Mission Recap – Scutt Tops The Challenge Tour

Mission Recap – Scutt Tops The Challenge Tour

Connor Scutt has reclaimed his PDC tour card status and earned a debut at the Grand Slam of Darts, after finishing top of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit yesterday.

‘The Sniper’ went into the final four events of the Challenge Tour season with a slender £50 lead over Wesley Plaisier at the top of the rankings.

The duo were still split by only £50 after Events 21 and 22 on Saturday, before a run to the final of Event 23 on Sunday saw Scutt extend his lead at the summit.

In the last event of the season, Cam Crabtree finished on a high with a run to the quarter-finals of Event 24, whilst Scutt’s Challenge Tour campaign ended in a last 32 defeat.

However, an exit at the same round for Christian Kist, coupled with a last 64 defeat for Plaisier, was enough for Scutt to clinch top spot on the Order of Merit and with it a two-year PDC tour card and a debut in the Grand Slam of Darts later this week.

Scutt becomes the sixth player from Team Mission to qualify for the Grand Slam, joining the newly-crowned European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse, European Tour champion Josh Rock and Development Tour Order of Merit winner Wessel Nijman.

Martin Lukeman and Ryan Joyce also booked their spots in the Grand Slam after winning through the Tour Card Holder Qualifiers on Friday.

Lukeman turned on the heat with a string of 100-plus averages, reeling off 103, 104, 103 and 107 averages to secure a debut in Wolverhampton this weekend.

Joyce will make his third appearance in the Grand Slam, and first since 2021, after beating world number nine Damon Heta during his successful qualifying campaign.

The 2024 PDC ProTour season concluded with Players Championships 29 and 30 in Leicester last week.

Ryan Joyce was part of a players tribute to the legendary Steve Beaton, who was playing in his last ProTour event before retiring from the professional tour at the end of the season.

Josh Rock picked up his third ranking title of the season as he went all the way in Players Championship 30, edging past Jonny Clayton 8-7 in the final.

'Rocky' wrapped up the title with a 118 finish in the deciding leg, with his latest victory also helping move back into the top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit.

Wessel Nijman and Madars Razma both enjoyed runs to the quarter-finals of Players Championship 30, with the duo amongst a strong contingent of Team Mission players to qualify for both the Players Championship Finals and PDC World Darts Championship.

Nijman and Razma are joined by Rock, Joyce, Ritchie Edhouse, Alan Soutar, Martin Lukeman, Connor Scutt, Stephen Burton and James Hurrell in the Players Championship Finals in Minehead at the end of the month.

Those 10 players will be joined by the reigning PDC China Premier League champion Xiaochen Zong at Alexandra Palace in December.

Elsewhere, Francesco Basili won his second WDF youth ranking title of the year after lifting the Malta Masters Youth trophy on Saturday.

The Italian teenager battled back from 3-1 down to beat Thomas Sammut 5-3 in the final, as he followed up his victory in September’s Italian Open with another title.

‘Ice Boy’ also reached the semi-finals of the Malta Open Youth event, and teamed up with his fellow Italian Alessandro Casale to make another semi-final in the men’s pairs competition.

And finally, a trio of Mission Academy players were in action at the JDC Super 16 Finals at the weekend.

The tournament was played down to the final, which will be played on stage at the PDC World Masters next year, and Archie Self and Dan Stephenson both got off to impressive starts winning all seven of their group games to finish top of their respective groups.

Jake Hobbs made it through to the knockout stages as a group runner-up, but his run ended in a 4-2 defeat to Jayden Walker in the last 32.

Self’s campaign went one round further as he bowed out in the last 16, losing 4-3 to Alfie Cook, whilst Stephenson also lost out in a last-leg decider as he was edged out by Adam Craik in the quarter-finals.

Picture: PDC

Back to blog