Rhys Griffin, Adam Leek, Arno Merk and Filip Bereza became the first players to win PDC Tour Cards at the 2026 Qualifying Schools last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Griffin, who had lost his Tour Card at the end of 2025, regained it at the first time of asking, with the Welshman beating former Grand Slam champion Scott Waites in Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 28-year-old defeated compatriot Kelvin O’Keefe in his opening game of the day, before downing Irish duo Shane McGuirk and Steve Lennon with scorelines of 6-5 and 6-4 respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Griffin then went onto beat Welshman Derek Coulson 6-2 in the quarter-finals before whitewashing Scott Waites in his final game of the day to become the first player from UK Qualifying School to win his card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second Tour Card holder was then confirmed almost 20 minutes later, as Australian Adam Leek beat Tyler Thorpe in a last-leg decider in a match that saw eleven consecutive holds of throw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leek, who finished ninth on the PDC ADATour Rankings last year, beat Jonathan Kavanagh 6-2 in his opener, before seeing off former Tour Card holder Dylan Slevin 6-4 to advance to round three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Adelaide-born star then won three consecutive last-leg deciders against Nathan Potter, Aden Kirk and Steve Beaton, before sealing two years on the tour with victory over 23-year-old Thorpe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Kalkar, Arno Merk – who in December produced an excellent run to round three of the PDC World Darts Championship – secured himself a Tour Card thanks to victory over Jeffrey Sparidaans in his final game of the opening day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merk, who qualified for the 2025\/26 World Darts Championship through his victory on the HYLO PDC Europe Super League, beat Danny Jansen, Romeo Grbavac and Mylo Michiels on his way to round four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 33-year-old German star then downed the Dutch trio of Jeffrey Keen, Damian Mol and Jeffrey Sparidaans to book his place on the circuit for the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Polish star Filip Bereza was the final player to secure their two-year Tour Card, as he fought back from 5-1 down to beat Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-5 in a thrilling contest which saw De Zwaan miss numerous match darts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bereza, who was the only Pole to make it through to the Final Stage in Kalkar, beat Michael Hurtz and Peter Keleman early on, before dispatching Germany’s Michael Unterbuchner 6-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Breeze” then blew away Marcel Otter and Maikel Verbek to make it to the last four, before beating former World Matchplay semi-finalist Jeffrey De Zwaan in a thrilling contest.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Rhys Griffin, Adam Leek, Arno Merk and Filip Bereza became the first players to win PDC Tour Cards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-7726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
UK Final Stage Day One
Last 16<\/strong>: Scott Waites 6-5 Jarred Cole; Stephen Rosney 6-1 Sam Spivey; Derek Coulson 6-0 John Henderson; Rhys Griffin 6-5 Harry Ward; Steve Beaton 6-4 Thomas Cromwell; Adam Leek 6-5 Aden Kirk; Jack Aldridge 6-2 Jamie Hughes; Tyler Thorpe 6-1 Jenson Walker
Quarter-Finals<\/strong>: Scott Waites 6-5 Stephen Rosney; Rhys Griffin 6-2 Derek Coulson; Adam Leek 6-5 Steve Beaton; Tyler Thorpe 6-1 Jack Aldridge
Semi-Finals<\/strong>: Rhys Griffin 6-0 Scott Waites; Adam Leek 6-5 Tyler Thorpe<\/p>\n\n\n\n
European Final Stage Day One
Last 16<\/strong>: Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-1 Ron Meulenkamp; Andreas Harrysson 6-3 Adam Sevada; Damian Mol 6-4 Jimmy van Schie; Arno Merk 6-4 Jeffrey Keen; Maikel Verberk 6-1 Adam Gawlas; Filip Bereza 6-2 Marcel Otter; Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-2 Bjorn Quoiffy; Benjamin Pratnemer 6-5 Ricardo Ulrich
Quarter-Finals<\/strong>: Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-2 Andreas Harrysson; Arno Merk 6-5 Damian Mol; Filip Bereza 6-3 Maikel Verberk; Jeffrey De Zwaan 6-1 Benjamin Pratnemer
Semi-Finals<\/strong>: Arno Merk 6-5 Jeffrey Sparidaans; Filip Bereza 6-5 Jeffrey De Zwaan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"