The 2023 PDC Pro Tour was a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Players Championships and European Tour events are the events that make up the Pro Tour. There were thirty Players Championship events, thirteen PDC European Tour events, 24 events for the Challenge and Development Tours, as well as the Women's Series.
Prize money On 21 November 2022, it was announced that the prize money for the Women's Series will be doubled in 2023.
The following day, it was announced that the prize money for Challenge/Development Tour events would also increase, with the prize fund going up from £10,000 to £15,000 per event.
On 15 February 2023, it was announced that the prize money for the PDC European Tour events was to increase by 25% with prize funds increasing from £140,000 to £175,000 per event.
This is how the prize money was divided:
Stage Winner £30,000 £12,000 £2,500 £2,000 Runner-up £12,000 £8,000 £1,000 £1,000 Semi-finalists £8,500 £4,000 £750 £500 Quarter-finalists £6,000 £3,000 £500 £300 Last 16 £4,000 £2,000 £300 £200 Last 32 £2,500 £1,250 £200 £100 Last 48 £1,250 N/A N/A N/A Last 64 N/A £750 £75 £50 Total £175,000 £100,000 £15,000 £10,000
PDC Tour Card 128 players were granted Tour Cards, which enabled them to participate in all Players Championship events, the UK Open and qualifiers for all European Tour and select televised events.
Tour cards
The 2023 Tour Cards were awarded to: (64) The top 64 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2023 World Championship. (30) 30 qualifiers from 2022 Q-School not ranked in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit following the World Championship. (1) The winner of the 2021 UK Challenge Tour (Jim Williams). Jim Williams was also in the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit, and therefore, one extra Tour Card was awarded to a Q-School qualifier. (1) The winner of the 2021 European Challenge Tour (Matt Campbell). (1) The winner of the 2021 UK Development Tour (Bradley Brooks). (1) The winner of the 2021 European Development Tour (Rusty-Jake Rodriguez). (2) Two highest qualifiers from 2022 Challenge Tour (Robert Owen and Danny van Trijp). (2) Two highest qualifiers from 2022 Development Tour (Geert Nentjes and Jurjen van der Velde). (8) The daily winners from the 2023 Q-Schools.
Afterwards, the playing field was complemented by the highest qualified players from the Q-School Order of Merit until the maximum number of 128 Pro Tour Card players has been reached. In 2023, that meant a total of 19 additional players qualified this way.
Q-School The PDC Pro Tour Qualifying School (or Q-School) was split into a UK and European Q-School. Players that are not from Europe could choose which Q-School to compete in.
Q-School was once again split into two stages; with all players who lost their tour cards after the 2023 World Championship and the players who finished from third to sixteenth in the 2022 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit exempted to the final stage. The first stage consisted a block of three days, with the last eight players on each day qualifying into the final stage. A ranking of other players was also produced with players qualifying via that ranking to produce a full list of 128 players for each final stage.
Stage One took place between 9–11 January; with the Final Stage being held between 12 and 15 January. The winner of each day's play in the Final Stage received a PDC Tour Card.
The UK Q-School was held at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, England; with the European Q-School held at Wunderland Kalkar in Kalkar, Germany.
UK Q-School January 12 January 13 January 14 January 15 Arron Monk Graham Usher Josh Payne Adam Smith-Neale 127 players 125 players 123 players 117 playersEuropean Q-School January 12 January 13 January 14 January 15 Jeffrey Sparidaans Corey Cadby Jeffrey de Zwaan Robbie Knops 127 players 125 players 123 players 106 players
An Order of Merit was created for each Q School. For every win after the Last 64, the players were awarded 1 point.
To complete the field of 128 Tour Card Holders, places were allocated down the final stage Q-School Order of Merits in proportion to the number of participants, with 9 cards going to the UK Q-School and 10 going to the European Q-School.
The following players picked up Tour Cards as a result:
UK Q-School Order of Merit Dylan Slevin Lee Evans Stephen Burton Nick Kenny Keegan Brown Adam Warner Graham Hall Callum Goffin Christian Perez
European Q-School Order of Merit Maik Kuivenhoven Richard Veenstra Niels Zonneveld Pascal Rupprecht Ronny Huybrechts Karel Sedláček Jacques Labre Daniel Klose Gian van Veen Owen Roelofs
Players Championships There were 30 Players Championship events in 2023.
