Ross Smith was the big mover after Players Championship 20, with his Milton Keynes title lifting him to sixth on the Players Championship Order of Merit with £59,250. Smith started the day on £44,250 and added £15,000 with victory over William O’Connor, moving ahead of Beau Greaves, James Wade, Jermaine Wattimena and Jonny Clayton in the top 10.
At the very top, Wessel Nijman remains well clear on £115,500, despite being beaten by O’Connor in the last 16. Chris Dobey stays second on £75,000, with Kevin Doets third on £71,750 and Andrew Gilding fourth on £68,000. Luke Woodhouse completes the top five on £60,250, narrowly ahead of Smith after his title-winning surge.
O’Connor was another major riser after reaching the final, climbing to 16th on £35,750. That puts him level on prize money with Sebastian Bialecki and just behind Dirk van Duijvenbode, Luke Humphries, Stephen Bunting and Danny Noppert in a tightly packed section of the standings. Further down, the day also strengthened the positions of several players involved in the later rounds. Richard Veenstra moved to 30th on £30,500, while Rob Owen climbed to 33rd on £29,000 after another useful run in his wider Tour Card fight. Henry Coates, despite starting from much lower down, also made a notable jump to 111th on £9,750 after his semi-final run.
The other striking story remains Gian van Veen, who is still only 106th on £10,750 after another early exit. For a World Championship finalist, European champion and Premier League regular, that leaves real work to do in the race to Minehead.
