Clayton’s Win Is Worth More Than the Trophy
Beating Gerwyn Price8-4 in an all-Welsh final in Auckland was Clayton’s second World Series of Darts title. On the Order of Merit that decides qualification for Amsterdam, it was worth 12 points — enough to lift him from 8 points to 20, the biggest single jump of anyone in the field this week.
That 20-point total now puts Claytonabove Gian van Veen, who had sat ahead of him before the tournament. It’s a reminder of how directly this particular ranking rewards results at World Series events specifically — unlike the main PDC Order of Merit, which counts prize money from the whole two-year ProTour and major calendar, the World Series table only tracks points from the year’s individual World Series legs.
Price Banks Eight for the Final
Price’s runner-up finish was worth 8 points, taking his own total from 16 to 24 and moving him above Van Veen too. It continues a pattern for Price at World Series events this year — reaching finals and semis regularly enough to keep building a total even without a title to show for it in New Zealand.
Van Gerwen, Littler and Humphries Untouched at the Top
None of that threatens the top of the table. Michael van Gerwen still leads on 32 points, ahead of Luke Littler on 28 and Luke Humphries on 26 — all three sat out the New Zealand Darts Masters, with Littler skipping the whole of August, so their totals were untouched by Auckland.
One Event Left Before the Amsterdam Field Locks In
The Australian Darts Masters, in Wollongong on 21-22 August, is the sixth and final event of the 2026 World Series of Darts season. Whatever the Order of Merit looks like after that weekend is close to final — as we covered in our breakdown of the Amsterdam qualification criteria, the top 24 players on the final World Series rankings qualify automatically for the Finals at AFAS Live from 17-20 September, with the last 8 places split between the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder on 23 August and a Tour Card Holder Qualifier on 24 August.
For Clayton and Price, Wollongong is now the last realistic chance to close the gap on the top three before that automatic top-24 line is drawn.