World number one Michael van Gerwen will be the big-name absentee from this weekend’s Players Championship double-header in Barnsley, following his back-to-back European Tour triumphs over the last fortnight.
Van Gerwen missed the second Players Championship double-header in Barnsley last month and is once again opting to recuperate ahead of a packed schedule within the coming weeks. Nevertheless, ‘The Green Machine’ still sits top of the Players Championship Order of Merit, having won three of the four events he’s competed in.
However, Van Gerwen won’t be the only big name absentee. His opponent in Thursday’s Premier League- Mensur Suljovic, will also not be appearing this weekend. ‘The Gentle’ has only featured sporadically on the Pro Tour circuit in 2018, having skipped all six UK Open qualifiers and played in only 3 of the 6 Players Championship events.
Suljovic faces the prospect of elimination on Judgement Night unless he can muster a positive result against Van Gerwen, but it still won’t be enough if Peter Wright wins his game. Despite this, the Austrian will not be competing in Barnsley, irrespective of the outcome of Thursday’s Premier League tie in Liverpool.
The third high-profile star to be missing out is Australian ace Corey Cadby. The former World Youth champion reached the final of the first Players Championship event before succumbing to ‘Mighty Mike’, but he was not featured on the PDC circuit since flying back to Australia to marry his fiancé following the UK Open.
Nevertheless, five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld will be returning to the Pro Tour fold in Barnsley. Van Barneveld has missed the last four events and sits in 106th place on the Players Championship Order of Merit, so he’ll be hoping to climb the rankings over the weekend.
Ronnie Baxter will also be making his first Pro Tour appearance since February. ‘The Rocket’ competed in two of the UK Open qualifiers and featured in the first Players Championship double-header, but he failed to register any prize money across all four events.
Former Lakeside world champion Richie Burnett is another Tour-Card holder to be skipping this weekend’s action, whilst he’ll be joined on the sidelines by Irish ace William O’Connor, Davy van Baelen, Lee Bryant, John Norman Jr and Ting Chi Royden Lam.
As a result, the top nine players on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit will deputise for the absent tour-card holders. This includes Michael Barnard, Simon Preston, Martin Atkins, John Davey and Ted Evetts.
Elsewhere, Brazilian star Diogo Portela, Jason Cullen and Jarred Cole have been rewarded for their consistency on the Challenge Tour circuit, despite not winning any of the eight events thus far, whilst Jason Lowe will make his first appearance in a PDC Players Championship event for the first time since 2006.
Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Players Championship Seven
Saturday April 7, Barnsley Metroome
Toni Alcinas
Gary Anderson
Kyle Anderson
Nathan Aspinall
Martin Atkins (Wigan)
Jamie Bain
Michael Barnard
Ronnie Baxter
Steve Beaton
Bradley Brooks
Jim Brown
Keegan Brown
Stephen Bunting
Kevin Burness
Stephen Burton
Jamie Caven
Dave Chisnall
Jonny Clayton
Gabriel Clemens
Jarred Cole
Rob Cross
Jason Cullen
Joe Cullen
Scott Darbyshire
John Davey
