Photo: PDC/Mikal Schlosser

The first two Players Championship event were played this weekend and both Madars Razma and Vladimir Andersen secured themselves some points for the Order of Merit.

With the new rules about Tour Card holders and Global Affiliate Tours, the pressure for qualifying for the World Darts Championship will be a lot greater this year for Madars Razma and Darius Labanauskas, as they have to qualify through the PDC Pro Tour.

However the season of 2023 started quite well for Madars Razma this weekend. The Latvian managed to reach the round of 64 at Saturday and the round of 32 at Sunday, as he beat names such as Graham Usher, Florian Hempel and Ryan Joyce.

However it was far from a perfect start for Darius Labanauskas, who lost in the first round at both days. At Saturday he was drawn against 6. seeded Nathan Aspinall and lost by 6-1, before losing 6-3 against German Ricardo Pietreczko at Sunday.

For Vladimir Andersen, who is still able to play on the Nordic and Baltic Pro Tour, the season on the PDC Pro Tour also started quite good.

At Saturday he won his first round fixture against Scott Waites, before losing 6-3 against James Wade in the second round.

At Sunday he followed Madars Razma all the way to the round of 32, as he beat Daniel Klose and Mickey Mansell in the first and second round, before losing against Danny Noppert.

The two events were won by Ryan Searle and Danny Noppert respectively.

Players Championship 1

Top 128
Madars Razma 6-5 Graham Usher
Vladimir Andersen 6-4 Scott Waites
Nathan Aspinall 6-1 Darius Labanauskas

Top 64
Cameron Crabtree 6-2 Madars Razma
James Wade 6-3 Vladimir Andersen

Players Championship 2

Top 128
Madars Razma 6-3 Florian Hempel
Vladimir Andersen 6-5 Daniel Klose
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Darius Labanauskas

Top 64
Madars Razma 6-2 Ryan Joyce
Vladimir Andersen 6-3 Mickey Mansell

Top 32
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Madars Razma
Danny Noppert 6-4 Vladimir Andersen