Van Gerwen Finishes Top, Price Closes the Gap
Van Gerwen’s 32 points stand up as the best total of the year, but it’s Gerwyn Price who did the moving in Wollongong. Pricereached the semi-finals of the Australian Darts Masters before losing to eventual champion James Wade, a run worth enough points to lift him from 24 to 29 — closing to within three of Van Gerwen at the top of the table.
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries finish third and fourth on 28 and 26 points respectively, both unmoved after sitting out the whole of August’s World Series action. All four automatically headline the top 24 players on the final rankings who qualify for Amsterdam — as we covered after the New Zealand Darts Masters, that automatic route rewards results at World Series events specifically, separate from the main two-year PDC Order of Merit.
| Rank | Player | Points | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael van Gerwen | 32 | Unchanged — did not play the Australian Darts Masters |
| 2 | Gerwyn Price | 29 | Up from 24 after reaching the semi-finals in Wollongong |
| 3 | Luke Littler | 28 | Unchanged — sat out the whole of August |
| 4 | Luke Humphries | 26 | Unchanged — did not play the Australian Darts Masters |
Cross Leads Four Qualifiers Through Leicester
The last eight places in the 32-player field are split between the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder and a Tour Card Holder Qualifier, and it was the qualifier in Leicester that produced the final four names on the Amsterdam list. Rob Cross topped the day, reeling off a 6-0 win over Carl Sneyd and a 6-2 win over Brendan Dolan before edging Peter Wright in a last-leg shoot-out and closing out a 6-3 win over Dirk van Duijvenbode — a run that books his eighth World Series of Darts Finals appearance.
Kevin Doets survived the closest call of the day, coming back from 5-4 down to beat Ricky Evans 6-5 before beating Andrew Gilding and then Maik Kuivenhoven 6-3 to seal a third successive trip to Amsterdam. Karel Sedlacek and Callan Rydz will both make their World Series of Darts Finals debuts — Sedlacek closing out a 6-4 win over Owen Bates while averaging 105.22, part of a qualifying day in which he posted three tons above 100, and Rydz completing a run past Niko Springer, Rob Owen and Daryl Gurney.
Tour Card Holder Qualifier — Mattioli Arena, Leicester
What This Means for Amsterdam
With the field now set, the 2026 World Series of Darts Finals runs from 17 to 20 September at AFAS Live in Amsterdam, where Van Gerwen defends the title he won last September. For Cross, Doets, Sedlacek and Rydz, simply making the 32-player draw is the reward for a long qualifying day — but for Sedlacek and Rydz in particular, a maiden appearance on that stage is a chance to make a name for themselves against a field topped by three of the sport’s biggest names. Track every player’s standing on the live PDC Order of Merit in the build-up.