round you face a top player and mistakes are punished immediately. “I got a lot of messages from people who expected a lot from me, that’s why I needed this now.”