Wright, Lewis and Gurney at risk as World Matchplay puts ranking money on the line

The World Matchplay is one of the PDC's biggest cash cows. The prize money is a massive boost for some, but can be a double-edged sword down the line.

It's certainly proving to be that way for some players participating at the Winter Gardens this year. Top PDC number-cruncher Christopher Kempf, a.k.a Ochepedia, has looked at the ranking money impact the World Matchplay could have.

Players who took part in the 2017 World Matchplay will see any money earned from the event drop off their Order of Merit total. 20 of them are back in 2019, and so have the chance to match or even better the figure accumulated two years ago.

Under pressure

The lion's share of the pressure is on Peter Wright, Daryl Gurney and Adrian Lewis. Snakebite, the 2017 runner-up, has already fallen down the rankings thanks to losing the £70,000 garnered from winning the UK Open in the same year. If he falls in the first round, Wright will lose £45,000 of ranking money - 9.45 per cent of his total earnings.

Lewis would lose slightly less - £20,000, or 7.84 per cent. But as the world number 16, a failure to match 2017's run to the quarter-finals could have a massive impact on Jackpot's standing for future tournaments. Should Lewis lose his first round match, and Joe Cullen win his, the two-time world champion would definitely drop out of the PDC Order of Merit's top 16. He will also have to deal with a possible second round fixture against Michael van Gerwen if he successfully negotiates the first round.

Winners and losers

12 players won't be attending the World Matchplay and are guaranteed a loss in ranking earnings. It affects Alan Norris worst - he will see a whopping 14.34 per cent of his ranking money drop off at the end of the tournament. Christian Kist and Justin Pipe will also lose more than a tenth of their earnings. James Wilson, put out of World Matchplay contention at the last moment thanks to Jamie Hughes' heroics in Prague, is now £7,000 worse off.

It's not all bad news. That's certainly true for Hughes, whose earnings will go up 19.51 per cent even if he loses in the first round. Glen Durrant, another new Tour Card holder, sees a similar guaranteed increase.

Ricky Evans, Danny Noppert, Krzysztof Ratajski, Vincent van der Voort, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Chris Dobey, Keegan Brown, Max Hopp, Jermaine Wattimena, Jonny Clayton and Nathan Aspinall will all see their earnings tally increase, no matter what happens in Blackpool.

Thanks to some indifferent recent performances at the World Matchplay, world champion Michael van Gerwen will actually improve on his mammoth current earnings of £1,597,250 if he makes the quarter-finals at the Winter Gardens.

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