No. Date Venue Winner Legs Runner-up Ref. 1 Saturday 11 February Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley 8 – 4 2 Sunday 12 February 8 – 3 3 Saturday 18 February 8 – 1 4 Sunday 19 February 8 – 2 5 Saturday 11 March 8 – 6 6 Sunday 12 March 8 – 4 7 Sunday 19 March Halle 39, Hildesheim 8 – 4 8 Monday 20 March 8 – 5 9 Saturday 15 April Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan 8 – 1 10 Sunday 16 April 8 – 3 11 Saturday 20 May Leicester Arena, Leicester 8 – 3 12 Sunday 21 May 8 – 5 13 Monday 12 June Halle 39, Hildesheim 8 – 7 14 Tuesday 13 June 8 – 2 15 Monday 10 July Leicester Arena, Leicester 8 – 7 16 Tuesday 11 July 8 – 4 17 Saturday 26 August Halle 39, Hildesheim 8 – 5 18 Sunday 27 August 8 – 1 19 Sunday 3 September Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley 8 – 7 20 Monday 4 September 8 – 6 21 Tuesday 5 September 8 – 6 22 Wednesday 27 September 8 – 7 23 Thursday 28 September 8 – 3 24 Friday 29 September 8 – 4 25 Wednesday 18 October 8 – 4 26 Thursday 19 October 8 – 7 27 Friday 20 October 8 – 5 28 Saturday 21 October 8 – 6 29 Wednesday 1 November 8 – 3 30 Thursday 2 November 8 – 4
PDC European Tour The PDC European Tour remained at 13 events for 2023, although there was no event in Gibraltar, ending 10 years of darts on the peninsula.
No. Date Event Location Winner Legs Runner-up Ref. 1 24–26 February Baltic Sea Darts Open Kiel, Wunderino Arena 8 – 5 2 24–26 March European Darts Open Leverkusen, Ostermann-Arena 8 – 7 3 31 March–2 April International Darts Open Riesa, SACHSENarena 8 – 4 4 8–10 April German Darts Grand Prix Munich, Kulturhalle Zenith 8 – 5 5 21–23 April Austrian Darts Open Premstätten, Steiermarkhalle 8 – 6 6 28–30 April Dutch Darts Championship Leeuwarden, WTC Expo 8 – 5 7 5–7 May Belgian Darts Open Wieze, Oktoberhallen 8 – 6 8 12–14 May Czech Darts Open Prague, PVA EXPO 8 – 6 9 26–28 May European Darts Grand Prix Sindelfingen, Glaspalast 8 – 6 10 30 June–2 July European Darts Matchplay Trier, Trier Arena 8 – 7 11 8–10 September German Darts Open Jena, Sparkassen-Arena 8 – 3 12 22–24 September Hungarian Darts Trophy Budapest, MVM Dome 8 – 7 13 13–15 October German Darts Championship Hildesheim, Halle 39 8 – 4
PDC Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour will once again consist of 4 weekends of 5 events, and 1 weekend of 4 events. The top 2 players on the Order of Merit get a PDC Tour Card and a place at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, meanwhile the winner of the Order of Merit gets a spot at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts as well. The Challenge Tour rankings are additionally used to top up Players Championship events should not all 128 Tour Card holders choose to enter. Furthermore, the eight highest ranked players from the 2023 Challenge Tour without a tour card for the 2024 season qualified for the first round of the 2024 UK Open. +2023 Challenge Tour ranking Rank Player Earnings1 £13,2752 £9,7003 £9,5254 £8,850 5 £8,8506 £7,6257 £6,2008 £6,2009 £6,07510 £5,875
No. Date Venue Winner Legs Runner-up Ref. 1 Friday 20 January Arena MK, Milton Keynes 5 – 2 2 5 – 2 3 Saturday 21 January 5 – 3 4 5 – 4 5 Sunday 22 January 5 – 2 6 Friday 17 March Halle 39, Hildesheim 5 – 2 7 5 – 3 8 Saturday 18 March 5 – 0 9 5 – 0 10 Friday 5 May Arena MK, Milton Keynes 5 – 2 11 5 – 2 12 Saturday 6 May 5 – 3 13 5 – 3 14 Sunday 7 May 5 – 2 15 Friday 11 August 5 – 2 16 5 – 1 17 Saturday 12 August 5 – 2 18 5 – 2 19 Sunday 13 August 5 – 4 20 Saturday 28 October Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan 5 – 3 21 5 – 2 22 Sunday 29 October 5 – 2 23 5 – 4 24 Monday 30 October 5 – 2
PDC Development Tour The Development Tour once again consisted of 4 weekends of 5 events, and 1 weekend of 4 events. The top 2 players on the Order of Merit received a PDC Tour Card and a place at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, meanwhile the winner of the Order of Merit received a spot at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts as well. The Development Tour rankings additionally formed a large part of qualification for the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship. Furthermore, the top 8 ranked players from the 2023 Development Tour Order of Merit, who did not manage to earn a Tour Card for the 2024 season, qualified for the first round of the 2024 UK Open.
