2024 Belgian Darts Open

The 2024 Blåkläder Belgian Darts Open was the first of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2024 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at the Oktoberhallen, Wieze, Belgium from 8–10 March 2024. It featured a field of 48 players and £175,000 in prize money, with £30,000 going to the winner.

2024 Blåkläder Belgian Darts Open
Tournament information
Dates8-10 March 2024
VenueOktoberhallen
LocationWieze
Country Belgium
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£175,000
Winner's share£30,000
Nine-dart finish Luke Littler
High checkout
Champion(s)
 Luke Littler
Event 2»

Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion, defeating Luke Humphries 8–6 in the 2023 final, but he was eliminated in the second round, losing 4–6 to Peter Wright.[1]

Luke Littler won the title on his PDC European Tour debut, beating Rob Cross 8–7 in the final. Littler also hit a nine-dart finish in this match.[2][3][4]

Prize money

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The prize fund remained at £175,000, with £30,000 to the winner:[5]

Stage (num. of players) Prize money
Winner (1) £30,000
Runner-up (1) £12,000
Semi-finalists (2) £8,500
Quarter-finalists (4) £6,000
Third round losers (8) £4,000
Second round losers (16) £2,500*
First round losers (16) £1,250*
Total £175,000
  • Pre-qualified players from the Orders of Merit who lose in their first match of the event shall not be credited with prize money on any Order of Merit. A player who qualifies as a qualifier, but later becomes a seed due to the withdrawal of one or more other players shall be credited with their prize money on all Orders of Merit regardless of how far they progress in the event.[6][7]

Qualification and format

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A massive overhaul in the qualification for the 2024 European Tour events was announced on 7 January.[8]

For the first time, both the PDC Order of Merit and the PDC ProTour Order of Merit rankings were used to determine 32 of the 48 entrants for the event.

The top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit qualified, along with the highest 16 ranked players on the PDC ProTour Order of Merit (after the PDC Order of Merit players were removed). From those 32 players, the 16 highest ranked players on the PDC ProTour Order of Merit were seeded for the event.

The seedings were confirmed on 6 February.[9]

The remaining 16 places went to players from four qualifying events – 10 from the Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 14 February), four from the Host Nation Qualifier (held on 7 March), one from the Nordic & Baltic Associate Member Qualifier (held on 16 February), and one from the East European Associate Member Qualifier (held on 10 February).[10][11]

The following players will take part in the tournament:

Draw

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First round
(best of 11 legs)
8 March
Second round
(best of 11 legs)
9 March
Third round
(best of 11 legs)
10 March
Quarter-finals
(best of 11 legs)
10 March
Semi-finals
(best of 13 legs)
10 March
Final
(best of 15 legs)
10 March
   Ryan Joyce 91.6561  Dave Chisnall 89.405
  Andrew Gilding 89.233   Ryan Joyce 89.256
  Joyce 89.924
16  Pietreczko 92.126
   Luke Woodhouse 94.15616  Ricardo Pietreczko 93.756
  James Hurrell 88.883  Luke Woodhouse 91.095
16  Pietreczko 82.836
9  Clayton 80.822
   Peter Wright 89.5368  Michael van Gerwen 93.004
  Geert De Vos 81.862   Peter Wright 91.816
  Wright 100.024
9  Clayton 104.066
   Berry van Peer 90.5269  Jonny Clayton 98.586
  Daniel Klose 91.283  Berry van Peer 93.804
16  Pietreczko 90.693
  Littler 104.257
   Brendan Dolan 86.1564  Damon Heta 88.726
  Steven Strobbe 70.872   Brendan Dolan 86.201
4  Heta 99.823
  Littler 101.236
   Luke Littler 101.86613  Krzysztof Ratajski 95.603
  José de Sousa 95.135  Luke Littler 97.056
   Littler 110.066
  Wattimena 102.742
   Martin Schindler 91.8115  Dirk van Duijvenbode 92.223
  Joe Cullen 103.576  Joe Cullen 104.406
   Cullen 82.683
  Wattimena 89.266
   Daryl Gurney 91.93012  Ross Smith 85.382
  Jermaine Wattimena 98.026  Jermaine Wattimena 91.936
  Littler 103.768
7  Cross 108.007
   James Wade 96.1862  Luke Humphries 110.656
  Raymond van Barneveld 89.935   James Wade 89.191
2  Humphries 101.563
15  Searle 94.746
   Nathan Aspinall 88.32315  Ryan Searle 97.456
  Richard Veenstra 90.746  Richard Veenstra 90.765
15  Searle 93.782
7  Cross 97.866
   Lukas Wenig 87.7567  Rob Cross 96.336
  Born Van Put 76.363   Lukas Wenig 92.305
7  Cross 97.326
10  Noppert 90.381
   Chris Dobey 95.59610  Danny Noppert 99.606
  Romeo Grbavac 85.013   Chris Dobey 91.065
7  Cross 97.377
3  Price 97.673
   Jeroen Caron 86.4503  Gerwyn Price 101.216
  Gabriel Clemens 101.336  Gabriel Clemens 92.904
3  Price 104.876
14  Anderson 101.454
   Andreas Harrysson 107.27614  Gary Anderson 102.976
  Gian van Veen 100.721  Andreas Harrysson 96.905
3  Price 98.606
  Bunting 102.714
   Dimitri Van den Bergh 93.5156  Josh Rock 99.225
  Stephen Bunting 99.876  Stephen Bunting 97.796
   Bunting 102.226
  De Decker 94.893
   Mike De Decker 91.03611  Michael Smith 87.552
  Chris Landman 85.215  Mike De Decker 94.356

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ Allen, Dave (7 May 2023). "Van Gerwen ends title drought with Blåkläder Belgian Darts Open success". PDC.
  2. ^ "Luke Littler hits nine darter as he wins Belgian Open". BBC Sport. 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Luke Littler: Teenage star hits another nine-darter to win debut European Tour title against Rob Cross". Sky Sports. 11 March 2024.
  4. ^ Phillips, Josh (10 March 2024). "Nine-dart Littler claims glory on Euro Tour debut". PDC. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Cazoo UK Open & European Tour prize fund increases announced". PDC.
  6. ^ "PDC Order of Merit Rules | PDC".
  7. ^ Allen, Dave (22 February 2024). "European Tour Prize Money Rule Statement". PDC.
  8. ^ "New qualifying format for European Tour confirmed for 2024". PDC. 7 January 2024.
  9. ^ Gorton, Josh (6 February 2024). "ET1-2 Seeds & Tour Card Holder qualifier entries confirmed". PDC.
  10. ^ Gorton, Josh (14 February 2024). "Littler seals European Tour debut, as quartet complete qualification double". PDC. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Littler qualifies for Belgian Darts Open after success in Wigan". Sky Sports. 14 February 2024.