Ten players (or sets of) I'm happy have a tour card:
1 - Tom Bissell - You have to love it when, on day one, someone literally nobody has heard of wins a card outright. Will this end up being another Aaron Beeney situation? Maybe, but it's going to be fun to find out.
2 - The Swedish players - Tingstrom got a card outright, Lukasiak got one through points, very nearly had Ostlund and Harrysson joining them. The country seems to be getting stronger and stronger, and to get two of them onto the main tour is a great step.
3 - Cor Dekker - Got to love players from a new country appearing for the first time. Didn't realise he was quite as young as he is given he's a name that's been around for a while, will be interesting to see how he steps up to the next level.
4 - Kai Gotthardt - So much improved in 2024, it would have been a bit of a surprise if he didn't get a card, now he's got one and I don't think he'll look out of place in the slightest.
5 - Dennie Olde Kalter - Someone who I've been picking on lists to get a card for some time now, the one year I don't actually pull one together, he binks one. A known talent who's been around for some time, I don't know if he'll have enough to stay there after two years, but he's got enough to give it a good go.
6 - Karel Sedlacek - He's just too good to not have got the card back, and he's an entertaining character, not having him on the tour (or any Czech players for that matter, given Gawlas also dropped his card) would have been a big omission.
7 - Bradley Brooks - Bradley's been on and off the tour, but it's important to remember he's still really quite young, and has a lot of experience for someone his age. It looks for sure like having been off the tour has worked well for him, and may set him up to really push on at the senior level.
8 - Maximilian Czerwinski - Much like Bissell, this is very much a "who?" player to get through, and you've got to love how the complete randoms can get through and get a two year shot at this.
9 - Darryl Pilgrim - Feels like it's been years now where he's been in the bracket of one of the best players to not have a tour card. No more. Clearly has enough of a game to have a very good chance of holding a top 64 spot.
10 - Adam Warner - Sheffield Uni represent.
Five players (or sets of) who I'm indifferent towards getting a card:
1 - Rusty-Jake Rodriguez - The talent is clearly there, but after he got his card following a stellar Dev Tour season a few year's back, he's really not progressed at either senior or Development Tour level, so it's kind of hard to think that he's going to be at a level where he'll be able to really make an impression given he didn't do it the last time?
2 - Tavis Dudeney - This is just one where I think getting onto the main tour may be a touch too soon. He's certainly shown plenty of promise, but I don't know whether he'll be a touch out of his depth and this will set his development back, rather than accelerate it.
3 - Maik Kuivenhoven - Maybe he'll take a Niels Zonneveld sort of path and he's finally out of that bracket of "not good enough to hold card, but too good not to get it straight back", but even if he follows that same arc then are we just getting another player to make up the numbers? It's not like he's super young.
4 - Jim Long - It's a great story, but at the age of 56, is he really going to be committed enough given he's coming from Canada to give this a real shot? I hope so, and it'll be fun if he does, but the feeling I get is that this is just going to be a waste of a card spot.
5 - Max Hopp - Has he done anything of note whatsoever since he lost his card? We know the top level game is pretty good, but when was the last time we've seen it?
Four players (or sets of) I'm not distraught at them not getting cards:
1 - Mervyn King, Simon Whitlock, John Henderson etc - Great careers, but there just isn't enough there to remain relevant at the highest levels of the game, but there is more than enough for them outside of the PDC system (along with the Challenge Tour) that they can probably do better in terms of exploiting the game not having a card.
2 - Jimmy van Schie - While he would have been a fine addition to the tour, I think maybe it might be better given his really rapid rise in the last six months or so to continue to ride it in the WDF. There's got to be a huge chance that he does extremely well in the Challenge Tour, gets the first call ups to the Pro Tour, and can spend twelve months having the best of both worlds.
3 - Beau Greaves (and to a lesser extent Fallon Sherrock) - The Challenge Tour is an excellent next step that Beau hasn't really exploited to date, perhaps one more year of doing the same with additional CT appearances will make for more logical progression, rather than jumping straight onto the tour, which frankly might end up with her ending up in somewhat of a sideshow/distraction.
4 - Jeffrey de Zwaan - Given it's been so long since we've seen his top game, maybe actually being punted from the tour will give him a kick in the arse and see something like a Nathan Aspinall or Martin Schindler-type progression where he can get back to the sorts of levels we know are still there.
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