Blades, Lowe and Leitinger secure Tour Cards on Day One of Qualifying School
Gary Blades, Jason Lowe and Harald Leitinger were the first three players to secure automatic PDC Tour Cards on Day One of 2020 PDC Qualifying School.
The trio each gained a Tour Card for the first time with their successes in Wigan and Hildesheim as over 800 players began their quest to secure coveted places on the PDC circuit.
Lincoln’s Blades, a 39-year-old planner for Anglian Water, clinched his place on the circuit by seeing off Tony Newell 5-1 in the decider at UK Qualifying School in Wigan.
Blades had previously featured from 2005-2010 on the PDC circuit – competing in the 2005 and 2007 UK Opens – before stepping away from the top level for eight years.
However, his success in claiming eight victories on Thursday – including a 5-2 win over four-time Women’s World Champion Lisa Ashton – saw him claim a coveted two-year PDC Tour Card.
“I’m feeling like this is a weird dream,” admitted Blades. “I didn’t expected today to happen but it has – I’m surprised and ecstatic.
“I stepped away partly because of work and partly because I wasn’t playing well enough. I had a go last year and did okay, but in the last few months I’ve been playing really well.
“I’ve been consistent all day, which isn’t like me! I’ve hit good scores when I needed to and finishes when I needed to. It’s exciting knowing that when the ProTour starts I’ll be there playing the best players in the world.
“We’ll see what happens in the next two years now. Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross are the perfect examples of what can happen when you start testing yourself and get better, so hopefully I can follow in their footsteps.”
Gary Blades enjoyed a fairy-tale success (Photo by PDC)
Lowe, a 47-year-old builder from Cradley Heath, will also compete full-time on the circuit for the first time since Tour Cards were introduced in 2011 after he was a 5-1 winner over Steve Brown in their final.
Lowe averaged over 100 in wins over Corey Burton and Andrew Foster, before seeing off recent World Championship qualifier Ritchie Edhouse, former Challenge Tour event winner Peter Jacques and 2012 World Championship finalist Andy Hamilton.
Lowe previously reached the last 32 as a qualifier at the 2018 UK Open, but had opted out of the 2019 Qualifying School and only decided to enter this year’s event an hour before the entry deadline on Tuesday.
“I’m totally shocked,” said Lowe. “I only entered at the last minute and there’s nobody more shocked than me today – I’ve played well and I’m thrilled.
“I’ve had some fantastic averages but in some matches I’ve missed some doubles and I’ve been lucky in a couple of games, but you need a bit of luck.
“I’ve got to up my game to stand a chance but I’ll put the practice in, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Austria’s Leitinger, 35, edged past Martijn Kleermaker 5-4 in their final in Hildesheim, after the Dutchman missed his chance to claim a Tour Card in their deciding leg.
Leitinger has only previously competed twice in PDC events, in 2011 and 2017, but will now get his chance to become a full-time professional in 2020 and 2021 after securing his status on the PDC circuit.
He won eight games on the day at Halle 39, including defeats of Austrian World Cup representative Zoran Lerchbacher and former World Youth Championship finalist Berry van Peer in deciding legs.
Leitinger also overcame Dutch duo Wesley Harms and Kay Smeets as well as Belgium’s Brian Raman in the latter stages as he progressed to claim a coveted Tour Card.
“Today was my first day at Q School and I’m very happy,” said Leitinger. “It was very hard for me, I had three games which were 5-4.
“It’s a surprise. I’ve been playing mainly [electronic] darts and now I’ll take the chance in steel darts.”
Kleermaker, who featured in the recent BDO World Championship, gained valuable ranking points in his bid to claim a PDC Tour Card, while Raman and Croatia’s Boris Krcmar were semi-finalists on Day One of the four-day Q School in Hildesheim.
Fallon Sherrock, who made history as the first woman to win a match at the William Hill World Darts Championship last month, claimed three wins – including a 5-4 defeat of returning Paul Nicholson – as she won through to the Last 64, before losing out to Darryl Pilgrim.
Ashton joined 2019 Brisbane Masters winner Damon Heta and experienced pair Wayne Jones and Mark Dudbridge in reaching the Last 32, while American prospect Danny Lauby joined 2012 PDC world finalist Andy Hamilton, Robert Collins and Ryan Murray in the last eight.
The 2020 PDC Qualifying School continues on Friday with the second of four days of play, with a further three automatic Tour Cards on offer alongside valuable ranking points for players on the Q School Orders of Merit.