+2023 Development Tour ranking Rank Player Earnings1 £20,9502 £20,1753 £14,8254 £10,1255 £9,0256 £8,725 7 £8,0008 £7,475 9 £7,17510 £7,125
No. Date Venue Winner Legs Runner-up Ref. 1 Friday 31 March Arena MK, Milton Keynes 5 – 2 2 5 – 4 3 Saturday 1 April 5 – 1 4 5 – 2 5 Sunday 2 April 5 – 3 6 Friday 28 April Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan 5 – 3 7 5 – 4 8 Saturday 29 April 5 – 2 9 5 – 4 10 Sunday 30 April 5 – 1 11 Friday 9 June Halle 39, Hildesheim 5 – 3 12 5 – 1 13 Saturday 10 June 5 – 4 14 5 – 1 15 Sunday 11 June 5 – 4 16 Friday 14 July Leicester Arena, Leicester 5 – 2 17 5 – 0 18 Saturday 15 July 5 – 3 19 5 – 3 20 Sunday 16 July 5 – 4 21 Friday 18 August Arena MK, Milton Keynes 5 – 3 22 5 – 3 23 Saturday 19 August 5 – 4 24 5 – 1
World Youth Championship The preliminary rounds of the 2023 World Youth Championship were held on 20 August 2023 at Arena MK, Milton Keynes; while the final was held on 26 November 2023 at Butlin's Minehead as part of the 2023 Players Championship Finals. The winner qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.
Josh Rock, who was not eligible to play on the Development Tour due to being in the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit, was reigning champion and top seed going into the tournament. However he was defeated by Gian van Veen in the quarter-finals 6–5.
The top 2 from the 2023 PDC Development Tour series met in the final, with Luke Littler defeating Gian van Veen 6–4.
The results from the third round onwards are shown below.
PDC Women's Series The 2023 PDC Women's Series was expanded from 20 to 24 events held over six weekends. The top 8 ranked players earned from the last 8 Women's Series events of 2022 and the first 12 events of 2023 qualified for the 2023 Women's World Matchplay in Blackpool. The top two players from the series qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, while the top non-qualified player qualified for the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts.
+Final standings of the 2023 Women's World Matchplay Race+(Cut-off: June 26, 2023) Rank Player Earnings1 £24,3002 £12,1003 £7,7504 £6,1505 £5,4006 £5,200 7 £4,4008 £3,750 9 £3,15010 £2,700
+2023 Women's Series ranking Rank Player Earnings1 £29,4002 £17,2003 £13,6004 £9,100 5 £8,950 6 £6,900 7 £5,400 8 £5,3009 £4,70010 £4,300
No. Date Venue Winner Legs Runner-up Ref. 1 Saturday 25 February Leicester Arena, Leicester 5 – 3 2 5 – 0 3 Sunday 26 February 5 – 1 4 5 – 0 5 Saturday 13 May Arena MK, Milton Keynes 5 – 2 6 5 – 3 7 Sunday 14 May 5 – 1 8 5 – 3 9 Saturday 24 June Halle 39, Hildesheim 5 – 1 10 5 – 2 11 Sunday 25 June 5 – 4 12 5 – 0 13 Saturday 29 July Arena MK, Milton Keynes 5 – 2 14 5 – 1 15 Sunday 30 July 5 – 0 16 5 – 4 17 Saturday 16 September Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan 5 – 1 18 5 – 0 19 Sunday 17 September 5 – 2 20 5 – 4 21 Saturday 14 October 5 – 0 22 5 – 0 23 Sunday 15 October 5 – 3 24 5 – 3
PDC Asian Tour