1 Luke Humphries
2 Luke Littler
3 Michael van Gerwen
4 Stephen Bunting
5 Chris Dobey
6 Rob Cross
7 Jonny Clayton (UP 2)
8 Dave Chisnall (DOWN 1)
9 Damon Heta (DOWN 1)
10 Danny Noppert (UP 3)
11 Mike de Decker
12 James Wade (DOWN 2)
13 Gerwyn Price (UP 3)
14 Gary Anderson (DOWN 2)
15 Ross Smith (DOWN 1)
16 Ryan Searle (UP 2)
17 Dimitri van den Bergh (UP 2)
18 Peter Wright (DOWN 3)
19 Josh Rock (DOWN 2)
20 Ritchie Edhouse
So, next new winners. I'm just going to consider players on the tour - while there's players off the tour that I think are perfectly capable of winning a Pro Tour, without knowing they're going to get opportunities guaranteed, I think it's a little bit silly given the depth of players who haven't won one yet who will get 30 more shots this season to get one guaranteed - if they want it.
Next world champion (excludes Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Gary Anderson, Michael Smith, Raymond van Barneveld):
Not sure there's any overwhelming candidate jumping out at me. I guess just upgrade from the those who have won a major list?
Next major winner (additionally exclude Jonny Clayton, Nathan Aspinall, Danny Noppert, James Wade, Dimitri van den Bergh, Andrew Gilding, Ross Smith, Mike de Decker, Daryl Gurney, Ritchie Edhouse, Jose de Sousa):
1 - Stephen Bunting - I think this is the most obvious name on the list. Highest ranked on the OOM, a Lakeside winner, an unranked TV winner, playing just about as well as anyone who hasn't won one yet, looking good in the events we've had so far this season, this is the obvious number one pick.
2 - Chris Dobey - This I think is the clearest second best (and, before anyone messages, no, the old Masters was not a major) pick. The other worlds semi finalist, someone else with an unranked TV win, looking as good as anyone on the floor, and behind the two Lukes, Ando and MvG, he's scoring more than anyone in the last twelve months. Nobody would blink if either of these won the UK Open in just a few days time.
3 - Damon Heta - We're starting to get a little bit more out of left field, as we've exhausted the Premier League list, but Damon has got a Euro Tour win, has got a World Series win, is the only player in the top 16 of the world (and hence only possible seed) that we've not already picked or excluded, and in terms of numbers, is in the top ten of that as well. Think it probably needs something to click on the big stage before he does make the step up, maybe getting a second Euro Tour will make the jump easier in terms of building additional stage confidence, but as far as next best goes, Damon is the one here.
4 - Josh Rock - The hype has definitely subsided since his initial burst onto the senior scene, but his numbers didn't drop dramatically since then, he showed a good sign of development with his Euro Tour win in 2024, and is young enough that he can still make big steps in terms of quality of play. Hard to see that he doesn't win one at some point, although obviously he's (and anyone else) going to potentially be limited in terms of shots for some time given the quality and youth at the very very top levels.
5 - Dave Chisnall - We step down in terms of numbers, but Dave is certainly someone who knows how to win on a stage (he has eight Euro Tours for crying out loud), has been to finals before so it wouldn't be uncharted territory, and even if his numbers in the last 12 months aren't as high as they have been, they're still pretty solid and we know his top level game is enough to give him a chance.
Next Euro Tour winner (additionally exclude Dave Chisnall, Damon Heta, Josh Rock, Martin Schindler, Joe Cullen, Ricardo Pietreczko, Krzsyztof Ratajski, Kim Huybrechts, Ian White, Mensur Suljovic, Max Hopp):
1 - Ryan Searle - Obviously we'd put Bunting and Dobey above him here, but we don't list players twice in these. This is the next logical step for Ryan, who's got the second best scoring of anyone not listed below (excluding one who we'll come to shortly), has been to a final at this sort of level, has been to a major final, this is one that feels very much like when rather than if.
2 - Wessel Nijman - This is maybe a little premature to put him this high, but the raw talent is so high (he's outscoring Searle, and of qualifiers, is top 8 in scoring in the world) and the speed of improvement so quick, that if the trajectory continues as it has been, this one could get fulfilled very, very quickly. He's already high enough on the Pro Tour ranks that he's not needing to worry about qualifying, so he's going to get his shots, and he has a Pro Tour win already so can clearly get the wins if needed. TV form is a bit of a concern, but that's still relatively new to him.
3 - Dirk van Duijvenbode - Frankly he should have had one already, but if he's back injury free, we know that he's got enough game to compete with anyone, he's shown he has enough to get to a major final, we know he's shown enough to win multiple Pro Tours in a short space of time, if he can get a bit of a spell where he's playing well and playing without any hindrances, then he can get hot quickly and absolutely be a contender at this level.
