European tour qualifiying

[dartistik]

Yeah, 4 home nation qualifiers does seem very odd now. I'm sure there are 2 Danish, Dutch, Austrian, German and even Czech players without tour cards who should be competitive, but with 4, we could be seeing a lot more events like Gibraltar, or Austria last year

There's only going to be 2 Danish players at the Danish Darts Open anyway, as the other two host nation spots go to non-Danish PDCNB players.

[mik252]

Eastern Europe’s qualifiers for the first 4 events of the season took place this weekend. Here are the qualifiers:
ET1- Pavel Jirkal
ET2- Boris Koltsov
ET3- Karel Sedlacek
ET4- Pavel Jirkal

The rules have changed for this season so Ratajski and Kanik can’t take part in these qualifiers as TC holders.

[Dannyboy]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

[1205]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

The host nation qualifiers are special access for players to PDC tournaments to help develop the game in the host nation.
If a player is on tour they already have _lots_ of opportunities.

[Mensur Suljovic Fan]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

Yep, all European TC holders regardless of where they're from are in one group (including the Germans, Ratajski, and the Nordic/Baltic lads)
The Germans definitely got an easier ride in the past, even when Hopp was nowhere near ready to justify the hype, he was getting through ET qualifying easily. I think this is a leap of faith, telling the best German lads that the PDC believes they're good enough to come through European qualifying regularly. Would suck to be someone like Marijanovic or Bunse though, and the other European tour card holders are being screwed over too

[Mensur Suljovic Fan]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

The host nation qualifiers are special access for players to PDC tournaments to help develop the game in the host nation.
If a player is on tour they already have _lots_ of opportunities.

4 places is a bit much though, plenty of good associates in Germany, but obviously consistency is a big issue for them. As Pieter pointed out, there will be at least 8 spots in European Tour events reserved for non-TC holders, which does seem a bit much (by the sounds of a convo he had on Twitter with Hearn, it looks like they might be thinking of altering it for next year)

[Mensur Suljovic Fan]

Eastern Europe’s qualifiers for the first 4 events of the season took place this weekend. Here are the qualifiers:
ET1- Pavel Jirkal
ET2- Boris Koltsov
ET3- Karel Sedlacek
ET4- Pavel Jirkal

The rules have changed for this season so Ratajski and Kanik can’t take part in these qualifiers as TC holders.

Good to see those players not dwelling on narrowly missing out on a tour card, hope to see Steyer at some point as well. Good as well to see two Czech lads looking good, bodes well for ET9 in Prague

[Mensur Suljovic Fan]

Eastern Europe’s qualifiers for the first 4 events of the season took place this weekend. Here are the qualifiers:
ET1- Pavel Jirkal
ET2- Boris Koltsov
ET3- Karel Sedlacek
ET4- Pavel Jirkal

The rules have changed for this season so Ratajski and Kanik can’t take part in these qualifiers as TC holders.

Good to see those players not dwelling on narrowly missing out on a tour card, hope to see Steyer at some point as well. Good as well to see two Czech lads looking good, bodes well for ET9 in Prague

[mik252]

Eastern Europe’s qualifiers for the first 4 events of the season took place this weekend. Here are the qualifiers:
ET1- Pavel Jirkal
ET2- Boris Koltsov
ET3- Karel Sedlacek
ET4- Pavel Jirkal

The rules have changed for this season so Ratajski and Kanik can’t take part in these qualifiers as TC holders.

Good to see those players not dwelling on narrowly missing out on a tour card, hope to see Steyer at some point as well. Good as well to see two Czech lads looking good, bodes well for ET9 in Prague

Eastern European darts does look in good health at the moment with a couple of tour card holders and as you say, Steyer, Sedlacek and Jirkal all coming very close to picking up cards at q school as well.

Would be nice to see another EE country getting an ET event in the future (presumably Poland would be the best candidate?), although I suppose they’re probably waiting to see how the Prague event goes first. Don’t run before you can walk and all that.

