Michael van Gerwen heads the field for Players Championship 15-16, taking place on 12-13 May in Leicester, with a £15,000 top prize on offer. The tournaments will feature a field of 128 players competing for the latest ProTour titles. However, as ever, many top names have decided not to bother, with Luke Littler continuing his exile from the ProTour season thus far.
Gary Anderson, usually a stalwart of these tournaments, has decided against playing. Chris Dobey, who alongside Wessel Nijman has utterly dominated the ProTour, is taking a break for one of the events, playing only PC15. Joe Cullen also does the same, skipping PC16. Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price from the Premier League line-up also skip, with Price waiting on results from a hospital visit and taking some time off despite being annoyed about stop-start darts due to only playing Premier League. Price is currently third in the Premier League Darts.
Also absent are Mike de Decker, Matthias Ehlers, and Scott Williams — the latter could spell danger as he's not yet qualified for the World's and is skipping the ProTour again. Non-tour card holders Joe Hunt, Derek Coulson, Tommy Lishman, Daniel Ayres, Tommy Morris, Christopher Wickenden, Nathan Potter, Jack Tweddell, Harry Ward (PC16 only), and Martijn Dragt (PC16 only) come in as replacements.
Michael van Gerwen, Josh Rock, Gian van Veen, Stephen Bunting, and Jonny Clayton, alongside ProTour juggernaut Wessel Nijman, will play, as most of the Premier League line-up aside from the leading trio will compete. The full list of 128 entries includes Nathan Aspinall, Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall, Damon Heta, James Wade, Peter Wright, and many more.
