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PDC World Championship qualifiers react to making the Alexandra Palace: ‘This is one of the best days of my life’


Matthew Edgar is back at the PDC World Championship (Picture: PA Wire)

Matthew Edgar, Benito van de Pas and Kevin Burness will be celebrating on Monday night having secured their places at the PDC World Championship through the gruelling PDPA qualifier in Wigan.

Any Tour Card holders not yet qualified for the World Championship were able to compete in the tournament in Wigan, with three spots at Alexandra Palace on offer for the victors.

Numerous recognisable names were in the field including Robert Thornton, Mark Webster, Jamie Lewis and Alan Norris, all of whom fell short on the day.

However, Edgar, Van de Pas and Burness all booked their returns to the Ally Pally with some solid performances over the day.

Edgar and Burness both made their World Championship debuts last year and are back for a second crack, while Van de Pas will play at Alexandra Palace for a sixth consecutive year having also appeared at three BDO World Championships.

The man known as Prime Time, Edgar, can maybe count himself a little lucky, having not averaged over 90 in any of his four matches, but doing enough to get another first round opportunity at the Worlds.

The Englishman tweeted: ‘Omg Twitter has exploded !!! Edgar is going to ally pally. Come on !!!!!!’

Edgar, the world number 66, also told the PDC: ‘I’m delighted. This was about more than qualifying for the World Championship. It was about keeping hold of my professional status.

‘Darts is my full time job now and I’ve had to adapt my approach to the game. The pressure was immense but I’ve proved I’ve got fight and I’m looking forward to putting right what went wrong last year.’

Van de Pas was 15th seed for the World Championship in 2017 but has really struggled for form over the last couple of years and is down to number 59 in the world.

However, he found some rhythm when he really needed it, averaging 99.6 in a 7-4 win over Robert Owen to secure his return to north London.

Big Ben has been to the last 16 of the World Championship four times and is a three time PDC ranking event winner, but this still ranks as one of the biggest wins of his career as he is now set to keep his Tour Card for next season.

‘This is one of the best days of my life,’ said the Dutchman.

Benito van de Pas is back at the Alexandra Palace (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I had to fight really hard but I was seeing people below me in the rankings go out and that was helping me to relax because I knew my Tour Card was getting safer.

‘I’ve had a really bad year but this makes up for it. I’m there now and I have some good times in the tournament so we will see what can happen.’

54-year-old Northern Irishman Burness is the oldest of the three qualifiers and will be aiming to repeat his first round win from last year when he tonked Paul Nicholson 3-0.

Iron Man, ranked 87 in the world, said: ‘Anyone who can win in this high pressure situation deserves their place and I’ve played well to qualify.’

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