Players Championship 29 & 30 in Den Bosch: after Littler, Gerwyn Price and James Wade withdraw too

Gerwyn Price and James Wade are skipping Players Championships 29 and 30 in Den Bosch. Daniel Klose moves up from the Challenge Tour – all the info.

The list of withdrawals for the Players Championships 29 and 30 in Den Bosch in the Netherlands keeps growing. After Luke Littler, Gerwyn Price and James Wade also pulled out of the two floor tournaments at the Maaspoort on Tuesday. That leaves the double event on 22 and 23 September 2026 without another player from the top 10 of the world ranking – and in Wade without one of the most successful Pro Tour players in PDC history.

Price and Wade missing at the Maaspoort

Gerwyn Price has been one of the most consistent players on the Pro Tour for years and has already won a Players Championship this season. The Welshman is now skipping the trip to the Netherlands, as is James Wade, who earlier this year at Players Championship 7 became the first player ever to reach the mark of 1,000 wins at Players Championship events. Wade had also claimed one of the 34 events in the series. No reasons were given for either withdrawal.

Price and Wade thus join an already unusually long list of absentees. Besides Littler, those missing include Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton, Gary Anderson, Ryan Searle, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Niko Springer and Belgium's Yorick Hofkens. For a tournament weekend that brings the PDC Pro Tour back to the Netherlands after a long break, that is unwelcome news.

Daniel Klose moves up

Players from the Challenge Tour can benefit from the withdrawals, moving up whenever fields are short. From a German point of view that is especially pleasing: Daniel Klose moves into the Den Bosch field via the Challenge Tour and so gets two chances to show himself on the big Pro Tour stage. Henry Coates, Joe Hunt, Tommy Lishman and Archie Self are also among those moving up.

For players without a Tour Card, such spots are valuable: they offer not only prize money but also the chance to measure themselves against Tour Card holders.

Littler's withdrawal as the trigger

Luke Littler started it all. The 19-year-old had explicitly made his participation dependent on how he fared at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam: only if he won the title did he want to travel on to the Maaspoort. After missing out on the title, he withdrew his entry.

At his first two Players Championship appearances in September, Littler had collected £10,500 in prize money – enough to stay well placed for the necessary spot in the top 64 of the Players Championship Order of Merit.

What Den Bosch is all about

Venue: Maaspoort, Den Bosch (Netherlands)
Dates: Players Championship 29 on Tuesday 22 September, Players Championship 30 on Wednesday 23 September 2026
Start: 13:00 on both days, tournament finishing around 19:00
Field: 128 players each, made up of Tour Card holders and PDPA Associate Members
Prize money: £150,000 per event, including £15,000 for the winner
Coverage: every match on the four main boards live on PDCTV

The prize money for the Players Championships was raised from £125,000 to £150,000 per tournament for the 2026 season. Alongside the £15,000 for the champion, the runner-up receives £10,000 and the semi-finalists £6,500 each. Even reaching the last 64 is still rewarded with £1,250.

Looking ahead to Minehead

Both tournaments are part of the 34-event Players Championship series 2026, which belongs to the PDC Pro Tour 2026. Via the Players Championship Order of Merit, the top 64 players qualify for the Players Championship Finals, which take place from 27 to 29 November in Minehead.

That is exactly why the withdrawals count double for the players involved: anyone who skips two tournaments gives away points in the race for Minehead. For Price and Wade that should be bearable given their season so far – for those moving up from the second row, though, it opens a door that would otherwise have stayed shut.

The draw for the first-round ties is not yet fully available at the time of publication. This season the Players Championship series has already seen 15 nine-darters – in Den Bosch that number could rise further.