Overall, it was a good weekend for Americans at the PDC Q-School events in England and Germany, with Danny Lauby and Jules van Dongen securing two-year PDC Tour Cards. It could so easily have been three Tour Cards, as Alex Spellman fell agonisingly short in his quest to join his compatriots.

Van Dongen was competing in Kalkar, Germany, and had the luxury of retaining his card without even having to play in todays final day of competition. The four event winners were Jelle Klaasen and Martin Dragt (both Dutch), Jeffrey de Graaf (a Dutchman now representing Sweden), and Belgium’s reigning WDF World Champ, Andy Baetens. They will be joined by the top thirteen players in the European Q-School Order of Merit.

These include two non-European players (ironically the top two qualifiers), Haupai Puha (New Zealand) and the man from Missouri, van Dongen. Three Dutchmen (Patrick Geeraets, Jitse Van der Wal, and WDF World Championship runner-up Chris Landman) and three Germans (Paul Krohne, Lukas Wenig, and Tim Wolters) provided the greatest representation, with lone qualifiers from Poland (Radek Szaganski), Denmark (Benjamin Drue Reus), Belgium (Mario Vandenbogaerde), France (Thbault Tricole), and Italy (Michele Turetta).

Meanwhile, the four event winners from Milton Keynes were English trio Dom Taylor, Leighton Bennett, and Robert Grundy, plus Ireland’s Steve Lennon. The top ten players in the UK Q-School Order of Merit also qualify.

Sixth on this list was Indiana’s Lauby, who did remarkably well considering he suffered two pointless days on Thursday and Saturday. This Order of Merit was dominated by England, with six men picking up their Tour Cards. These are Matthew Dennant (who beat both Lauby and Spellman today), Joshua Richardson, former WDF World #1 James Hurrell, George Killington, Brett Claydon, and Adam Hunt. The list is completed by a brace of Scots (William Borland and Darren Beveridge) and solitary Welshman, Rhys Griffin.

While he finished at # 21, spare a thought for poor Alex Spellman. He had a great run today, reaching the Quarter-Final where he dipped out to Dennant 6-4, after holding him to 3-3 after six legs. Had he ended up beating the Englishman, he would have edged out Adam Hunt for the last spot!

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