TA Pro Tour 30

Will sim and reveal a couple of boards at a time to indicate what's happened as a result of each bit of the event. To start the event, the cutoff is at £11,750, and the following players are below that cutoff and not playing, hence eliminated:

Mike de Decker, Krzysztof Kciuk, Seigo Asada, Robert Thornton, Reece Robinson, Mario Vandenboegaerde, Nico Kurz, Paul Hogan, Kyle McKinstry, Ritchie Edhouse, Daniel Larsson, Barrie Bates, Danny Baggish

Additionally, while Aaron Beeney is playing, he's too far behind to qualify even with a win. Note that when I talk of elimination, I'm referring to the outright from the top 64 - invitees making it into the field on average winning are disregarded for this.

So let's begin with boards 1/2:

(1) Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Wesley Harms
Ted Evetts 6-1 Kirk Shepherd
Karel Sedlacek 6-5 (32) Ross Smith
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Devon Petersen
(16) Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Nick Kenny
Jim Williams 6-3 Stephen Burton
Cody Harris 6-3 (17) Justin Pipe
Benito van de Pas 6-5 Dave Pallett

This eliminates Shepherd, Smith, Kenny, Burton and Pallett, cutoff is unchanged.

Boards 3/4:

(8) Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Mike van Duivenbode
Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Andy Boulton
Luke Humphries 6-2 (25) Vincent van der Voort
Jason Lowe 6-3 Scott Baker
(9) Steve Beaton 6-2 Matt Clark
Martin Atkins (Wigan) 6-4 Luke Woodhouse
(24) Jose de Sousa 6-5 Aaron Beeney
Josh Payne 6-4 Madars Razma

This eliminates van Duivenbode, Baker and Clark. Cutoff still unchanged but only one spot in the field at that amonut now.

Boards 5/6:

(5) James Wade 6-0 Nathan Derry
Mark McGeeney 6-4 Wayne Warren
(28) Willie O'Connor 6-5 Steve West
John Michael 6-5 Michael Barnard
(12) Rob Cross 6-5 Martijn Kleermaker
Darren Penhall 6-5 Vincent van der Meer
(21) Simon Whitlock 6-5 Boris Koltsov
Gary Anderson 6-0 Ciaran Teehan

This eliminates Derry, Warren, Barnard, Kleermaker, van der Meer, Koltsov and Teehan. Qutie a few of those were only a win or two away from putting themselves into the finals field, oh well.

Boards 7/8:

(4) Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Steffen Siepmann
Matt Edgar 6-4 Wayne Jones
(29) Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Scott Mitchell
William Borland 6-5 Niels Zonneveld
(13) Joe Cullen 6-0 Gary Blades
Conan Whitehead 6-2 Christian Bunse
Cristo Reyes 6-5 (20) Keegan Brown
Gavin Carlin 6-5 Adrian Gray

All the losers except for Keegan are eliminated. Cutoff still unchanged from the start of the tournament.

Boards 9/10:

(2) Gerwyn Price 6-2 Antonio Alcinas
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Arron Monk
(31) Darren Webster 6-2 Mickey Mansell
Damon Heta 6-0 Jan Dekker
Ryan Searle 6-4 (15) Glen Durrant
Robert Collins 6-5 Ron Meulenkamp
(18) Ricky Evans 6-3 Joe Murnan
Maik Kuivenhoven 6-3 Fallon Sherrock

Every loser apart from Glen is eliminated - additionally, Darren Webster's win has put him provisionally in and bumped the cutoff up to a round 12 grand, eliminating Wesley Harms and Steve West from contention.

Boards 11/12:

(7) Daryl Gurney 6-1 Kai Fan Leung
Cameron Menzies 6-5 Jonathan Worsley
(26) Mervyn King 6-4 Yordi Meeuwisse
Simon Stevenson 6-3 Derk Telnekes
Geert Nentjes 6-5 (10) Jonny Clayton
Boris Krcmar 6-5 Ryan Joyce
(23) Danny Noppert 6-1 Noel Malicdem
Lisa Ashton 6-4 Scott Waites

Worsley, Meeuwisse, Telnekes, Malicdem and Waites are all eliminated. Cutoff still 12k, two people tied for 63rd and 64th.

Boards 13/14:

(3) Ian White 6-5 Rowby John Rodriguez
Martin Schindler 6-3 Nathan Rafferty
(30) Max Hopp 6-3 Harald Leitinger
Kyle Anderson 6-2 Callan Rydz
Carl Wilkinson 6-5 (14) Michael Smith
Jeff Smith 6-4 Jelle Klaasen
(19) Stephen Bunting 6-3 Harry Ward
Ryan Meikle 6-0 Bradley Brooks

Rafferty, Leitinger, Rydz, Ward and Brooks all eliminated, still no change to the cutoff.

Boards 15/16:

(6) Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Marko Kantele
James Wilson 6-4 Adam Hunt
(27) Chris Dobey 6-1 Richard North
Andy Hamilton 6-5 Jamie Lewis
(11) Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-1 Scott Taylor
James Richardson 6-1 Peter Jacques
(22) Brendan Dolan 6-5 Jesus Noguera
David Evans 6-2 Steve Brown

Every loser was below the cutoff, so as we close round 1 we lose another 8 players from the running. Next round 2, will keep doing 8 matches at a time. Worth noting that Wilson's win has made it two out of three for the last spots in the field now, how will that develop?

