The World Grand Prix concluded on Sunday evening with 200/1 odds outsider Mike De Decker beating reigning champion Luke Humphries to lift his first PDC major title. His win resulted in the biggest jump up the PDC Order of Merit rankings of any other player.
Not surprisingly, Mike De Decker winning the competition and earning a tidy sum of £120,000 in prize money for his maiden PDC major title has seen him fly up the PDC Order of Merit rankings.
Players that did well in the 2022 World Grand Prix had big money to defend while players new to the competition had nothing but upside when it came to rankins.
As a result, we’ve seen some notable movers and shakers in the rankins. Below is a quick list of the biggest or most impactful changes to the PDC Order of Merit rankings following the 2024 World Grand Prix.
Note – There is usually a lot of movement following a major tournament so we’ve just selected some players that have had the biggest movements that both impact themselves and other players around them.
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Order of Merit Biggest Ranking Drops
Scott Williams: Down 3 Places
Surprise 2024 World Championship semi-finalist Scott Williams only falls by three places but it’s an impactful drop as it means that he is now outside of the top 32.
Down to 34th, he has now dropped out of a seeded position for the 2025 World Championship. If he wants to repeat his 2024 heroics, he’ll need a strong end to the year in order to get a more favourable draw.
Peter Wright: Down 3 Places
Peter Wright has had a 2024 to forget when it comes to form.
Someone of Wright’s ability and winning history will always face more scrutiny and pressure when going through a bad patch and after a first round exit at the World Grand Prix, Wright has dropped three places in the OoM and is down to 14th.
He was defending a semi-final finish earning £40,000 in 2022 so a first round exit was the worst possible result for Snakebite.
The first round loss earned him £7,500 so subtracting that from his £40k saw Wright lose £32,750 in prize money from his ranking.
He’s now dangerously close to dropping out of the top 16 which would just make it harder to recapture form in the coming year…
Madars Razma: Down 5 Places
Razma had his best ever finish in a PDC major at the 2022 World Grand Prix.
His first and only major quarter final to date was a great earner for him in 2022 but considering he didn’t qualify for the 2024 event, he was always going to lose £25,000 from the updated ranking.
He’s now down to 43rd and continues to go in the opposite direction from a top 32 position.
Adrian Lewis: Down 12 Places
The biggest drop following the World Grand Prix is former World Champion Adrian Lewis, though this is also the least impactful on the list despite the number.
Lewis has not played competitively since early 2023 and as he drops down to 86 in the OoM, with just £28,750 left to defend he will be losing his Tour Card at the end of this season.
He has however hinted that he could make a return to the game now that he’s in a much better position mentally and with family 👀
See more: Adrian Lewis reveals “ONLY WAY” he’ll make a return to PDC darts after MODUS announcement
Order of Merit Biggest Ranking Risers
Jonny Clayton: Up 3 Places
The 2021 World Grand Prix winner followed it up the next year with an early second round exit meaning he didn’t have as much on the line this year as he did last year when it came to defending prize money.
A quarter final loss to Luke Humphries is nothing to be disappointed about and saw him rise three places to 6th in the OoM.
He’s still almost £100k behind Rob Cross in 4th though so if he wants to make a push for the 2025 Premier League automatic qualification place, he’ll need some more good tournament runs to see out the year.
Alongside Dave Chisnall in 5th, they both have a good chance of making it.
Dimitri Van den Bergh: Up 3 Places
After a UK Open win earlier this year, Dimitri continued his up and down season by making it to the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix.
He would lose to fellow countryman and eventual winner, Mike De Decker, after being the seeming favourite to progress to finals.
Even with the unexpected loss, he only made it to the QF in 2022 so his progress combined with others performing worse puts him up three places to 11th.
Ryan Joyce: Up 3 Places
One of the tournament’s stand out performers, Ryan Joyce had only ever been to the second round of this tournament in 2020.
This year though, he would pull out some impressive underdog performances to reach the semi-finals before losing to Luke Humphries.
His £40,000 in prize money earned sees him rise just three places but it was an impactful ranking move as he is now 32nd meaning it’s the first time in his career that he’s reached the top 32.
If he can hold form, this position would open up more opportunities in PDC tournaments so it was a huge move not only in terms of rankings but on a personal level also.
See also: The ‘unexpected’ reason why Ryan Joyce can’t play in more European Tours
Cameron Menzies: Up 4 Places
A debut in the World Grand Prix ended in miserable fashion for Cameron Menzies.
An inform player who has been excellent on the floor this year was on the receiving end of a brutal whitewash from Dave Chisnall. This led to Menzies making an emotional post on social media issuing an apology to fans.
Read more: Cameron Menzies issues ‘heartbroken’ apology to fans following World Grand Prix loss
Despite his emotional response at the time, his inclusion saw him move up four places to 40th on the OoM as the second highest riser and like Joyce, moves him closer to that top 32 position.
Mike De Decker: Up 11 Places
Last but not least, the bigger riser in the OoM is the 2024 World Grand Prix winner, Mike De Decker.
De Decker was a 200/1 outside odds player with little expectation coming into this tournament. Having never progressed as far as a quarter-final in a televised PDC major, this win was hugely unexpected.
Especially considering he had to beat reigning champion and World Number 1 Luke Humphries in the final.
The win and £120,000 in prize money saw him jump up eleven places to 25th in the OoM, not only cracking the top 32 but as a major winner, he’s now thrown his name into the conversation for the 2025 Premier League.
He showed great composure under pressure and if he can kick on from this maiden title win, he’ll be a serious threat in tournaments for the rest of the year!
Watch the highlights of his epic win below:
PDC Order of Merit ranking change data sourced from dartsrankings.com. Rankings accurate on 15/10/2024.