European Qualifying School Day One 2020 Results (Last 128 onwards)
Last 128
Fabian Herz 5-4 Sandor Ballo
Ole Luckow 5-3 Sven Vogelsberg
Brian Raman 5-4 Johan Engstrom
Kevin Blomme 5-2 Roxy-James Rodriguez
Angel Martin Sanchez 5-0 Daniel Klose
Tytus Kanik 5-1 Gergely Lakatos
Mitchell Von Schukkmann 5-3 Szabolcs Nemeth
Erik Tautfest 5-3 Danny Tessmann
Wesley Plaisier 5-1 Roman Benecky
Peter Schnupfhagn 5-2 Arsen Ballaj
Arjan Konterman 5-0 Stefan Taferner
Lukas Wenig 5-1 Robin Beger
Julio Barbero Gonzalez 5-2 Wim Hofsink
Franz Roetzsch 5-3 Marcel Gerdon
Daniel Larsson 5-3 Patrick Bulen
Kevin Munch 5-4 Stefan Bellmont
Filip Sebesta 5-0 Dennis van der Ende
Pero Ljubic 5-2 Romeo Grbavac
Philipp Spindler 5-4 Michael Unterbuchner
Thomas Junghans 5-0 Marek Polyak
Kevin Doets 5-1 Gabriel Pascaru
Christopher Haensch 5-4 Mario Robbe
Kay Smeets 5-0 Claus Bendix Nielsen
Alexander Masek 5-2 Paolo Trutalli
Zoran Lerchbacher 5-3 Frantisek Mika
Rowdy Schoremans 5-4 Marco Apollonio
Harald Leitinger 5-4 Kenny Neyens
Berry van Peer 5-3 Marvin Wehder
Zereso Zeverboom 5-2 Cody Harris
Chris Landman 5-2 Leo Hendriks
Markus Kessler 5-3 Thomas Lazic
Wesley Harms 5-0 Nico Blum
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 5-1 Dennie Olde Kalter
Owen Roelofs 5-2 Kevin Knopf
Ivan Springborg Poulsen 5-4 Jitse Van der wal
Jeffrey De Graaf 5-0 Erik Meulenmeesters
Karel Sedlacek 5-2 Jeffrey Sparidaans
Dirk van Duijvenbode 5-1 Cor Ernst
Michal Zarybnicky 5-3 Rohan Brouwers
Robert Marijanovic 5-3 Michael Plooy
Boris Koltsov 5-0 Gian van Veen
Sebastian Pohl 5-4 Jose Marques
Dragutin Horvat 5-4 Ronny Huybrechts
Karsten Koch 5-2 Wouter Vaes
Boris Krcmar 5-2 Toon Greebe
James Bailey 5-3 Alessio Marconi
Mario Vandenbogaerde 5-1 Ricardo Perez
Johan Singerling 5-4 Jarno Braamskamp
Benjamin Pratnemer 5-0 Sead Nicevic
Martijn Kleermaker 5-2 Kai Gotthardt
Zdravko Antunovic 5-2 Sander Van Beem
Tobias Mueller 5-4 Justin van Tergouw
Thibault Tricole 5-1 Andrea Micheletti
Willem Mandigers 5-2 Gabriel Florin Olar
Jimmy Hendriks 5-1 Dennis Akhtar
Marcel Gugger 5-1 Michel Furlani
Davy van der Zande 5-2 Peter van den Broek
Tonny Veenhof 5-2 Anton Salge
Mike De Decker 5-0 Karel Papezik
Andreas Frei 5-3 Patrik Kovacs
Armando Slotboom 5-1 Rene Fricke
Jose Justicia 5-0 Michal Smejda
Christian Kist 5-2 Ondrej Kysilka
Derk Telnekens 5-1 Sebastian Oschitzki
Losers: 1pt
Last 64
Fabian Herz 5-1 Ole Luckow
Brian Raman 5-3 Kevin Blomme
Tytus Kanik 5-3 Angel Martin Sanchez
Mitchell Von Schukkmann 5-4 Erik Tautfest
Wesley Plaisier 5-2 Peter Schnupfhagn
Lukas Wenig 5-2 Arjan Konterman
Franz Roetzsch 5-3 Julio Barbero Gonzalez
Kevin Munch 5-1 Daniel Larsson
Pero Ljubic 5-1 Filip Sebesta
Thomas Junghans 5-4 Philipp Spindler
Christopher Haensch 5-1 Kevin Doets
Kay Smeets 5-3 Alexander Masek
Zoran Lerchbacher 5-4 Rowdy Schoremans
Harald Leitinger 5-4 Berry van Peer
Chris Landman 5-1 Zereso Zeverboom
Wesley Harms 5-2 Markus Kessler
