John Part and Mark Dudbridge get through to final stage through the UK first stage Order of Merit, while 18-year-old Leighton Bennett among those to automatically progress; Fallon Sherrock made it through on Tuesday, with the battle for PDC tour cards to now be decided from Thursday
Saturday 13 January 2024 21:18, UK
Three-time world champion and Sky Sports pundit John Part has qualified for the final stage of PDC Q School.
Part, who is attempting to regain his tour card, joins Fallon Sherrock, who qualified on Tuesday, in the final stage, which starts on Thursday and features 128 players competing for a total of 31 tour cards for 2024-25 across the qualifying events in the UK and Germany.
Part, the 57-year-old Canadian, claimed comeback wins over Graham Rackstraw and Darren Barton in Milton Keynes to reach the last 64 on Wednesday, which was sufficient to earn him a spot in the final stage via the first stage order of merit.
Each daily winner in the UK and Germany competitions wins an automatic place on the 2024-25 tour, while cards are also available (13 in Europe and 10 in the UK) through the respective orders of merit.
On Wednesday in Milton Keynes, 18-year-old Leighton Bennett also advanced, losing just eight legs in his five matches, along with Henry Coates, Scott Taylor and Rhys Griffin.
Mark Dudbridge, the 2005 world championship runner-up, finished top of the UK first stage Order of Merit and also advanced.
In Germany, former world youth champion Max Hopp advanced after recovering from 4-3 down to deny Martijn Dragt in the last 16.
Hopp, a winner of two PDC ranking titles, also edged out Finland's Marko Kantele in a last-leg shoot-out, having earlier averaged 99 in a 5-1 thumping of Latvia's World Cup representative Dmitriy Zhukov.
Sweden's Jeffrey de Graaf, who reached the third round at the World Darts Championship last month, was beaten in the last 16, but he comfortably progressed to the final stage courtesy of the order of merit.
Jelle Klaasen was one of the 83 players to advance via the European order of merit.
