Three-Time Darts World Champion Denied Tour Card After Brutal Defeat
A three-time darts world champion is among those to be denied a Tour Card after falling short at the Q-School event in Milton Keynes.
The 2026 qualifying school featured a record 925 participants in the UK and Europe looking to earn a Tour Card and receive access to a number of the biggest PDC tournaments in the sport.
For the first stage, anyone is eligible as long as they pay a fee of £475 and are over the age of 16. I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here winner and Baller League manager Angry Ginge has expressed his interest in participating next year.
Typically around 128 players earn a Tour Card, with Q-School the main pathway into receiving one.
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Each Tour Card lasts for two years and this time around, a number of household names were hoping to get the all-important ticket to the big time as well as up and coming players.
The participants included John Part, who won world championships in 1994, 2003 and 2008.
The first non-British player to be world champion under the BDO umbrella, the Canadian Part lost his tour card in 2017, regained in 2018 and had it taken off him in 2019.
He has not returned to the sport on a prominent level for six years and has been working regularly as a pundit for Sky Sports on coverage of the World Darts Championship and Premier League.
All was going well for Part, who scored victories over Alexander Elia, James Waite, and Darren McMahon.
Though he lost 5-3 to Ultan McDyer in the last 32, the 59-year-old's three legs were enough to take him to the final stage with the 47th and final Order of Merit spot.
But Part could not do the business at the final hurdle and a 6-0 whitewash loss to Tyler Thorpe confirmed he would not be securing a Tour Card.
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He did not secure a single victory in the final phase and will therefore be lacking the required licence to compete on the big stage once again.
Fallon Sharrocks suffered four first round defeats in four days and missed out on a Tour Card, meaning the sensational Beau Greaves will be the only female player on the Pro Tour.
John Henderson was also denied the card after a deciding leg loss to Arron Monk, while 20-year-old Charlie Manby, who made it to last 16 of the World Championship, is still in with a shout.
He beat Matthew Dennant in a last-leg decider to keep his chances alive.
Topics: World Darts Championship, Darts
Josh Lawless