4 - Jermaine Wattimena - We're going to stick in the Netherlands for another pick, and it's the resurgent Wattimena, who's scoring is at a top 16 level, is a recent major finalist, and playing as well as he's ever done in my opinion. It's a little bit unusual to pick someone who's not even won a Pro Tour yet, but the game is there to jump that hurdle straight away and step up to a Euro Tour winning level.
5 - Gian van Veen - Another one where we're skipping the Pro Tour level, but with Gian it seems like the easiest thing in the world to do. Scoring only fractionally below Jermaine, he's going to have some added confidence from the world youth win, the Pro Tour win seems like just a formality, but this is another win that would surprise nobody. He's only been one leg away from winning one already.
Next Pro Tour winner (additionally exclude Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey, Ryan Searle, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Ryan Joyce, Brendan Dolan, Scott Williams, Cameron Menzies, Callan Rydz, Mickey Mansell, Jim Williams, Willie O'Connor, Wessel Nijman, Alan Soutar, Radek Szaganski, Jelle Klaasen, Wesley Plaisier:
1 - Luke Woodhouse - There's a few players that seem like natural next candidates to win a Pro Tour. Luke's the obvious first pick for me - scoring is more than enough with a good peak level above that to be able to do it, he's shown enough in 2024 to get to a major semi final, he has the advantage of having been to one before so won't potentially waste a chance on account of being in an unfamiliar situation for the first time, surely Woody will get one this year.
2 - Dom Taylor - This might have been a non-starter, but he's back playing, and already showing early in the season that his "break" hasn't come at the expense of any loss of form, still appearing like he is at the sort of 2024 levels where he was a dark horse to go on a deep run in any event he showed up in.
3 - Connor Scutt - This feels like a standard redemption arc, where after the disappointment of 2023, he made 2024 his own, doing incredibly well for himself to win his card outright from a starting point of zero, the numbers are as good as anyone we've not mentioned, he's been to one final last year, and there is enough time on his side that it's not unreasonable to think he can still get even better going forward.
4 - Gabriel Clemens - It's unreal to think that he's still not won a title of any description at the senior PDC level. 2024 appeared like a bit of a down year, but he's still high enough in the rankings, still high enough in the scoring, has a world of experience at this stage and already had plenty of shots, had a nice little run in the most recent event, it really wouldn't take too much to click for him to finally get what's been due.
5 - Karel Sedlacek - Might be a bit of a left field suggestion, but he's got his card back very comfortably, and shows enough consistency with a pretty high ceiling that he could quite easily turn up one day and just be unplayable. It wouldn't shock me - there isn't anyone not previously mentioned (outside of one new card holder with very limited stats) that's scoring more in the last twelve months.
6 - Kevin Doets - One where it appears to me that there's the right combination of just getting the right level of experience, the right sort of level of play, and has hit some real good results that ought to set him up nicely for 2025. 2024 wasn't great for fair chunks, but he has been to a final at this level before, and it's likely just a bad patch that's now behind him.
7 - Martin Lukeman - I think Smash has shown enough that he can get something at this level. Reaching the Slam final should give him a fair bit of a safety net in terms of retaining his ranking, he has a Euro Tour final as well, he's one of few players that is still scoring above 90 that have not already been mentioned, there's been plenty of worse players that have won one so it really wouldn't surprise me.
8 - Richard Veenstra - 2024 wasn't quite as good as 2023, but I don't think there's a player left to choose from that has the combination of a BDO/WDF resume of being able to come through the sort of large field events that a Pro Tour is, combined with a good enough level of play right now. Would just take one bit of a draw opening up for something to happen, he has a quarter already this season so appears in decent nick.
9 - Niels Zonneveld - Niels is a player who's been making steady, incremental improvements, and is now at the point where I think he's got enough about him to be able to win a Pro Tour. The only player not already mentioned anywhere that is scoring over 90 in the last twelve months, he was one leg away from a Euro Tour final last year, is high up enough in the Pro Tour list that he's often just sneaking into the seedings which helps. Get into the seeds low down, then either pull off the upset of the high seed yourself, and you can get a decent enough run deep pretty quickly, then anything can happen.
10 - Andy Baetens - Nobody in the top 64 really stood out as being an obvious pick, and there doesn't seem to be any overwhelming picks in the new cohort to say they should be deserving of getting a spot here, so I'm going to go back to someone in the second year of a card, who didn't really show what he has in him in 2024, but you don't become terrible overnight and he wasn't exactly bad, it may just have been a year of transition to the PDC, and nobody doubts how good a floor player he was prior to making the PDC move. Really wouldn't surprise me if he made a big step up in 2025 and started threatening to win one - a good Masters run early in the season was certainly a promising sign.
Anyone you think I should have included that I didn't? Leave a comment.
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