Newly crowned world champion Rob Cross is up to third on the PDC Order of Merit, after thrashing Phil Taylor 7-2 to become the first player since Raymond van Barneveld in 2007, to clinch PDC world title glory on their debut.
Cross has enjoyed a meteoric rise since joining the PDC circuit in January and he capped off an astonishing debut year by lifting the 2018 World Championship title on New Year’s Day. ‘Voltage’ claimed £400,000 for beating Taylor in an incredible final, which catapults him up to third in the world.
Cross edged out world number one Michael van Gerwen in an epic sudden-death leg in the semi-finals, but ‘The Green Machine’ still leads second place Peter Wright by over £1,000,000, after ‘Snakebite’ was beaten 4-1 by an inspired Jamie Lewis in the second-round.
Phil Taylor has risen to fourth position after reaching his 21st World Championship Final in his final competitive appearance. The 16-time world champion rolled back the years to reach his first world final since 2015 and although the departing Stoke-on-Trent veteran has relinquished his tour-card, he still remains in the world’s top four.
Two-time world champion Gary Anderson has slipped to fifth, after failing to reach the World Championship final for the first time in four years; whilst World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney is sixth after suffering a surprise second-round exit against John Henderson.
Champions League of Darts winner Mensur Suljovic has fallen to seventh after being whitewashed 4-0 by Dimitri van den Bergh, whilst Dave Chisnall, Simon Whitlock and James Wade all remain in the world’s top ten, despite their early exits at the Alexandra Palace.
Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld sits in 11th position after losing to Van Gerwen in a dramatic final set decider in the quarter-finals. Van Barneveld was defending £70,000 in prize money having reached the semi-finals in each of the last three years at the World Championship, but is less than £3,000 behind James Wade in 10th.
Gerwyn Price is up to a career high of 13th after breaking his duck at the Alexandra Palace. ‘The Iceman’ had suffered three successive first-round defeats at the World Championship, but reached the last 16 before succumbing to Michael van Gerwen, which saw him receive a wildcard invitation for the 2018 Premier League.
Michael Smith is 12th despite losing out in the second-round to eventual winner Rob Cross. ‘Bully-Boy’ missed two match darts to defeat ‘Voltage’ in round-two, whilst Benito van de Pas remains in 14th, after his disappointing season culminated in a first-round defeat to Steve West in the World Championship.
Ian White and Alan Norris also remain in the top 16 despite their second-round exits at the Alexandra Palace, whilst last year’s Premier League duo of Kim Huybrechts and Jelle Klaasen have dropped out of the top 16 after losing in the opening-round to James Richardson and Jan Dekker respectively.
Darren Webster is up to a career high of 20th after reaching his first World Championship quarter-final since 2007, whilst two-time world champion Adrian Lewis has incredibly dropped to 21st on the Order of Merit.
‘Jackpot’ began the year ranked fourth in the world, but he has been plagued by a back injury which required surgery and barring a run to the World Matchplay semi-finals, the Stoke star has endured the toughest year of his career; culminating with a shock first-round exit against German qualifier Kevin Munch at the Ally Pally.
Lewis was defending £150,000 in prize money by virtue of reaching the final two years ago and his shock first-round defeat at the World Championships sees him miss out on a Premier League spot for the first time since 2009.
Elsewhere, Jamie Lewis is back inside the world’s top 32 after his stunning run to the semi-finals. ‘Fireball’ was ranked 46th prior to this event and only sealed his spot at the Ally Pally after winning the 3rd place play-off at the PDPA qualifier.
However, the preliminary qualifier defeated Kenny Neyens, Jonny Clayton, Peter Wright, James Richardson and Darren Webster to record his best showing in a PDC major and pocket £85,000 in prize money, before he succumbed to the departing Phil Taylor 6-1 in the semi-finals.
World Youth Champion Dimitri van den Bergh is into the world’s top 40 after defeating Stephen Bunting, Jan Dekker and Mensur Suljovic to reach the World Championship quarter-finals, whilst James Richardson has climbed into the top 50.
Steve Lennon and Peter Jacques have moved into the world’s top 64 after making their Alexandra Palace debuts, whilst Zoran Lercbacher and Antonio Alcinas have joined them after reaching the second-round and last 16 respectively at the World Championship.
Nevertheless, 2012 world finalist Andy Hamilton has relinquished his PDC tour-card by slipping to 76th after failing to qualify for this year’s event, whilst Hamilton’s former Premier League colleague Wes Newton is down to 100th. Newton will be competing at Q-School later this month, whilst Hamilton is having a year out from PDC action.
Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
| Position | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael van Gerwen | £1,799,250 |
| 2 | Peter Wright | £754,250 |
| 3 | Rob Cross | £611,250 |
| 4 | Phil Taylor | £508,000 |
| 5 | Gary Anderson | £458,250 |
| 6 | Daryl Gurney | £416,750 |
| 7 | Mensur Suljovic | £373,500 |
| 8 | Dave Chisnall | £332,500 |
| 9 | Simon Whitlock | £310,250 |
| 10 | James Wade | £276,250 |
| 11 | Raymond van Barneveld | £273,750 |
| 12 | Michael Smith | £267,750 |
| 13 | Gerwyn Price | £264,750 |
| 14 | Benito van de Pas | £255,000 |
| 15 | Ian White | £253,250 |
| 16 | Alan Norris | £244,250 |
| 17 | Kim Huybrechts | £236,750 |
| 18 | Jelle Klaasen | £233,000 |
| 19 | Joe Cullen | £219,250 |
| 20 | Darren Webster | £209,000 |
| 21 | Adrian Lewis | £209,000 |
| 22 | Stephen Bunting | £192,500 |
| 23 | Kyle Anderson | £182,500 |
| 24 | Mervyn King | £180,500 |
| 25 | Steve Beaton | £180,000 |
| 26 | Justin Pipe | £152,000 |
| 27 | Robert Thornton | £151,750 |
| 28 | John Henderson | £150,750 |
| 29 | Cristo Reyes | £147,750 |
| 30 | Jamie Lewis | £147,000 |
| 31 | James Wilson | £143,250 |
| 32 | Jonny Clayton | £143,000 |
| 33 | Steve West | £136,750 |
| 34 | Vincent van der Voort | £127,500 |
| 35 | Mark Webster | £122,500 |
| 36 | Chris Dobey | £114,750 |
| 37 | Brendan Dolan | £111,500 |
| 38 | Christian Kist | £107,500 |
| 39 | Dimitri Van den Bergh | £105,500 |
| 40 | Jermaine Wattimena | £104,250 |
| 41 | Terry Jenkins | £98,500 |
| 42 | Robbie Green | £92,250 |
| 43 | Ronny Huybrechts | £91,250 |
| 44 | James Richardson | £85,750 |
| 45 | Jan Dekker | £79,250 |
| 46 | Jamie Caven | £78,750 |
| 47 | Kevin Painter | £74,000 |
| 48 | Keegan Brown | £66,000 |
| 49 | Josh Payne | £63,750 |
| 50 | Max Hopp | £63,500 |
| 51 | Devon Petersen | £63,000 |
| 52 | Richard North | £60,000 |
| 53 | Ron Meulenkamp | £58,500 |
| 54 | Joe Murnan | £56,000 |
| 55 | Jeffrey de Graaf | £54,750 |
| 56 | Andrew Gilding | £53,500 |
| 57 | William O’Connor | £50,750 |
| 58 | Rowby-John Rodriguez | £49,000 |
| 59 | Ricky Evans | £48,750 |
| 60 | Steve Lennon | £48,250 |
| 61 | Zoran Lerchbacher | £47,000 |
| 62 | Mick McGowan | £45,500 |
| 63 | Peter Jacques | £43,000 |
| 64 | Antonio Alcinas | £41,500 |
| 65 | Martin Schindler | £38,750 |
| 66 | Ted Evetts | £37,250 |
| 67 | Krzysztof Ratajski | £37,000 |
| 68 | John Michael | £37,000 |
| 69 | Berry van Peer | £33,750 |
| 70 | Andy Jenkins | £33,750 |
| 71 | Dirk van Duijvenbode | £33,000 |
| 72 | Andy Boulton | £31,750 |
| 73 | Mike De Decker | £31,250 |
| 74 | Jeffrey de Zwaan | £29,750 |
| 75 | David Pallett | £29,750 |
| 76 | Andy Hamilton | £29,250 |
| 77 | Simon Stevenson | £29,000 |
| 78 | Kim Viljanen | £28,000 |
| 79 | Mark Walsh | £25,500 |
| 80 | Ryan Searle | £25,250 |
| 81 | Robert Owen | £24,000 |
| 82 | Matt Clark | £23,750 |
| 83 | Darren Johnson | £23,500 |
| 84 | Vincent Kamphuis | £23,000 |
| 85 | Richie Corner | £23,000 |
| 86 | Yordi Meeuwisse | £22,500 |
| 87 | Nathan Aspinall | £22,250 |
| 88 | Chris Quantock | £22,000 |
| 89 | Ryan Meikle | £21,250 |
| 90 | John Bowles | £20,750 |
| 91 | Peter Hudson | £20,000 |
| 92 | Jimmy Hendriks | £19,250 |
| 93 | Paul Nicholson | £18,000 |
| 94 | Jamie Bain | £17,750 |
| 95 | Kirk Shepherd | £17,750 |
| 96 | Mickey Mansell | £17,000 |
| 97 | Diogo Portela | £16,750 |
| 98 | Jonathan Worsley | £16,250 |
| 99 | Tony Newell | £16,250 |
| 100 | Wes Newton | £16,000 |
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