Owen Roelofs 5-4 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Jeffrey De Graaf 5-1 Ivan Springborg Poulsen
Karel Sedlacek 5-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Robert Marijanovic 5-1 Michal Zarybnicky
Boris Koltsov 5-3 Sebastian Pohl
Dragutin Horvat 5-4 Karsten Koch
Boris Krcmar 5-4 James Bailey
Mario Vandenbogaerde 5-2 Johan Singerling
Martijn Kleermaker 5-2 Benjamin Pratnemer
Zdravko Antunovic 5-3 Tobias Mueller
Thibault Tricole 5-1 Willem Mandigers
Jimmy Hendriks 5-2 Marcel Gugger
Tonny Veenhof 5-4 Davy van der Zande
Mike De Decker 5-2 Andreas Frei
Armando Slotboom 5-3 Jose Justicia
Derk Telnekens 5-1 Christian Kist
Losers: 2pts
Last 32
Brian Raman 5-1 Fabian Herz
Tytus Kanik 5-0 Mitchell Von Schukkmann
Wesley Plaisier 5-3 Lukas Wenig
Franz Roetzsch 5-3 Kevin Munch
Thomas Junghans 5-4 Pero Ljubic
Kay Smeets 5-1 Christopher Haensch
Harald Leitinger 5-4 Zoran Lerchbacher
Wesley Harms 5-3 Chris Landman
Jeffrey De Graaf 5-2 Owen Roelofs
Karel Sedlacek 5-1 Robert Marijanovic
Dragutin Horvat 5-3 Boris Koltsov
Boris Krcmar 5-4 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Martijn Kleermaker 5-2 Zdravko Antunovic
Thibault Tricole 5-3 Jimmy Hendriks
Tonny Veenhof 5-4 Mike De Decker
Derk Telnekens 5-2 Armando Slotboom
Losers: 3pts
Last 16
Brian Raman 5-2 Tytus Kanik
Franz Roetzsch 5-4 Wesley Plaisier
Kay Smeets 5-3 Thomas Junghans
Harald Leitinger 5-2 Wesley Harms
Karel Sedlacek 5-4 Jeffrey de Graaf
Boris Krcmar 5-4 Dragutin Horvat
Martijn Kleermaker 5-4 Thibault Tricole
Tonny Veenhof 5-3 Derk Telnekens
Losers: 4pts
Last Eight
Brian Raman 5-0 Franz Roetzsch
Harald Leitinger 5-2 Kay Smeets
Boris Krcmar 5-3 Karel Sedlacek
Martijn Kleermaker 5-3 Tonny Veenhof
Losers: 5pts
Last Four
Harald Leitinger 5-2 Brian Raman
Martijn Kleermaker 5-4 Boris Krcmar
Losers: 6pts
Final
Harald Leitinger 5-4 Martijn Kleermaker
Loser: 7pts
UK Qualifying School 2020 Day One Results (Last 128 onwards)
Last 128
David Evans 5-0 Kevin Dowling
Justin Hood 5-2 Mark Stephenson
Tony Richardson 5-1 David Carr
Daniel Lauby 5-3 Liam Meek
Carl Hamilton 5-4 Joshua Lowthorpe
Shaun Rutter 5-1 Rhys Griffin
Darren Beveridge 5-2 Christopher Bent
Kai Fan Leung 5-2 Adam Huckvale
Bradley Brooks 5-4 Kevin Thomas
Daniel Day 5-2 Peter Mitchell
Jamie Clark 5-3 Coni Singh Nagi
Martin Atkins (Wigan) 5-2 Jason Wilson
Steve Brown 5-1 Terry Roach
Jeff Smith 5-1 Kevin Lane
Jason Cullen 5-4 Curtis Hammond
Steve Haggerty 5-2 Robert Rickwood
Ritchie Edhouse 5-3 Jim Williams
Andrew Gilding 5-1 Mark Grimes
Jason Lowe 5-1 Michael Mccloskey
Andrew Foster 5-4 David Ladley
Peter Jacques 5-3 Brett Claydon
Ricky Clarke 5-4 Perry Davenport
Mark Dudbridge 5-1 Lee Smith
Paul Dulson 5-3 Kevin Painter
Fallon Sherrock 5-4 Paul Nicholson
Darryl Pilgrim 5-2 Thomas Lovely
Adam Hunt 5-4 Martin Edwards
Tony O’Shea 5-2 Steve Hine
Andy Hamilton 5-1 Graham Usher
Alan Norris 5-1 Brian Woods
Greg Ritchie 5-3 Robbie Green
Daniel Lee 5-3 Ryan Craddock
Justin Smith 5-0 William Borland
Wes Newton 5-1 Adam Mould