Jeffrey de Graaf
Jeffrey de Zwaan
Jan Dekker
Chris Dobey
Brendan Dolan
Eddie Dootson
Mark Dudbridge
Gary Eastwood
Matthew Edgar
Ritchie Edhouse
Ricky Evans
Ted Evetts
Andrew Gilding
John Goldie
Robbie Green
Sven Groen
Daryl Gurney
Ryan Harrington
John Henderson
Jimmy Hendriks
Steve Hine
Max Hopp
Peter Hudson
Luke Humphries
Adam Hunt
Kim Huybrechts
Ronny Huybrechts
Peter Jacques
Terry Jenkins
Prakash Jiwa
Darren Johnson
Wayne Jones
Ryan Joyce
Jose Justicia
Vincent Kamphuis
Tytus Kanik
George Killington
Mervyn King
Aden Kirk
Christian Kist
Jelle Klaasen
Maik Langendorf
Steve Lennon
Zoran Lerchbacher
Adrian Lewis
Jamie Lewis
Jason Lowe
Mickey Mansell
Robert Marijanovic
Mick McGowan
Ryan Meikle
Ron Meulenkamp
Arron Monk
Joe Murnan
Dawson Murschell
Tony Newell
Paul Nicholson
Danny Noppert
Alan Norris
Richard North
Robert Owen
Kevin Painter
John Part
Josh Payne
Devon Petersen
Justin Pipe
Diogo Portela
Simon Preston
Gerwyn Price
Chris Quantock
Madars Razma
Cristo Reyes
James Richardson
Mario Robbe
Rowby-John Rodriguez
Paul Rowley
Martin Schindler
Ryan Searle
Kirk Shepherd
Michael Smith
Ross Smith
Simon Stevenson
Alan Tabern
Scott Taylor
Terry Temple
Robert Thornton
Ross Twell
Raymond van Barneveld
Benito van de Pas
Dimitri Van den Bergh
Vincent van der Voort
Dirk van Duijvenbode
James Wade
Jermaine Wattimena
Darren Webster
Mark Webster
Steve West
Ian White
Simon Whitlock
James Wilson
Mark Wilson
Luke Woodhouse
Peter Wright
Players Championship Eight
Sunday April 8, Barnsley Metrodome
Toni Alcinas
Gary Anderson
Kyle Anderson
Nathan Aspinall
Martin Atkins (Wigan)
Jamie Bain
Michael Barnard
Ronnie Baxter
Steve Beaton
Bradley Brooks
Jim Brown
Keegan Brown
Stephen Bunting
Kevin Burness
Stephen Burton
Jamie Caven
Dave Chisnall
Jonny Clayton
Gabriel Clemens
Jarred Cole
Rob Cross
Jason Cullen
Joe Cullen
Scott Darbyshire
John Davey
Jeffrey de Graaf
Jeffrey de Zwaan
Jan Dekker
Chris Dobey
Brendan Dolan
Eddie Dootson
Mark Dudbridge
Gary Eastwood
Matthew Edgar
Ritchie Edhouse
Ricky Evans
Ted Evetts
Andrew Gilding
John Goldie
Robbie Green
Sven Groen
Daryl Gurney
Ryan Harrington
John Henderson
Jimmy Hendriks
Steve Hine
Max Hopp
Peter Hudson
Luke Humphries
Adam Hunt
Kim Huybrechts
Ronny Huybrechts
Peter Jacques
Terry Jenkins
Prakash Jiwa
Darren Johnson
Wayne Jones
Ryan Joyce
Jose Justicia
Vincent Kamphuis
Tytus Kanik
George Killington
Mervyn King
Aden Kirk
Christian Kist
Jelle Klaasen
Maik Langendorf
Steve Lennon
Zoran Lerchbacher
Adrian Lewis
Jamie Lewis
Jason Lowe
Mickey Mansell
Robert Marijanovic
Mick McGowan
Ryan Meikle
Ron Meulenkamp
Arron Monk
Joe Murnan
Dawson Murschell
Tony Newell
Paul Nicholson
Danny Noppert
Alan Norris
Richard North
Robert Owen
Kevin Painter
John Part
Josh Payne
Devon Petersen
Justin Pipe
Diogo Portela
Simon Preston
Gerwyn Price
Chris Quantock
Madars Razma
Cristo Reyes
James Richardson
Mario Robbe
Rowby-John Rodriguez
Paul Rowley
Martin Schindler
Ryan Searle
Kirk Shepherd
Michael Smith
Ross Smith
Simon Stevenson
Alan Tabern
Scott Taylor
Terry Temple
Robert Thornton
Ross Twell
Raymond van Barneveld
Benito van de Pas
Dimitri Van den Bergh
Vincent van der Voort
Dirk van Duijvenbode
James Wade
Jermaine Wattimena
Darren Webster
Mark Webster
Steve West
Ian White
Simon Whitlock
James Wilson
Mark Wilson
Luke Woodhouse
Peter Wright
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