2021 PDC Pro Tour
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The 2021 PDC Pro Tour is an upcoming series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Players Championships and European Tour events are the events that make up the Pro Tour. As of 1 February 2021, twelve Players Championship events have been confirmed by the PDC.
Prize Money
The prize money for the Players Championship and European Tour events is expected to be unchanged from the 2020 levels.
This is how the prize money is divided:
| Stage | Players Championships | European Tour |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | £10,000 | £25,000 |
| Runner-up | £6,000 | £10,000 |
| Semi-finalists | £3,000 | £6,500 |
| Quarter-finalists | £2,250 | £5,000 |
| Last 16 | £1,500 | £3,000 |
| Last 32 | £1,000 | £2,000 |
| Last 48 | N/A | £1,000 |
| Last 64 | £500 | N/A |
| Total | £75,000 | £140,000 |
PDC Tour Card
128 players are granted Tour Cards, which enables them to participate in all Players Championships events, the UK Open and all the European Tour events.
Tour Cards
The 2021 Tour Cards are awarded to:
- (64) The top 64 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2021 World Championship.
- Harry Ward resigned his card, and therefore, Mark McGeeney moved into the top 64.[1]
- (27) 27 qualifiers from 2020 Q-School not ranked in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit following the World Championship.
- (2) Two highest qualifiers from 2019 Challenge Tour (Callan Rydz and Jesús Noguera).
- (2) The highest qualifiers from 2019 Development Tour (Ryan Meikle and Ciarán Teehan).
- (2) Two highest qualifiers from 2020 Challenge Tour (David Evans and Ritchie Edhouse).
- (2) Two highest qualifiers from 2020 Development Tour (Keane Barry and Berry van Peer).
- (8) The daily winners from the 2021 Qualifying Schools.[2]
Afterwards, the playing field will be complemented by the highest qualified players from the Q-School Order of Merit until the maximum number of 128 Pro Tour Card players had been reached. In 2021, that means that a total of 21 additional players will qualify this way.
Q-School
The PDC Pro Tour Qualifying School (or Q-School) will be split into a UK and European Q-School. Players that are not from Europe could choose which Q-School they wanted to compete in.
In a change from previous years, Q-School will be split into two stages; with all players who lost their tour cards after the 2021 World Championship and the top sixteen players from the 2020 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit exempted to the final stage. The first stage would consist of two blocks of three days (with a maximum of 256 players per block) with the last four players from each block qualifying into the final stage. A ranking of other players will also be produced with players qualifying via that ranking to produce a full list of 128 players for each final stage.
Stage One will take place in two blocks between 8–10 February & 11–13 February; with the Final Stage to be held between 14–17 February. The winner of each day's play will be given a PDC Tour Card.
The UK Q-School will be held at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, England; with the European Q-School held at the H+ Hotel, Niedernhausen, Germany.[3]
| UK Q-School | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| February 14 | February 15 | February 16 | February 17 |
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| players | players | players | players |
| European Q-School | |||
| February 14 | February 15 | February 16 | February 17 |
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| players | players | players | players |
An Order of Merit was also created for each Q School. For every win after the Last 64 the players will be awarded 1 point.
To complete the field of 128 Tour Card Holders, places will be allocated down the final Qualifying School Order of Merits in proportion to the number of participants.[4]
Players Championships
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic still being active, Players Championship events were again put into blocks, this time of 4 events, as opposed to 5 in 2020, with the first 12 Players Championship events being referred to as PDC Super Series 1–3.
| No. | Date | Venue | Winner | Legs | Runner-Up | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thursday 25 February |  Bolton, Bolton Whites Hotel[a]
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| 2 | Friday 26 February | |||||
| 3 | Saturday 27 February | |||||
| 4 | Sunday 28 February | |||||
| 5 | Tuesday 16 March | Milton Keynes, Marshall Arena[b]
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| 6 | Wednesday 17 March | |||||
| 7 | Thursday 18 March | |||||
| 8 | Friday 19 March | |||||
| 9 | Saturday 24 April |  Niedernhausen, H+ Hotel[c]
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| 10 | Sunday 25 April | |||||
| 11 | Monday 26 April | |||||
| 12 | Tuesday 27 April |
References
- ^ Shaw, Jamie. "Harry Ward to resign PDC Tour Card at the end of the season". Live Darts. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ "2021 PDC Tour Cards". Professional Darts Players Association. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ Allen, Dave. "2021 PDC Qualifying School moves to February". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ Allen, Dave. "2021 PDC Qualifying School - Format Update". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 27 January 2021.