Round 2, boards 1-4:

Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Ted Evetts
Andrew Gilding 6-2 Karel Sedlacek
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Jim Williams
Benito van de Pas 6-4 Cody Harris
Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Darius Labanauskas
Luke Humphries 6-4 Jason Lowe
Martin Atkins (Wigan) 6-5 Steve Beaton
Jose de Sousa 6-5 Josh Payne

Sedlacek, Williams and Harris are the only players from the losers to be eliminated.

Boards 5-8:

James Wade 6-4 Mark McGeeney
Willie O'Connor 6-2 John Michael
Rob Cross 6-0 Darren Penhall
Gary Anderson 6-0 Simon Whitlock
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Matt Edgar
William Borland 6-5 Gabriel Clemens
Joe Cullen 6-5 Conan Whitehead
Cristo Reyes 6-4 Gavin Carlin

Michael, Penhall, Edgar, Whitehead and Carlin can no longer qualify. Still no change on the bubble, it's three players for two spots on 12k.

Boards 9-12:

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Darren Webster 6-5 Damon Heta
Robert Collins 6-4 Ryan Searle
Ricky Evans 6-5 Maik Kuivenhoven
Daryl Gurney 6-3 Cameron Menzies
Mervyn King 6-0 Simon Stevenson
Geert Nentjes 6-2 Boris Krcmar
Lisa Ashton 6-5 Danny Noppert

We only lost Menzies, Stevenson and Krcmar from the running, Big win for Webster, it's now a straight shootout between Boulton and Wilson for the final place as things stand.

Boards 13-16:

Martin Schindler 6-4 Ian White
Kyle Anderson 6-4 Max Hopp
Jeff Smith 6-4 Carl Wilkinson
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Ryan Meikle
James Wilson 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Andy Hamilton 6-5 Chris Dobey
James Richardson 6-3 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Brendan Dolan 6-4 David Evans

All the big seeds go out, we lose Wilkinson, Meikle and Evans from the running, additionally Wilson's shock win over Aspinall has eliminated Andy Boulton and puts Josh Payne on the bubble, but we're running out of players who can catch him...

Round 3, top half:

Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Andrew Gilding
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Benito van de Pas
Luke Humphries 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Jose de Sousa 6-4 Martin Atkins (Wigan)
James Wade 6-0 Willie O'Connor
Gary Anderson 6-4 Rob Cross
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-5 William Borland
Joe Cullen 6-5 Cristo Reyes

That loses us Gilding, van de Pas, Atkins, O'Connor, Reyes and Borland - Cristo and Willie being the two players probably closest to sneaking into the field, which now looks close to set. Payne's safe unless Ashton, Richardson or Hamilton make a final, or Collins binks.

Round 3, bottom half:

Darren Webster 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Ricky Evans 6-3 Robert Collins
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Mervyn King
Geert Nentjes 6-3 Lisa Ashton
Martin Schindler 6-2 Kyle Anderson
Jeff Smith 6-4 Stephen Bunting
James Wilson 6-2 Andy Hamilton
James Richardson 6-2 Brendan Dolan

It's a simple equation now. 63 players are locks, Payne is in unless Richardson wins this half, which does look pretty wide open. I'll sim the rest of it out now as we're probably only playing for pride and seedings.

Round 4 onwards:

Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Luke Humphries 6-4 Jose de Sousa
Gary Anderson 6-1 James Wade
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Joe Cullen
Ricky Evans 6-2 Darren Webster
Daryl Gurney 6-3 Geert Nentjes
Jeff Smith 6-1 Martin Schindler
James Richardson 6-4 James Wilson

Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Luke Humphries
Gary Anderson 6-2 Krzysztof Ratajski
Ricky Evans 6-4 Daryl Gurney
James Richardson 6-3 Jeff Smith

Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Gary Anderson
James Richardson 6-5 Ricky Evans

Michael van Gerwen 6-0 James Richardson

van Gerwen claims the weekend double, but my god, Richardson only went and did it, to get in and claim the 64th and final place by the narrowest of margins. van Gerwen got a sixth title out of 30, ending up in six figures for the season by £250, nice run for Ricky Evans to solidify a top 32 spot, while Luke Humphries was just about able to claim the title of top Luke by getting that one last win over de Sousa.

So that gives us our field - invited add-ins are Warren, Williams, Menzies, Asada and Sherrock making up a field of 69, so in order of money per tourney, we have this lineup:

van Gerwen/Wright/Price/White/Cross/Chisnall/A Lewis/Ratajski
G Anderson/Durrant/Clemens/Cadby/Gurney/Aspinall/Wade/Clayton
M Smith/Dobey/Henderson/King/Hughes/K Anderson/de Sousa/van Duijvenbode
Cullen/van den Bergh/R Evans/Richardson/Heta/de Zwaan/Nentjes/Lowe
Lennon/van der Voort/Petersen/Warren/Wattimena/Evetts/Klaasen/Noppert
Huybrechts/McGeeney/Hopp/Beaton/Suljovic/Humphries/Woodhouse/Bunting
Rodriguez/Labanauskas/Whitlock/Murray/J Smith/Dolan/Schindler/Razma
Searle/Williams/Menzies/Pipe/Asada/K Brown/Leung/Webster
Wilson/Kuivenhoven/Sherrock/Tabern/Joyce

Don't take that as a strict order, there's a lot of ties that need breaking, and I want to post up some other stats before I post the finals draw. Probably do that tomorrow.