Daniel Cooper 5-2 John Part
Russell Murphy 5-2 James Duncan
Ryan Murray 5-4 John Bowles
Alexander Morrison 5-4 Patrick Lynskey
Chas Barstow 5-1 Lee Cocks
Wayne Jones 5-4 James Hurrell
John O’Shea 5-2 Robert Modra
Chris Lacey 5-0 David Calvert
Mick Todd 5-4 Aden Kirk
Andy Chalmers 5-0 Jason Delahunty
Damon Heta 5-2 Stephen Gallimore
Kevin Burness 5-1 Tom Lonsdale
Tony Newell 5-4 Diogo Portela
Nathan Burdett 5-4 James Lawson
Martin Thomas 5-3 Chris Craven
Gary Blades 5-4 Tommy Lishman
Lisa Ashton 5-1 Martin Grearson
Gary Eastwood 5-0 Darrell Hodgson
Dafydd Edwards 5-4 Chris Aubrey
Jamie Caven 5-3 Yuki Yamada
George Cressey 5-1 Frankie Ansell
Joshua Richardson 5-1 John Brown
Jason Murphy 5-4 Anthony Brown
Darren Davies 5-2 Lewis Pride
Robert Collins 5-2 Eddie Lovely
James Richardson 5-3 Adrian Devine
Alan Tabern 5-3 Jamie Atkins
Darren Penhall 5-2 Niall Culleton
Allan Fitzpatrick 5-2 Philip Wathen
Shaun Carroll 5-3 Stuart White
Losers: 1pt
Last 64
David Evans 5-1 Justin Hood
Daniel Lauby 5-2 Tony Richardson
Carl Hamilton 5-1 Shaun Rutter
Darren Beveridge 5-4 Kai Fan Leung
Bradley Brooks 5-1 Daniel Day
Martin Atkins (Wigan) 5-0 Jamie Clark
Steve Brown 5-3 Jeff Smith
Steve Haggerty 5-2 Jason Cullen
Ritchie Edhouse 5-3 Andrew Gilding
Jason Lowe 5-2 Andrew Foster
Peter Jacques 5-0 Ricky Clarke
Mark Dudbridge 5-4 Paul Dulson
Darryl Pilgrim 5-4 Fallon Sherrock
Adam Hunt 5-4 Tony O’Shea
Andy Hamilton 5-3 Alan Norris
Daniel Lee 5-1 Greg Ritchie
Justin Smith 5-3 Wes Newton
Russell Murphy 5-2 Daniel Cooper
Ryan Murray 5-3 Alexander Morrison
Wayne Jones 5-4 Chas Barstow
Chris Lacey 5-1 John O’Shea
Andy Chalmers 5-4 Mick Todd
Damon Heta 5-1 Kevin Burness
Tony Newell 5-4 Nathan Burdett
Gary Blades 5-4 Martin Thomas
Lisa Ashton 5-3 Gary Eastwood
Dafydd Edwards 5-3 Jamie Caven
George Cressey 5-2 Joshua Richardson
Darren Davies 5-1 Jason Murphy
Robert Collins 5-4 James Richardson
Alan Tabern 5-3 Darren Penhall
Shaun Carroll 5-3 Allan Fitzpatrick
Losers: 2pts
Last 32
Daniel Lauby 5-4 David Evans
Carl Hamilton 5-4 Darren Beveridge
Martin Atkins (Wigan) 5-4 Bradley Brooks
Steve Brown 5-2 Steve Haggerty
Jason Lowe 5-3 Ritchie Edhouse
Peter Jacques 5-0 Mark Dudbridge
Adam Hunt 5-3 Darryl Pilgrim
Andy Hamilton 5-2 Daniel Lee
Justin Smith 5-0 Russell Murphy
Ryan Murray 5-4 Wayne Jones
Andy Chalmers 5-4 Chris Lacey
Tony Newell 5-2 Damon Heta
Gary Blades 5-2 Lisa Ashton
Dafydd Edwards 5-1 George Cressey
Robert Collins 5-2 Darren Davies
Alan Tabern 5-3 Shaun Carroll
Losers: 3pts
Last 16
Danny Lauby 5-2 Carl Hamilton
Steve Brown 5-1 Martin Atkins (Wigan)
Jason Lowe 5-2 Peter Jacques
Andy Hamilton 5-4 Adam Hunt
Ryan Murray 5-4 Justin Smith
Tony Newell 5-2 Andy Chalmers
Gary Blades 5-3 Dafydd Edwards
Robert Collins 5-1 Alan Tabern
Losers: 4pts
Last Eight
Steve Brown 5-3 Danny Lauby
Jason Lowe 5-4 Andy Hamilton
Tony Newell 5-3 Ryan Murray
Gary Blades 5-3 Robert Collins
Losers: 5pts
Last Four
Jason Lowe 5-1 Steve Brown
Gary Blades 5-1 Tony Newell
Losers: 6pts
