Kirk Shepherd
Kirk Shepherd

PDC Darts Q School results and Order of Merit standings: Kirk Shepherd regains Tour Card for the fifth time at Qualifying School


Kirk Shepherd and Geert De Vos became the first Tour Card winners of the 2021 PDC Qualifying Schools as the Final Stage began in Milton Keynes and Niedernhausen on Sunday.

Former World Championship runner-up Shepherd defeated Jack Main 6-1 in the final of the UK event to immediately regain his Tour Card, while Belgium's De Vos secured a place on the PDC circuit for the first time with a 6-4 victory over Geert Nentjes in the final of the European event.

Shepherd maintains his incredible record at Q School, where he previously regained his Tour Card via automatic qualification in 2017 and 2019 - as well as earning it back via the Q School Order of Merit rankings in 2013.

The 34-year-old defeated former Tour Card Holders Michael Barnard and Matthew Dennant on Day One of Final Stage, which features Stage One winners along with 2020 Tour Card Holders and top ranked 2020 Challenge and Development Tour players.

"I'm relieved more than anything," Shepherd admitted. "I was behind in my first three games, I've had to dig deep today.

"I know what to do at the right times because I've done this before. I walked in the room and I felt like I was the one to watch, not in an arrogant way.

"I've prepared well, I'm practicing well and I'm playing well. The only person who was going to stop me getting my Tour Card was myself.

"The ambition now is to keep the Tour Card. I don't want to keep having to come back to Q School.

"I'm playing better now than I think I ever have. It's taken me ten years to grow up and hopefully I can kick on now."

The current UK Order of Merit Standings after day one
The current UK Order of Merit Standings after day one

In Germany, former BDO World Trophy winner De Vos enjoyed opening day success on his second successive appearance at European Q School.

De Vos, who famously averaged 113.86 in one of his 2015 Grand Slam of Darts matches, defeated Dutch duo Richard Veenstra and Lorenzo Pronk in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively, before making it a hat-trick of Dutch triumphs against Nentjes in the final.

Taking place from over four days, the Final Stage will see the overall winner at each venue secure a Tour Card on each of the four days, while Orders of Merit will be used to award a further 13 Tour Cards in the UK and eight in Europe.

Returning Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld occupies ninth place on the European table after the opening day thanks to his run to the last 16, which was ended by Martin Schindler.

The current European Order of Merit Standings after day one
The current European Order of Merit Standings after day one

On the UK Order of Merit, two-time televised event winner Robert Thornton sits in 13th place after he too enjoyed a run to the last 16.

Elsewhere at the Marshall Arena, former World Championship finalists Kevin Painter and Mark Dudbridge, and history-maker Fallon Sherrock, went out at the last 64 stage.

Monday will once again see one Tour Card up for grabs at each venue, with play commencing at 1100 GMT in Niedernhausen and 1200 GMT in Milton Keynes.

UK Qualifying School Final Stage Day One

Last 16 onwards. For all the results and detailed stats from day one of UK Qualifying School Final Stage, head to Dart Connect (tv.dartconnect.com/events/pdc)

Last 16

  • Chas Barstow 6-5 Brett Claydon
  • Kirk Shepherd 6-5 Matt Jackson
  • Martin Lukeman 6-0 Andrew Gilding
  • Martin Heneghan 6-4 Robert Thornton
  • Jack Main 6-4 Jason Askew
  • Lee Evans 6-0 Paul Holloway
  • Gavin Carlin 6-4 Alan Soutar
  • Jon Worsley 6-5 Sean Fisher

Quarter-Finals

  • Kirk Shepherd 6-1 Chas Barstow
  • Martin Lukeman 6-1 Martin Heneghan
  • Jack Main 6-4 Lee Evans
  • Jon Worsley 6-1 Gavin Carlin

Semi-Finals

  • Kirk Shepherd 6-5 Martin Lukeman
  • Jack Main 6-4 Jon Worsley

Final

  • Kirk Shepherd 6-1 Jack Main

European Qualifying School Final Stage Day One

Last 16 onwards. For all the results and detailed stats from day one of European Qualifying School Final Stage, head to Dart Connect (tv.dartconnect.com/events/pdc)

Last 16

  • Geert De Vos 6-1 Michael Unterbuchner
  • Richard Veenstra 6-2 Ryan De Vreede
  • Lorenzo Pronk 6-3 Adam Gawlas
  • Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-3 Jan Dekker
  • Wesley Plaisier 6-2 Toni Alcinas
  • Geert Nentjes 6-1 Robert Marijanovic
  • Martin Schindler 6-4 Raymond van Barneveld
  • Zoran Lerchbacher 6-4 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez

Quarter-Finals

  • Geert De Vos 6-3 Richard Veenstra
  • Lorenzo Pronk 6-5 Mario Vandenbogaerde
  • Geert Nentjes 6-5 Wesley Plaisier
  • Martin Schindler 6-3 Zoran Lerchbacher

