Winmau World Masters 2026 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play
The first round action continues at the Winmau World Masters in Milton Keynes on Friday as a host of big names bid to get their season off and running.
The opening night of the season’s first televised ranking event saw five-time Masters champion Michael van Gerwen crash out at the hands of Damon Heta as the only seeded casualty.
A number of decorated stars will look to safely reach the weekend’s Last 16 at Arena MK, including reigning champion Luke Humphries – who launches his title defence against two-time Masters finalist Dave Chisnall.
Humphries secured his only major ranking silverware of last season here 12 months ago before going on to clinch the Premier League title later in the campaign.
The world number two finished runner-up in the World Grand Prix, European Championship and Grand Slam and was thrashed 5-1 by an imperious Gian van Veen in the quarter-finals of the World Championship.
Humphries is vying to retain a major title for the second time, having done so at the 2024 Players Championship Finals, and starts out against six-time major finalist Chisnall – who starts the season as world number 22 after a 2025 to forget which saw victories on the big stage prove few and far between.
Newly-crowned back-to-back World Champion Luke Littler starts his quest for a maiden World Masters crown with a clash against Belgian number one – Mike De Decker.
Less than a fortnight after becoming only the fourth player in PDC history to defend the world title, Littler went into the Bahrain Masters boasting a remarkable 21-game unbeaten run dating back to last October’s European Championship, but saw that ended by Gerwyn Price.
However, he underlined his resilience by storming to the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters title three days later, notably averaging 111.5 in a sensational 6-4 win over Van Veen in the quarter-finals.
The teenage phenomenon has won six of the last seven major ranking tournaments, with the World Masters and European Championship currently the only major silverware missing from his collection.
De Decker, meanwhile, has struggled for consistency since securing his maiden major title at the 2024 World Grand Prix.
The Belgian was on the wrong end of arguably the biggest upset in the sport’s history when he lost to Kenya’s David Munyua in the opening round of the World Championship last month.
That result marked De Decker’s third consecutive first round exit in a televised ranking tournament, while he also failed to progress beyond the Last 16 of a European Tour event since defeat to Littler in the final of the Belgian Darts Open last March.
World Cup of Darts winner Josh Rock commences his 2026 campaign with a testing tie against Connor Scutt.
Ninth seed Rock reached two major ranking semi-finals and two European Tour finals in 2025, as well as partnering Daryl Gurney to World Cup glory for Northern Ireland.
The 24-year-old was rewarded with a debut spot in this year’s Premier League and will be out to warm up for next week’s curtain-raiser in Newcastle with a strong run this weekend.
Scutt came through Wednesday’s Preliminary Rounds to reach the main event for the first time, defeating Max Hopp, Jeffrey De Zwaan and Graham Hall along the way.
World number 16 Ross Smith also faces a tough opening assignment in the shape of 2025 WDF World Champion Jimmy van Schie.
Former European Champion Smith picked up two Players Championship titles last season but struggled for form in TV majors, culminating in a first round exit to Andreas Harrysson at the World Championship.
Van Schie has enjoyed a memorable two months in his career, claiming Lakeside glory in early December before going on to clinch a two-year Tour Card at European Qualifying School earlier this month and coming through the qualifiers to reach the televised stages of this event.
The giant Dutchman, who also won the WDF World Masters in 2025, saw off the likes of Ritchie Edhouse, Richard Veenstra and Scott Williams 48 hours ago to book his place in the main draw.
Ryan Searle aims to pick up from where he left off at Alexandra Palace at the start of the month when he comes up against former World Champion Rob Cross.
Searle enjoyed a sensational run to the semi-finals of the World Championship, surging to a career-high position of eighth in the PDC Order of Merit as a result.
Twice a Players Championship event winner last season, Searle starts out against world number 20 Cross – runner-up at the 2023 Masters and a four-time major quarter-finalist last year.
Former UK Open champion Danny Noppert comes up against two-time major winner Daryl Gurney.
Noppert enjoyed the best year of his career in 2025, reaching four major ranking semi-finals, but a second round defeat to Justin Hood in an epic contest at Ally Pally ultimately ended his hopes of a Premier League spot.
Gurney guided Northern Ireland to World Cup glory last June and was a quarter-finalist in both the European Championship and Players Championship Finals, ensuring he ended the campaign as world number 23 and secured an automatic spot in this event.
Former Masters champion Stephen Bunting starts out against debutant qualifier Jeffrey De Graaf.
Bunting claimed his first televised PDC title here in 2024 with victory over Van Gerwen in the final and went on to capture a brace of World Series, European Tour and Players Championship titles in 2025 to ensure an immediate return to the Premier League.
Sweden’s De Graaf bounced back from a disappointing first round exit to Paul Lim at the World Championship by coming through the qualifiers to reach this event, dispatching Wesley Plaisier, Rhys Griffin and Jack Tweddell without dropping a set.
The opening match of the night sees German number one Martin Schindler take on an upwardly-mobile Luke Woodhouse.
Schindler starts the season as world number 15 after picking up a third European Tour title and a maiden Players Championship title last season, and is now eyeing a first win on this stage at the third time of asking.
Woodhouse, meanwhile, reached both a European Tour and Players Championship final in 2025 as well as the Last 16 of the World Championship to end the campaign as world number 21 – his highest Order of Merit position to date.
The action gets under way from 7pm GMT, with first round ties to be contested over the best of five sets. All sets are the best of three legs.
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Winmau World Masters 2026 Day Two Schedule
Friday January 30
First Round
7pm-11pm
Martin Schindler v Luke Woodhouse
Ross Smith v Jimmy van Schie
Danny Noppert v Daryl Gurney
Ryan Searle v Rob Cross
Josh Rock v Connor Scutt
Luke Littler v Mike De Decker
Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall
Stephen Bunting v Jeffrey de Graaf
