User:DFMalamov/sandbox/2023 in PDC

The year 2023 is the 31st year in the history of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), a darts promotion based in the United Kingdom.

World Series
The 2023 World Series of Darts was a series of televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Six World Series events and one finals event, which like the previous year took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, were held.

Two new venues made their debuts with Bahrain International Circuit hosting the Bahrain Masters and the Arena COS Torwar hosting the Poland Masters for the first time.

Pro Tour
The 2023 PDC Pro Tour was a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), made up by thirty Players Championship events and thirteen European Tour events.

Prize money
On 21 November 2022, it was announced that the prize money for the Women's Series will be doubled in 2023. The following day, it was announced that the prize money for Challenge/Development Tour events would also increase, with the prize fund going up from £10,000 to £15,000 per event.

On 15 February 2023, it was announced that the prize money for the PDC European Tour events was to increase by 25% with prize funds increasing from £140,000 to £175,000 per event.

This is how the prize money is divided:

PDC Tour Card
128 players are granted Tour Cards, which enables them to participate in all Players Championships events, the UK Open and qualifiers for all European Tour and select televised events.

Tour cards
The 2023 Tour Cards were awarded to:
 * (64) The top 64 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2023 World Championship.
 * (30) 30 qualifiers from 2022 Q-School not ranked in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit following the World Championship.
 * (1) The winner of the 2021 UK Challenge Tour (Jim Williams).
 * Jim Williams was also in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit, and therefore, one extra Tour Card was awarded to a Q-School qualifier.
 * (1) The winner of the 2021 European Challenge Tour (Matt Campbell).
 * (1) The winner of the 2021 UK Development Tour (Bradley Brooks).
 * (1) The winner of the 2021 European Development Tour (Rusty-Jake Rodriguez).
 * (2) Two highest qualifiers from 2022 Challenge Tour (Robert Owen and Danny van Trijp).
 * (2) Two highest qualifiers from 2022 Development Tour (Geert Nentjes and Jurjen van der Velde).
 * (8) The daily winners from the 2023 Q-Schools.

Afterwards, the playing field was complemented by the highest qualified players from the Q-School Order of Merit until the maximum number of 128 Pro Tour Card players has been reached. In 2023, that means that a total of 19 additional players qualified this way.

Q-School
The PDC Pro Tour Qualifying School (or Q-School) was split into a UK and European Q-School. Players that are not from Europe could choose which Q-School to compete in.

Q-School was once again split into two stages; with all players who lost their tour cards after the 2023 World Championship and the players who finished from third to sixteenth in the 2022 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit exempted to the final stage. The first stage consisted a block of three days, with the last eight players on each day 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 took place between 9–11 January; with the Final Stage being held between 12–15 January. The winner of each day's play in the Final Stage will be given a PDC Tour Card.

The UK Q-School was held at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, England; with the European Q-School held at Wunderland Kalkar in Kalkar, Germany.

An Order of Merit was 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 Q-School Order of Merits in proportion to the number of participants, with 9 cards going to the UK Q-School and 10 going to the European Q-School.

The following players picked up Tour Cards as a result:

UK Q-School Order of Merit
 * 1) 🇮🇪 Dylan Slevin
 * 2) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lee Evans
 * 3) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stephen Burton
 * 4) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Nick Kenny
 * 5) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Keegan Brown
 * 6) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Adam Warner
 * 7) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Graham Hall
 * 8) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Callum Goffin
 * 9) 🇵🇭 Christian Perez

European Q-School Order of Merit
 * 1)  Maik Kuivenhoven
 * 2)  Richard Veenstra
 * 3)  Niels Zonneveld
 * 4) 🇩🇪 Pascal Rupprecht
 * 5) 🇧🇪 Ronny Huybrechts
 * 6) 🇨🇿 Karel Sedláček
 * 7) 🇫🇷 Jacques Labre
 * 8) 🇩🇪 Daniel Klose
 * 9)  Gian van Veen
 * 10)  Owen Roelofs

Players Championships
There were 30 Players Championship events in 2023.

European Tour
There were 13 PDC European Tour events for 2023, although there was no event in Gibraltar, ending 10 years of darts on the peninsula.

Challenge Tour
The Challenge Tour, known as the Winmau Challenge Tour for sponsorship reasons, is the PDC's second tier system for players of any age who competed at the current year's Qualifying Schools but did not win a Tour Card. Under PDC Order of Merit Rule 4.2, the Challenge Tour OoM rankings are used to top up Players Championship events to make the total number of entries up to 128, should any of the current Tour Card holders choose not to enter, as of the Event entry deadline.

Under PDC Order of Merit Rule 6.9, the 2023 Challenge Tour prizes are as follows:
 * The top two players on the Challenge Order of Merit, who have not obtained the further rewards via another method, win a two-year PDC Tour Card, starting 2024, and a place in the first round of the 2024 World Darts Championship.
 * Additionally, the winner of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit gets a spot at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts.
 * The eight highest ranked players from the Challenge Tour Order of Merit who remain non-Tour Card Holders for the 2024 season qualify for the first round of the 2024 UK Open.

The 2023 Challenge Tour consisted of four weekends of five events, and one weekend of four events.