Semi-Finals

  • Geert De Vos 6-2 Lorenzo Pronk
  • Geert Nentjes 6-2 Martin Schindler

Final

  • Geert De Vos 6-4 Geert Nentjes

Final Stage Qualifiers

UK Qualifying School

  • Players Exempt To Final Stage (32): Scott Baker, Michael Barnard, Barrie Bates, Richie Burnett, Gavin Carlin, Matt Clark, Robert Collins, Joe Davis, Matthew Dennant, Nathan Derry, Andrew Gilding, Adrian Gray, Rhys Griffin, Adam Huckvale, Keelan Kay, Jamie Lewis, Scott Mitchell, Joe Murnan, Richard North, David Pallett, Nathan Rafferty, Reece Robinson, Kirk Shepherd, Simon Stevenson, Dom Taylor, Scott Taylor, Robert Thornton, Conan Whitehead, Carl Wilkinson, Jim Williams, Lewis Williams, Jon Worsley
  • Stage 1A Automatic Qualifiers (12): Eddie Lovely, Chas Barstow, Derek Coulson, Dale Hughes, Sam Booth, Ian Mackenzie, Mike Warburton, Jason Hogg, Christopher Bent, Ryan Hogarth, John Imrie, Kevin Painter
  • Stage 1A Order of Merit Qualifiers (36): David Wawrzewski, Peter Hudson, John Brown, Josh McCarthy, Shane McGuirk, Kevin Thomas, Sam Cankett, Fallon Sherrock, Arron Monk, Brett Claydon, David Airey, Liam Meek, Jim McEwan, Adam Smith-Neale, Niall Culleton, Charlie Symons, Matt Jackson, Jaikob Selby-Rivas, Stephen Gallimore, Gordon Mathers, Jason Heaver, David Ladley, Nathan Girvan, Scott Williams, Kevin McDine, Haupai Puha, James Bailey, John Scott, Jack Main, Jack Vincent, Paul Mitchell, Steve Earley, Connor Scutt, Shaun McDonald, Graham Usher, Chris Quantock
  • Stage 1B Automatic Qualifiers (12): Alan Soutar, Darren Beveridge, José Marquês, Kevin Burness, Mark Dudbridge, Paul Holloway, Martin Heneghan, Jason Askew, Lee Evans, Liam Gallagher, Jarred Cole, Daniel Baggish
  • Stage 1B Order of Merit Qualifiers (36): Lloyd Pennell, Reece Colley, Lee Cocks, Jamie Clark, Rhys Davies, John O'Shea, Ben Cheeseman, Nick Fullwell, Martin Thomas, Robert Owen, Anthony Urmston-Toft, Alan Norris, Brian Hallas, Kyle Richardson, Kevin Garcia, Thomas Lovely, Lewis Pride, Darren Johnson, Lee Whitworth, Andy Jenkins, Martyn Turner, Prakash Jiwa, Adam Mould, Jonathan Wynn, Jock Watt, Jake Jones, Martin Lukeman, Aden Kirk, Ryan Palmer, Robert Rickwood, Ryan Harrington, Gary Butcher, Daniel Lee, Shane O'Connor, Justin Hood, Sean Fisher

European Qualifying School

  • Players Exempt To Final Stage (17): Toni Alcinas, Sebastian Bialecki, Christian Bunse, Jan Dekker, Kevin Doets, Marko Kantele, John Michael, Damian Mol, Geert Nentjes, Brian Raman, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Martin Schindler, Benito van de Pas, Vincent Van der Meer, Jitse Van der Wal, Maikel Verberk, Niels Zonneveld
  • Stage 1A Automatic Qualifiers (12): Michael Plooy, Adam Gawlas, Lorenzo Pronk, Richard Veenstra, Luksa Wenig, Davy Proosten, Boris Koltsov, Michael Rasztovits, Raymond van Barneveld, Jeremy van der Winkel, Nico Kurz, Franz Roetzsch
  • Stage 1A Order of Merit Qualifiers (44): Geert de Vos, Ricardo Pietreczko, Steven Noster, Remo Mandiau, Moreno Blom, Wesley Plaisier, Sven Hilling, Patrick van den Boogaard, Michael Unterbuchner, Jeroen Mioch, Jiri Brejcha, Eimardo van Engelen, Jeffrey Van Egdom, Niko Springer, Dennie Olde Kalter, Kenny Neyens, El-Abbas el Amri, Mindaugas Barauskas, Pero Ljubic, Sebastian Steyer, Jens Ziegler, Chris Landman, Mario Vandenbogaerde, Rene Eidams, Stefan Taferner, Jaimy van de Weerd, Rients Visser, Michael Stoeten, Marco Obst, Philip Van Gasse, Gian van Veen, Patrik Kovacs, Andreas Toft-Jorgensen, Karsten Koch, Kai Gotthardt, Ivan Springborg-Poulsen, Artur Jaa, Gillian Koehoorn, Sven Fiedler, Roland Hol, Egor Tvorogov, Sebastian Pohl, Daniel Meyer, Toon Greebe
  • Stage 1B Automatic Qualifiers (12): Jeffrey de Graaf, Gary Mawson, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Zoran Lerchbacher, Davyd Venken, Florian Hempel, Jose Justicia, Ronny Huybrechts, Leonard Gates, Dragutin Horvat, Stefan Nilles, Kay Smeets
  • Stage 1B Order of Merit Qualifiers (43): Marcel Gerdon, Gino Vos, Matt Campbell, Christian Kist, Arjan Konterman, Luc Peters, Jimmy Hendriks, Robbie Knops, Maikel Venema, Martijn Dragt, Stefan Bellmont, Danny van Trijp, Daniele Petri, Sergio Krassen, Michael Seemann, Michal Smejda, Patrick Bulen, Ryan de Vreede, Willem Mandigers, Veijo Viinikka, Arsen Ballaj, Robert Marijanovic, Jerry Hendriks, Gijsbert van Malsen, Kevin Blomme, Levy Frauenfelder, Johan Engstrom, Laurent Toussaint, Dominique Goldberg, Owen Roelofs, Claus-Bendix Nielsen, Veniamin Symeonidis, Eric Boyer, Jan-Dirk de Groot, Thibault Tricole, Steve Wollener, Kevin Costantini, Thomas Junghans, Erik Meulenmeesters, Nico Schlund, Patrick Tringler, Michael Hausler, Andrew Beeton

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