2024 Austrian Darts Open

The 2024 NEO.bet Austrian Darts Open was the fifth of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2024 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at the Steiermarkhalle, Premstätten, Austria from 26 to 28 April 2024. It featured a field of 48 players and £175,000 in prize money, with £30,000 going to the winner.

2024 Austrian Darts Open
Tournament information
Dates26–28 April 2024
VenueSteiermarkhalle
LocationPremstätten
Country Austria
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£175,000
Winner's share£30,000
High checkout
Champion(s)
 Luke Littler
«Event 4 Event 6»

Jonny Clayton was the defending champion after defeating Josh Rock 8–6 in the 2023 final.[1][2] Clayton was beaten 6–3 by Martin Schindler in the third round.

Luke Littler won his second European Tour title of 2024 after beating Joe Cullen 8–4 in the final.[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 4 April.[9]

The remaining 16 places went to players from four qualifying events – 10 from the Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 10 April), four from the Host Nation Qualifier (to be held on 25 April), one from the Nordic & Baltic Associate Nation Qualifier (held on 5 April) and one from the East European Associate Member Qualifier (held on 6 April).

Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson withdrew and were replaced by Richard Veenstra and Ricky Evans. Krzysztof Ratajski and Joe Cullen moved up to become the 15th and 16th seeds respectively.[10]

After the draw was made, Gerwyn Price withdrew and was replaced by Daniel Klose, who went straight in at the second round.

The following players took part in the tournament:

Draw

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First round
(best of 11 legs)
26 April
Second round
(best of 11 legs)
27 April
Third round
(best of 11 legs)
28 April
Quarter-finals
(best of 11 legs)
28 April
Semi-finals
(best of 13 legs)
28 April
Final
(best of 15 legs)
28 April
   Brendan Dolan 98.3261  Dave Chisnall 93.606
  Hannes Schnier 93.433  Brendan Dolan 98.244
1  Chisnall 98.653
16  Cullen 102.176
   Darius Labanauskas 87.14616  Joe Cullen 102.026
  Madars Razma 81.604  Darius Labanauskas 99.713
16  Cullen 104.496
  van Veen 103.373
   Arron Monk 87.9948  Dirk van Duijvenbode 98.802
  Ritchie Edhouse 93.456  Ritchie Edhouse 103.606
   Edhouse 98.934
  van Veen 105.206
   José de Sousa 74.9519  Ryan Searle 99.805
  Gian van Veen 90.446  Gian van Veen 98.056
16  Cullen 98.537
13  Bunting 96.265
   Martin Lukeman 88.2934  Rob Cross 97.534
  Daryl Gurney 92.316  Daryl Gurney 100.536
  Gurney 100.403
13  Bunting 104.646
Alt  Richard Veenstra 97.24613  Stephen Bunting 97.946
Alt  Ricky Evans 94.715Alt  Richard Veenstra 91.915
13  Bunting 93.826
  Schindler 91.995
   Graham Hall 92.8325  Jonny Clayton 97.196
  Chris Dobey 106.536  Chris Dobey 87.761
5  Clayton 87.573
  Schindler 91.736
   Martin Schindler 111.37612  Ricardo Pietreczko 87.640
  James Wade 99.764  Martin Schindler 101.336
16  Cullen 85.544
  Littler 102.718
   Luke Littler 91.6162  Damon Heta 88.132
  Zoran Lerchbacher 83.102  Luke Littler 106.026
  Littler 95.076
15  Ratajski 91.513
   Dom Taylor 100.20615  Krzysztof Ratajski 96.816
  Christian Gödl 86.930  Dom Taylor 91.022
  Littler 98.276
10  Noppert 90.155
   Dimitri Van den Bergh 93.5067  Josh Rock 102.736
  Gabriel Clemens 97.285  Dimitri Van den Bergh 96.555
7  Rock 106.503
10  Noppert 102.126
   Wessel Nijman 95.21610  Danny Noppert 104.036
  Romeo Grbavac 86.065  Wessel Nijman 99.763
  Littler 105.657
14  R.Smith 95.782
   Andrew Gilding 81.026Alt  Daniel Klose 88.286
  Dominik Haberl 74.562  Andrew Gilding 87.262
Alt  Klose 93.282
14  R.Smith 98.306
   Raymond van Barneveld 89.46614  Ross Smith 105.966
  Mike De Decker 92.785  Raymond van Barneveld 103.995
14  R.Smith 97.146
6  van Gerwen 90.611
   Jeffrey de Zwaan 99.1866  Michael van Gerwen 102.626
  Karel Sedláček 93.533  Jeffrey de Zwaan 94.381
6  van Gerwen 93.926
11  Wright 95.504
   Danny Lauby 93.53611  Peter Wright 92.076
  Ryan Joyce 85.594  Danny Lauby 86.425

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "Josh Rock whitewashes Michael Van Gerwen in Austrian Darts Open before Jonny Clayton wins final". Sky Sports. 23 April 2023.
  2. ^ Gorton, Josh (23 April 2023). "Clinical Clayton celebrates Graz glory at Austrian Darts Open". PDC.
  3. ^ "Austrian Darts Open: 'Generational talent' Luke Littler claims second European Tour title after beating Joe Cullen". Sky Sports. 29 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  4. ^ Allen, Dave (28 April 2024). "Sensational Littler sees off Cullen for NEO.bet Austrian Darts Open glory". PDC. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  5. ^ Phillips, Josh (15 February 2023). "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. ^ Allen, Dave (7 January 2024). "New qualifying format for European Tour confirmed for 2024". PDC.
  9. ^ Gorton, Josh (4 April 2024). "ET5-6 Seeds & Tour Card Holder qualifier entries confirmed". PDC.
  10. ^ Gorton, Josh (25 April 2024). "2024 NEO.bet Austrian Darts Open draw & schedule". PDC. Retrieved 25 April 2024.