Peter Wright, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael Smith were all ranked among the world's top 16 last year, but have since slipped further and further down the rankings. Van den Bergh faces the most painful prospect — the Belgian looks set to lose his PDC Tour Card after the World Championship, while Wright could face the same scenario at the end of next year. Smith, meanwhile, urgently needs a turnaround to avoid slipping further down the rankings. But as Bram Coenen writes, they are far from the first big names to fade from the spotlight in a relatively short time.
Several well-known players have left the Tour in recent years, including Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Steve Beaton, but they chose to retire. Instead, the focus falls on those who faded on sporting merit — and few examples are clearer than Glen Durrant. The Englishman won the BDO World Championship three times before joining the PDC in 2019, and just a year later claimed the Premier League Darts title. He reached the World Matchplay semi-finals twice, among other strong results. But just two weeks after winning the Premier League, Durrant contracted Covid-19, which had a major impact on his game, particularly his throw. He never managed to get close to his former level again, and in 2022 — barely two and a half years after his Premier League triumph — he lost his PDC Tour Card. Since then, 'Duzza' has made a few appearances on the senior circuit and regularly provides commentary and analysis for Sky Sports at major PDC televised tournaments, and also worked for a time with the players' union, the PDPA.
Jose de Sousa is another striking example. Nicknamed 'The Special One' for his unusual finishing style, the Portuguese was already 45 when he won his first PDC Tour Card, yet just a year later he reached the high point of his career by winning the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts, beating James Wade 16-12 in the final. He confirmed his status in 2021 by reaching the Premier League Darts final, losing 11-5 to Jonny Clayton, and continued to show his class in 2022 with a World Matchplay quarter-final and a Masters semi-final. After that, however, things became increasingly difficult. He qualified for the most recent World Championship through the Tour Card holders' route but suffered a disappointing first-round exit, a 3-1 defeat to Ricardo Pietreczko, then lost his PDC Tour Card and failed to win it back at Q-School. Now 52, whether we will see 'The Special One' on the ProTour again remains to be seen.
Jules van Dongen is another player who deserves mention. The Dutchman represents the United States internationally and impressed on the WDF circuit in 2021, earning a place at the World Championship, before winning a PDC Tour Card in early 2022. He was granted an exception to play at the WDF World Championship that April, going out in the second round 3-1 to Ryan de Vreede. The right-handed 'Dutch Dragon' lost his Tour Card at the end of 2023 but won it back straight away at Q-School — only to suffer from a form of dartitis, a condition in which a player partly loses control of their throwing action. Last year he represented the United States at the World Cup of Darts in what proved to be his last appearance on the big stage, and a spell throwing left-handed did not produce the level he needed.
Devon Petersen enjoyed his best spell between 2019 and 2022 under the guidance of former professional Wayne Mardle. His World Championship breakthrough came in 2019 when he reached the last 16, backed up by a European Championship semi-final in 2020 and a UK Open quarter-final a year later. He reached the high point of his career in 2020 by winning the German Darts Championship, beating Jonny Clayton in the final for his first European Tour title. But his form declined soon after and he lost his PDC Tour Card in 2023, yet to win it back. He has not disappeared altogether — in 2024 he won the ADC Global Championship and he is a regular analyst for Sky Sports.
John Henderson reached the high point of his career in 2021, winning the World Cup of Darts alongside compatriot Peter Wright by beating Austria 3-1 in the final. But in 2022 he failed to qualify for the World Championship for the second year in a row, and at the end of that year also lost his PDC Tour Card — barely a year and a half after his greatest PDC success. Several attempts to win it back through Q-School failed, but 2024 became a particularly successful chapter when he won the World Seniors Championship, the World Senior Matchplay and the World Senior Masters.
Expectations were high when Jim Williams won his PDC Tour Card in 2022, having already won the World Trophy and reached the BDO World Championship final. Just six Players Championship events after winning his Tour Card, he claimed his first title, but like his good friend Glen Durrant he faded relatively quickly. He reached the last 32 at the World Championship in 2024, lost his PDC Tour Card in 2025, and professional commitments made it difficult to focus fully on darts.
Florian Hempel, a former professional handball player, won a PDC Tour Card in 2021 and made his World Championship debut a year later, producing one of the tournament's biggest upsets by knocking fifth seed Dimitri Van den Bergh out in the second round. He beat Van den Bergh again in the second round of the 2024 World Championship, and in early 2025 competed at the Masters. But after failing to qualify for the World Championship, he eventually lost his PDC Tour Card.
Matt Campbell impressed on the Challenge Tour in 2021, winning three events and finishing top of the final standings to earn a PDC Tour Card. In his first year on the ProTour he reached the final of Players Championship 13, where Nathan Aspinall won 8-5, and in 2022 reached the last 16 at both the Players Championship Finals and the World Series of Darts Finals. But living in Canada and travelling to Europe for PDC events made it hard to maintain his performances, and he eventually lost his Tour Card after the most recent World Championship.
Jamie Hughes had already won the Finder Masters in 2014, reached the World Masters final and made the BDO World Championship semi-finals twice before winning his PDC Tour Card in 2019. In his first year as a Tour Card holder he won the Czech Darts Open, and a year later reached the UK Open quarter-finals, climbing towards the world's top 32. In early 2023 he reached the final of that year's first Players Championship event, losing to Michael Smith, before his form declined and he lost his PDC Tour Card in 2024. He has since competed on the Challenge Tour but has yet to win his Tour Card back.