[mik252]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

Yep, all European TC holders regardless of where they're from are in one group (including the Germans, Ratajski, and the Nordic/Baltic lads)
The Germans definitely got an easier ride in the past, even when Hopp was nowhere near ready to justify the hype, he was getting through ET qualifying easily. I think this is a leap of faith, telling the best German lads that the PDC believes they're good enough to come through European qualifying regularly. Would suck to be someone like Marijanovic or Bunse though, and the other European tour card holders are being screwed over too

I think the real quality players amongst the European TC holders such as Ratajski and Van den Bergh should really be backing themselves to come through these qualifiers anyway. The big beneficiaries of the new system are probably the better non-TC holding German players like Horvat and Langendorf who now have five less quality players to contend with in the HNQs.

[Mensur Suljovic Fan]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

Yep, all European TC holders regardless of where they're from are in one group (including the Germans, Ratajski, and the Nordic/Baltic lads)
The Germans definitely got an easier ride in the past, even when Hopp was nowhere near ready to justify the hype, he was getting through ET qualifying easily. I think this is a leap of faith, telling the best German lads that the PDC believes they're good enough to come through European qualifying regularly. Would suck to be someone like Marijanovic or Bunse though, and the other European tour card holders are being screwed over too

I think the real quality players amongst the European TC holders such as Ratajski and Van den Bergh should really be backing themselves to come through these qualifiers anyway. The big beneficiaries of the new system are probably the better non-TC holding German players like Horvat and Langendorf who now have five less quality players to contend with in the HNQs.

Ratajski didn't exactly sweep all before him in Eastern Europe last year, so I'm sure he's happy that he's no longer only got one spot to play for. He's in the picture to be seeded as well later on in the year (after that big chunk of UK Open qualifier money comes off his ProTour total, he's defending very little until October).

Van den Bergh really is an enigma, I wonder if this is the year it will finally come together on the floor for him. If he can qualify for staged events, he should do well, but we've been saying that for a while now

[mik252]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

Yep, all European TC holders regardless of where they're from are in one group (including the Germans, Ratajski, and the Nordic/Baltic lads)
The Germans definitely got an easier ride in the past, even when Hopp was nowhere near ready to justify the hype, he was getting through ET qualifying easily. I think this is a leap of faith, telling the best German lads that the PDC believes they're good enough to come through European qualifying regularly. Would suck to be someone like Marijanovic or Bunse though, and the other European tour card holders are being screwed over too

I think the real quality players amongst the European TC holders such as Ratajski and Van den Bergh should really be backing themselves to come through these qualifiers anyway. The big beneficiaries of the new system are probably the better non-TC holding German players like Horvat and Langendorf who now have five less quality players to contend with in the HNQs.

Ratajski didn't exactly sweep all before him in Eastern Europe last year, so I'm sure he's happy that he's no longer only got one spot to play for. He's in the picture to be seeded as well later on in the year (after that big chunk of UK Open qualifier money comes off his ProTour total, he's defending very little until October).

Van den Bergh really is an enigma, I wonder if this is the year it will finally come together on the floor for him. If he can qualify for staged events, he should do well, but we've been saying that for a while now

As it’s a two year rolling Order of Merit, aren’t players like Ratajski and de Zwaan defending nothing this year as they’re totals with have rest to £0 at the start of the 2018 season?

[Mensur Suljovic Fan]

I still don’t understand why these are excluded and inferior players get an easier ride? Is it the PDC thinking that some tour card holders are getting a bump in their pay because of where they come from? And in effect the tour card holders are being treated as one group?

Yep, all European TC holders regardless of where they're from are in one group (including the Germans, Ratajski, and the Nordic/Baltic lads)
The Germans definitely got an easier ride in the past, even when Hopp was nowhere near ready to justify the hype, he was getting through ET qualifying easily. I think this is a leap of faith, telling the best German lads that the PDC believes they're good enough to come through European qualifying regularly. Would suck to be someone like Marijanovic or Bunse though, and the other European tour card holders are being screwed over too

I think the real quality players amongst the European TC holders such as Ratajski and Van den Bergh should really be backing themselves to come through these qualifiers anyway. The big beneficiaries of the new system are probably the better non-TC holding German players like Horvat and Langendorf who now have five less quality players to contend with in the HNQs.

