2022 in PDC

The year 2022 was the 31st year in the history of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), a darts organisation based in the United Kingdom.

Changes

Winmau partnership

2022 was the debut year of Winmau supplying the Professional Darts Corporation dartboards after Unicorn's 25-year partnership ended. They debuted at the 2022 Premier League Darts.

UK Open amateur qualifiers return

After the COVID-19 pandemic ended, the amateur qualifiers returned for the 2022 UK Open, although the format would decrease to 158 players, instead of the 160 players they had prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Premier events

Ranked events

These events contribute to a player's ranking on the PDC Order of Merit. The prize money won in these tournaments is added to the player's total earnings over a two-year period, which determines their ranking.

Non-ranked

These events do not affect the PDC Order of Merit.

World Series of Darts

The 2022 World Series of Darts was a series of televised darts tournaments organised by the PDC, consisting of seven events held across three continents.

Three new venues made their World Series debuts, with New York City replacing Las Vegas for the US Darts Masters, and two Australian events being moved to Wollongong and Townsville. A fourth new venue was added on 11 April, with the Dutch Darts Masters making its debut at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Pro Tour

The 2022 PDC Pro Tour was a series of darts tournaments organised by the PDC, made up of 30 Players Championship events and 13 European Tour events.

Tour cards

The 2022 PDC Tour Cards were awarded to:

• (64) The top 64 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2022 World Championship.
  • Kirk Shepherd and Robert Marijanović resigned their tour cards despite having a year left on them, meaning an extra two cards were up for grabs at Q-School^[1]
• (2) Two highest qualifiers from the 2020 Challenge Tour (Ritchie Edhouse and David Evans).
• (1) Highest qualifier from the 2021 UK Challenge Tour (Jim Williams)
• (1) Highest qualifier from the 2021 EU Challenge Tour (Matt Campbell)
• (1) Highest qualifier from the 2021 UK Development Tour (Bradley Brooks)
• (1) Highest qualifier from the 2021 EU Development Tour (Rusty-Jake Rodriguez)
• (1) Highest qualifier from the 2020 Development Tour (Berry van Peer)
• (24) 24 qualifiers from 2021 Q-School not ranked in the top 64 in the PDC Order of Merit following the World Championship.

Afterwards, the playing field was complemented by the highest qualified players from the Q-School Order of Merit until the maximum number of 128 Pro Tour Card players was reached.

Q-School

The players below won their PDC Tour Cards through Q-School.

UK Automatic Tour Card winners

• James Wilson
• Darren Webster
• Ross Montgomery
• Josh Rock

EU Automatic Tour Card winners

• José Justicia
• Brian Raman
• Luc Peters
• Krzysztof Kciuk

UK PDC Q-School Order of Merit

• Jamie Clark
• Ted Evetts
• Connor Scutt
• Richie Burnett
• Kevin Burness
• Scott Waites
• Nathan Rafferty
• Cameron Menzies
• John O'Shea
• George Killington
• Nick Fullwell
• Shaun Wilkinson

EU Q-School Order of Merit

• Mario Vandenbogaerde
• Jules van Dongen
• Kevin Doets
• Tony Martinez
• Danny Jansen
• Radek Szagański
• Damian Mol
• Jimmy Hendriks
• Ricardo Pietreczko
• Vladimir Andersen
• Rowby-John Rodriguez

Secondary Tours

The 2022 PDC Secondary Tours were series of darts tournaments organised by the PDC predominantly participated in by players without a Tour Card. There were three secondary tours – the Challenge Tour (for players who unsuccessfully participated in the 2022 Q-School), Development Tour (for players aged 16–24) and Women's Series (for female players). All three offered qualification to the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts and 2023 World Championship, while the Challenge and Development Tours offered 2023–24 PDC Tour Cards.

Women's World Matchplay

World Youth Championship

PDC Nordic & Baltic Tour

On 26 November 2021, the PDCNB unveiled their 2022 calendar, which is set to include 5 weekends, incorporating 2 weekends in Denmark, and one weekend each in Sweden, Finland and Latvia, although the Sweden weekend will be purely held for European Tour qualifiers. The top two players on the Order of merit qualify for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship.

Dartplayers Australia Pro Tour

The Dartplayers Australia Tour was modified once again to reduce the amount of travel required within the context of the global pandemic. The original format was that every event would consist of five state round robin rounds. After which an online 32 player knockout round would be played.^[2] After the first event there were technical difficulties with the online knockout round. It was then decided that every state event would be played out with separate knockout stages. With the top 16 from every state after all 15 events qualifying for the Australasian Championships.^[3]

Online Knockout Event

New South Wales

Queensland

Western Australia

South Australia

Notably in the South Australian events, Kym Mitchell became the first female winner of a DPA event in the 20-year history of the organisation.^[4]

Victoria

DPA ProTour Playoff

On 17 July, the DPA hosted the ProTour Playoff.The tournament was won by Raymond Smith, who qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship.^[5][6]

DPA Oceanic Masters

On 23 October, the DPA hosted the Oceanic Masters.The tournament was won by Mal Cuming, who qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship.^[7][8]

Dartplayers New Zealand Pro Tour

The Dartplayers New Zealand Tour consisted of 8 events in 2022. They were held over 4 weekends.

EuroAsian Dart Corporation (EADC) Pro Tour

The EuroAsian Darts Corporation was due to host 6 events over 2 weekends,^[9] however the second weekend was cancelled due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the EADC was suspended from hosting any darting events until further notice.

References

1. ^ Allen, Dave (6 January 2022). "2022 PDC Qualifying School final entries, exemptions & info confirmed". PDC. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
2. ^ Allen, Dave (18 January 2022). "2022 DPA ProTour season confirmed for February start". Professional Darts Corporation. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
3. ^ "2022 DPA statement 11 February 2022". Darts Players Australia. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
4. ^ "Kym Mitchell wins SA Pro Tour". Dartplayers Australia. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
5. ^ "DPA ProTour Playoff". DartConnect. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
6. ^ "Super Smith books Ally Pally return with DPA Play-Off success". PDC. 18 July 2022. Archived from the original on July 18, 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
7. ^ "DPA Oceanic Masters". DartConnect. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
8. ^ "Cuming seals Cazoo World Championship spot with Oceanic Masters win". PDC. 23 October 2022. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
9. ^ "EADC Pro Tour Calendar". EADCdarts. Retrieved 16 January 2022.