Development Tour
The Development Tour, known as the Winmau Development Tour for sponsorship reasons, is the PDC's youth system open to all players aged 16-24. Under PDC Order of Merit Rule 6.2, players ranked in the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit or outside the previously mentioned age range on the cut-off date of a Development Tour event are not eligible to enter said event.

Under PDC Order of Merit Rule 6.9, the 2023 Development Tour rewards are as follows:
 * The top two players on the Development Order of Merit, who have not obtained the further rewards via another method, win a two-year PDC Tour Card, starting 2024, and a place in the first round of the 2024 World Darts Championship.
 * Additionally, the winner of the Development Tour Order of Merit gets a spot at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts.
 * The eight highest ranked players from the Development Tour Order of Merit who do not manage to earn a Tour Card for the 2024 season qualify for the first round of the 2024 UK Open.
 * Each of the two finalists of the PDC World Youth Championship qualify for the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts. Furthermore, the winner of the PDC World Youth Championship receives an invitation to play in the first round of the 2024 World Darts Championship.

The 2023 Development Tour consisted of four weekends of five events, and one weekend of four events.

World Youth Championship
The 2023 PDC World Youth Championship, known as the 2023 Winmau World Youth Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested by 96 participants, consisting of U23 PDC Tour Card holders, invited International Representatives and the remaining places for players following the 2023 Development Tour Order of Merit.

The preliminary rounds (Last 96 round-robin and Last 32 knockout tournament) were held on 20 August 2023 at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes; while the final was held at 26 November 2023 at Butlin's Minehead during the 2023 Players Championship Finals.

Josh Rock, who was not eligible to play on the Development Tour due to being in the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit, was reigning champion and top seed going into the tournament.

The results from the third round onwards are shown below.

Women's Series
The 2023 PDC Women's Series was expanded from 20 to 24 events held over six weekends.

The top two players from the series who didn't win the Women's World Matchplay will qualify for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, while the top player who didn't win the Women's World Matchplay will qualify for the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts.

Asian Tour
Following a break of three years, the PDC Asian Tour returns in 2023 with an expanded tour consisting of 24 events held over 8 weekends. The first 15 events were confirmed on 10 November 2022, with the remaining 9 confirmed at a later date. The top four players from the final 2023 PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit will qualify automatically for the World Darts Championship.

The Asian Championship will also return, this time taking place in Shimonoseki between 5–8 October. The PDC Asian Championship winner and runner-up will also qualify, and if either or both players have already qualified from the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit then the place(s) would be passed to the next-best-placed non-qualified player from the PDC Asian Championship (split by PDC Asian Tour OOM if required using standard PDC countback rules). In addition, the best-placed non-qualified Japanese player from the PDC Asian Championship (if no Japanese player reaches the final) will also qualify for the World Championship, with any ties to be split by PDC Asian Tour OOM if required using standard PDC countback rules. If one or both of the PDC Asian Championship finalists are Japanese, this place will pass to the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Due to a tie, the fourth advancing place had to be decided by a decisive match:

China Premier League
The 2023 China Premier League playoff was held on August 27. The winner qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.

Professional Darts Corporation Nordic & Baltic (PDCNB) Tour
On 15 January 2023, PDC Nordic & Baltic announced their 2023 calendar, which had 5 weekends in 5 different countries. The top 2 players on the Order of Merit get a place at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.

Dartplayers Australia (DPA) Pro Tour
The Dartplayers Australia Tour will return to a unified tour for 2023. Dates announced by Dartsplayer Australia. The winner after twenty tournaments may participate in the PDC World Championship.

Dartplayers New Zealand (DPNZ) Pro Tour
The Dartplayers New Zealand Tour will return for an extended tour for 2023. There will be 12 events held over 6 weekends. Following the culmination of the 2023 DPNZ ProTour season, the top 16 players on the DPNZ Order of Merit will compete in the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship qualifier on October 9 in Christchurch.

Championship Darts Corporation (CDC) Pro Tour
The Championship Darts Corporation will continue in 2023. It will host 12 events held over 4 weekends. The top players from the United States and Canada on the Tour Points List will qualify for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.

North American Championship
As in the previous year, the North American Championship will be played on the Saturday afternoon of the US Darts Masters.

Under PDC Rule 3.9, champion (third year of Tour Card) is not eligible to qualify for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship or 2023 Grand Slam of Darts by virtue of winning the North American Championship. Therefore, an extra third place in the World Darts Championship was awarded to the top-seeded players in the 2023 CDC Tour Order of Merit.

African Continental Tour
On 15 February 2023, it was announced that, in cooperation with the African Darts Group and their African Darts Series, a first ever African Continental Tour would take place.

The competition included qualifiers for the South African team in the 2023 PDC World Cup of Darts, a place in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship for the top under-23 ranked player, and seeds for a 2024 PDC World Darts Championship qualifying tournament, based on a Tour Ranking.

Championship Darts Latin America and Caribbean (CDLC) Tour
The 2023 CDLC Tour will begin in the Costa Rican capital of San José from August 4-6, with two warm-up events being followed by back-to-back CDLC Tour events on Saturday August 5 and Sunday August 6. The Hotel Torremayor in Santiago will then play host to the second and final weekend from October 13-15, with CDLC Tour Events Three and Four taking place in Chile. Following the conclusion of October’s double-header, the player at the top of the CDLC Order of Merit will qualify for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship at London’s Alexandra Palace in December.