Gary Anderson has key decision to make within weeks to maintain PDC record he's held for seven years

Gary Anderson is facing a last-ditch battle to qualify for the 2026 Grand Slam of Darts - and must reverse a recent stance over playing in PDC events in order to get there.

'The Flying Scotsman' sits in 10th place in the PDC Order of Merit, helped especially by a run to the semi-finals of the 2026 World Darts Championship which netted him £200,000 in prize money.

Over recent years, 55-year-old Anderson has operated on a reduced schedule, choosing to skip selected Players Championship and European Tour events. But he may have to be slightly more careful in his selections between now and the Grand Slam cut-off point.

READ NEXT: Jonny Clayton's new plan to stop PDC crowd disruption amid Luke Littler, Ross Smith incidents

Why Gary Anderson needs points to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts

The Grand Slam is unique in that it is an invitational event solely open to major event winners and finalists during the previous calendar year.

It means the likes of Anderson, Danny Noppert and Stephen Bunting - who are all well-established in the top 16 of the rankings - have not yet qualified, because they have not won a ranking event or reached a major final in 2026.

For all three players, the goal is simple: win any of the remaining four Players Championship events, the final European Tour event, the European Championship or the Players Championship Finals and they will earn a spot at the Grand Slam.

When it comes to the European Championship - the season-ending tournament on the European Tour - Noppert is safely qualified, while Bunting occupies the 32nd and final spot ahead of the European Tour 15 event.

Both players are also safely through to the Players Championship Finals with four events still to play.

The outlier is Anderson. The Scot is well below the provisional European Championship qualification ranking in 45th, and would have to enter ET15 and win it to elevate himself into position. But Anderson has not qualified for ET15, either via the seeding route or via the tour card holder qualifier. He withdrew from last week's Swiss Darts Trophy.

That effectively leaves the four Players Championship events. Anderson is in position to qualify for the Finals but is far from secure; he is only £1,000 in prize money ahead of the current cut-off point.

His OoM position means he will qualify for the Grand Slam if he wins a PC event, but the Scot has withdrawn from each of the last four tournaments and will need to reverse that trend if he plans to compete at Minehead in the Players Championship Finals or in the Grand Slam itself.

Anderson has played in all bar one of the yearly Grand Slam events held since its re-inception in 2007 - a statistic shared by James Wade and Michael van Gerwen, who have sealed their spots in Wolverhampton. Anderson, Wade and Van Barneveld were the three players to have competed at every Grand Slam until 2019, when Van Barneveld failed to qualify. Anderson and Wade didn't play in 2022, while Van Gerwen missed the 2009 edition.

READ NEXT: Adrian Lewis makes major PDC comeback admission as Q-School decision looms

Gary Anderson has already explained his part-time PDC schedule

Speaking last year during the World Darts Championship, Anderson said he had no plans yet to retire and was still aiming to win a third world title.

"It would be nice to win one more title," he told Sky Sports. "Usually I'm quite happy. A couple of weeks back, I was quite happy to go, 'You know what? I've done my job on that'.

"Then people started talking: 'Oh, he's done, he's this... he'll never do it'. And that fires me back up, and I can't stop playing. I keep carrying on."

And Anderson was nearly true to his word. 'The Flying Scotsman' had an outstanding run to the semi-finals at Alexandra Palace last year and was only stopped by Gian van Veen, who averaged 102 to win 6-3 in what was arguably the best performance of the young Dutchman's career. Anderson himself also averaged 102.

Explaining the reason behind his part-time schedule, he told talkSPORT in January. "It's the travelling. It's great to be these youngsters who go all over the world. I have been all over the world, and I have loved it. I have seen countries I have dreamt about going to. But I have done it playing darts.

READ NEXT: Gary Anderson fires back at reporter when asked if he got Saudi Masters invite

"It's a hectic schedule. It's really bad, especially for the Premier League players."