Cristo Reies and Jeffrey Sparidaans secured their return to the PDC Tour, while Ireland’s Niall Culleton and England’s Carl Sneid won tickets for the first time on day two of the final stage of the PDC Qualifying Schools.
Reyes headlined Friday’s Tour Card winners at the European event in Germany, with the Spaniard returning to the professional circuit for the first time in more than five years after a string of excellent performances, including a 6-3 win over Matthias Ehlers in his final match of the day.
The 38-year-old returned to the World Darts Championship last month after a six-year absence, taking on finalist Gian van Veen before losing 3-1. Reyes reached the round of 16 at Aleksandra Palace in 2015.
Sparidanmeanwhile, he also secured his return to the professional circuit after a one-year hiatus, thanks to a dramatic decision win over Michele Tourette.
The Dutchman led Turetta 5-1 but let go of his lead after the Italian scored an incredible 170 checkouts to level the contest at 5-5, before Turetta squandered four match darts in the decider to allow Sparidaans to secure a 6-5 win and his Tour Card.
At the UK Qualifying School in Milton Keynes, Culleton and Snead secured their first Tour tickets after winning six straight matches in thrilling fashion on Friday.
Culleton beat Kirk De Ruyter 6-3 in the first round, before making a dramatic comeback from 5-0 down to beat Sam Jackson 6-5.
The Irishman then defeated veteran Mervyn King 6-2 and compatriot Damien Grimes 6-4 before beating Sam Spivey 6-3 with an average of 98 to set up a winner-takes-all clash with Danny Goddard.
Goddard – who hit nine darts to win his fourth round match against Martin Grearson earlier in the day – initially led 5-4 but Culleton triumphed 6-5 to claim his first PDC Tour card.
Kuleton joined the winner’s circle Sniffas the latter started the day by seeing off Martin Tonks 6-1 and Tommy Morris 6-2 with relative ease.
The Englishman then saw off compatriots Daryl Hunt and Thomas Cromwell, before coming back from 5-2 down to survive a multiple darts match against David Sharp to emerge a 6-5 winner.
Sneyd then faced Irish star Steve Lennon for a Tour Card prospect, and, after leading 4-2, saw out the contest 6-4 to secure two years on the professional circuit.
Beaton lost his Order of Merit after the defeat early on Friday
PDC Tour Cards are awarded to the last two players remaining in each day’s qualifying schools in the UK and Europe, and are now awarded to four out of eight in the four-day finals events.
However, an additional 13 cards will be awarded to the leading players from the respective qualifying schools at the end of Sunday’s play on an Order of Merit basis – eight in Europe and five in the UK.
After reaching the quarter-finals on day one when he was fifth in the British Order of Merit after Thursday’s match, the 61-year-old Steve Beaton he fell below the cut-off line to 14th after the ‘Bronze Adonis’ lost 6-5 in the first round on Friday to Stephen Burton.
Fallon Sherrock and John Part both experienced defeats in the first round for the second day in a row, while Charlie Munby out in the second round and Mervyn King has been defeated in the last 32.
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