Ratajski didn't exactly sweep all before him in Eastern Europe last year, so I'm sure he's happy that he's no longer only got one spot to play for. He's in the picture to be seeded as well later on in the year (after that big chunk of UK Open qualifier money comes off his ProTour total, he's defending very little until October).

Van den Bergh really is an enigma, I wonder if this is the year it will finally come together on the floor for him. If he can qualify for staged events, he should do well, but we've been saying that for a while now

As it’s a two year rolling Order of Merit, aren’t players like Ratajski and de Zwaan defending nothing this year as they’re totals with have rest to £0 at the start of the 2018 season?

That's the main Order of Merit, but it's the 1-year ProTour OoM that I'm talking about that determines seedings for ET events. Ratajski didn't earn a single penny in any Players Championship events until the very last weekend (he only played the last 2 weekends in fairness), and didn't pull up any trees on the European Tour last year neither, so he's got a pretty clean slate to get up the ProTour rankings

[Reinier]

The two spots for Western Europe Associate members is the most ludacriss.

[mik252]

Yep, all European TC holders regardless of where they're from are in one group (including the Germans, Ratajski, and the Nordic/Baltic lads)
The Germans definitely got an easier ride in the past, even when Hopp was nowhere near ready to justify the hype, he was getting through ET qualifying easily. I think this is a leap of faith, telling the best German lads that the PDC believes they're good enough to come through European qualifying regularly. Would suck to be someone like Marijanovic or Bunse though, and the other European tour card holders are being screwed over too

I think the real quality players amongst the European TC holders such as Ratajski and Van den Bergh should really be backing themselves to come through these qualifiers anyway. The big beneficiaries of the new system are probably the better non-TC holding German players like Horvat and Langendorf who now have five less quality players to contend with in the HNQs.

Ratajski didn't exactly sweep all before him in Eastern Europe last year, so I'm sure he's happy that he's no longer only got one spot to play for. He's in the picture to be seeded as well later on in the year (after that big chunk of UK Open qualifier money comes off his ProTour total, he's defending very little until October).

Van den Bergh really is an enigma, I wonder if this is the year it will finally come together on the floor for him. If he can qualify for staged events, he should do well, but we've been saying that for a while now

As it’s a two year rolling Order of Merit, aren’t players like Ratajski and de Zwaan defending nothing this year as they’re totals with have rest to £0 at the start of the 2018 season?

That's the main Order of Merit, but it's the 1-year ProTour OoM that I'm talking about that determines seedings for ET events. Ratajski didn't earn a single penny in any Players Championship events until the very last weekend (he only played the last 2 weekends in fairness), and didn't pull up any trees on the European Tour last year neither, so he's got a pretty clean slate to get up the ProTour rankings

Ah I see yeah a great chance for him to make headway in the first half of the season then.

[Zeyes]

The two spots for Western Europe Associate members is the most ludacriss.

Too many or not enough?

[Reinier]

Too many.

Not good enough to get a card but rewarded with places at the Euro Tour. Doesn't make sense.

[Mensur Suljovic Fan]

Too many.

Not good enough to get a card but rewarded with places at the Euro Tour. Doesn't make sense.

I liked what they had before, any European who failed to get a card could enter, at least that way they had a chance to qualify, but I agree, a guaranteed two spots for associates is a bit much

[oche balboa]

Challenge Tour players from the UK are excluded

Yl

[Zeyes]

Too many.

Not good enough to get a card but rewarded with places at the Euro Tour. Doesn't make sense.

Associate players took 25 qualifying spots in last year's 13 South/West qualifiers while competing against tour card players. No idea why you think they don't collectively deserve 2 places per event.