Dutch duo Dirk van Duijvenbode and Wessel Nijman secured European Tour qualification doubles on Saturday, as Florian Hempel and William O’Connor landed nine-darters in Milton Keynes.
Tour Card Holder Qualifiers for European Tour Events 11-12 took place in Milton Keynes on Saturday, with each qualifier producing ten players per event.
The Hungarian Darts Trophy (ET11) will take place in Budapest from September 20-22, before the inaugural staging of the Swiss Darts Trophy (ET12) will be held in Basel from September 27-29.
Dutch number three Van Duijvenbode joined his younger compatriot Nijman in qualifying for both events, producing a staggering 115.62 average in his opening round whitewash of Mervyn King in the ET11 Qualifier.
That set the tone for the former World Grand Prix runner-up, who claimed a further five victories at the Marshall Arena to seal his spot in Budapest and Basel.
Nijman also maintained his blistering form to confirm his big stage return, overcoming Jose de Sousa and Jim Williams in the latter stages of the ET11 Qualifier, before conceding just four legs in the ET12 event, aided by back-to-back ton-plus averages.
The list of ET11 Qualifiers were headlined by German star Hempel – a semi-finalist at Players Championship 17 on Friday.
Hempel registered the 500th nine-darter in PDC competition to wrap up his opening round win over Jeffrey Sparidaans, before victories over Madars Razma and Ian White secured his berth in Budapest.
Hempel’s fellow countrymen Gabriel Clemens and Lukas Wenig will also compete at next month’s Hungarian Darts Trophy, overcoming Karel Sedlacek and Alan Soutar respectively in the final round of qualification.
World Championship semi-finalist Scott Williams will also feature in the Hungarian capital, alongside Ireland’s Keane Barry, Scotland’s Darren Beveridge, former European Tour finalist Martin Lukeman and teenage prodigy Leighton Bennett.
Mike De Decker – fresh from winning a maiden ranking title in Thursday’s Players Championship 16 – stormed through the ET12 Qualifier later in the afternoon, whitewashing Robert Owen with a ton-plus average to seal his spot in the inaugural Swiss Darts Trophy.
Jermaine Wattimena also averaged over a ton to dispatch James Hurrell in the final round of qualification, as he secured his spot in Basel alongside Dutch trio Van Duijvenbode, Nijman and Richard Veenstra, who saw off Danny Lauby in his decider.
Cameron Menzies continued his eye-catching form to progress through the ET12 Qualifier, with Razma, Sedlacek, Ryan Meikle and Graham Hall also confirming their spots in the 48-player field.
Following on from Hempel’s heroics earlier in the day, William O’Connor achieved perfection in his ET12 clash against Nick Kenny, although it came in a losing cause as the Welshman ran out a 6-3 winner.
In a change to the qualifying format from previous years, the top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit now qualify by right for each event, along with the top 16 non-qualified players from the ProTour Order of Merit.
Each event will see the top 16 players from the ProTour Order of Merit seeded for the draw, entering in the second round, with the remaining 32 players drawn at random in the first round.
ET11 Tour Card Holder Qualifiers: Martin Lukeman, Darren Beveridge, Leighton Bennett, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Gabriel Clemens, Wessel Nijman, Lukas Wenig, Scott Williams, Keane Barry, Florian Hempel.
ET12 Tour Card Holder Qualifiers: Mike De Decker, Cameron Menzies, Wessel Nijman, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Karel Sedlacek, Jermaine Wattimena, Madars Razma, Richard Veenstra, Ryan Meikle, Graham Hall
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