Luke Woodhouse continued his ascent on the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder after claiming the Elten Safety Shoes Baltic Sea Darts Open at the weekend. Woodhouse climbed to 18th in the world rankings after scooping the £35,000 top prize in Kiel, capping off a landmark week for the 37-year-old. After picking up his first career ranking […]
Luke Woodhouse continued his ascent on the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder after claiming the Elten Safety Shoes Baltic Sea Darts Open at the weekend.
Woodhouse climbed to 18th in the world rankings after scooping the £35,000 top prize in Kiel, capping off a landmark week for the 37-year-old.
After picking up his first career ranking title at Players Championship 18 on May 19, Woodhouse defeated Ryan Joyce 8-4 after a series of steady displays to also take home his first European Tour crown just 12 days later.
The former European Championship semi-finalist has moved up from 21st in the world since the beginning of the year, and now holds over £460,000 of prize money to his name, overtaking Martin Schindler.
Schindler, meanwhile, has fallen from 15th at the start of 2026 to 19th, following defeat in his first match in Kiel to Joyce.
The German number one has made two European Tour quarter-finals from eight events, but has only made it beyond round three once from 16 Players Championship events this year.
Daryl Gurney has also suffered in 2026, and fell two places to 26th in the world following the weekend’s action in Kiel.
The Northern Irish World Cup winner fell at the first hurdle to eventual semi-finalist Ricky Evans at the Baltic Sea Darts Open, and despite reaching the semi-final of the Austrian Darts Open in May, has found limited success in the ProTour.
Jimmy van Schie’s breakthrough run to the quarter-finals at the weekend saw him climb a huge 12 spots to 89th in the world, after pocketing £8,000 for making the last eight.
The Dutchman was competing in his maiden European Tour, and victories over Ian White, Mike De Decker and Sebastian Bialecki means he is now the fourth-best performing new Tour Card Holder since 2026 Q-School.
Niko Springer’s impressive year on the circuit continued, reaching the last 16 in Kiel to continue scaling the world rankings.
The German has risen to 42nd after this weekend’s action – jumping 12 spots since the start of the year – reaching round three or better on five of his eight European Tour appearances this year.
There were further drops for Scott Williams and Mickey Mansell following Ricky Evans’ semi-final run in Kiel, as Williams has dropped four places since the start of the year.
Karel Sedlacek’s stellar year continued after picking up a win at the weekend to move up two places to 58th in the world rankings, which triggered Ryan Meikle to fall to 60th.
