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Michael van Gerwen leads the Order of Merit standings heading into this month’s second serving of World Series of Darts action, but won’t be travelling to Australia.
The domineering Dutchman joins fellow big-hitters Luke Littler and Luke Humphries in avoiding the trip Down Under, with all three also missing last weekend’s meeting in Auckland. Therefore, Littler won’t be defending his Australian Masters crown, following his triumph over Mike De Decker in the 2025 final.
A total of 16 players will descend on Wollongong on Friday, eight of whom were selected as the PDC’s representatives for this event back in June. The remaining participants are of Oceanian descent, with all but one having qualified by virtue of their performance in regional championships. The only exception is Adam Leek, who was invited on account of his ownership of a PDC Tour Card. As a high-ranking competitor on the PDC Circuit, Australian ace Damon Heta could have theoretically qualified via either criteria.
The tournament will commence on Friday with the first round, before the tournament’s latter stages unfold the next day. The final is likely to conclude early on Saturday afternoon, after the field has been whittled down to just two players earlier in the afternoon.
Australian Darts Masters 2026 – Key information
Date: Friday 21st August – Saturday 22nd August
Start time: 10.00 (BST)
Venue: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong (New South Wales)
TV Channels/Live stream: ITV4/ITVX
Favourites: Gerwyn Price: 7/2, Jonny Clayton: 9/2
Odds provided by bet365
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Format and Rankings System
The eight PDC representatives are kept apart in the first round, so there is no guarantee that any locally-qualified players will advance to the quarter-finals. However, as Damon Heta is part of the aforementioned PDC contingent and there are seven other Australians in attendance, at least one native competitor will likely make it through.
As is the case in all World Series of Darts events, each match at the Australian Masters is contested over a pre-defined number of legs within a ‘best of’ format. The maximum amount of legs that can be played increases as the tournament progresses, as per the schedule below:
Round 1 and Quarter-finals: Best of 11 legs
Semi-finals: Best of 13 legs
Final: Best of 15 legs
The Order of Merit determines the ranking of all World Series of Darts competitors, whether they’ve featured at one tournament or been an ever-present throughout the entire season. As PDC-affiliated members dominate the overall world rankings and attend more WDS events than other regionally-based players, it’s no surprise that they assume the top positions in this league table.
Order of Merit points are distributed based on individual performances at each event, so players are rewarded for consistently reaching the last eight and beyond. The points breakdown is as follows:
1st Round: 1 point
Quarter-finals: 3 points
Semi-finals: 5 points
Runner-up: 8 points
Winner: 12 points
At the conclusion of the Australian Masters, which is the last event of the ‘regular’ season, the Top 24-ranked players will qualify for next month’s World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam. The winner of this mini tournament will be declared the overall champion, following the same template that has existed since 2015. As the current 24th-ranked player(s) have only accumulated two points, there is a major opportunity for this weekend’s underdogs to leapfrog their way into the Finals
Van Gerwen won the first three editions of the World Series of Darts Finals, before James Wade scooped the top prize in 2018. However, Mighty Mike reclaimed the title the following year thanks to a thumping 11-2 victory over his compatriot Danny Noppert in the final. Having also reigned supreme in 2023 and 2025, Van Gerwen remains the most successful player in the competition’s history by some distance.
World Series of Darts Order of Merit Rankings
Please see the current Order of Merit league table below (points after colon). The five players in joint 18th position have two points, ahead of a large group on one point. With so many just beneath the top 22 players, it will be interesting to see who clinches one of those 24 World Series of Darts Finals spots.
1. Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands): 32
2. Luke Littler (England): 28
3. Luke Humphries (England): 26
4. Gerwyn Price (Wales): 24
5. Gian van Veen (Netherlands): 22
6. Jonny Clayton (Wales): 20
7. James Wade (England): 13
8. Stephen Bunting (England): 11
9. Nathan Aspinall (England): 10
10. Raymond Smith (Australia): 5
11. Josh Rock (Northern Ireland): 4, Man Lok Leung (Hong Kong): 4, Danny Noppert (Netherlands): 4
14. Damon Heta (Australia): 3, Adam Leek (Australia): 3, Jim Long (Canada): 3, Viktor Tingström (Sweden): 3
18. Lourence Ilagan (Philippines): 2, Paul Lim (Singapore): 2, Alexis Toylo (Philippines): 2, Ryusei Azemoto (Japan): 2,
Motomu Sakai (Japan): 2
Favourites
The bookmakers have installed Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton as the leading pre-tournament favourites, although the markets are clearly impacted by the absence of six-time champion Van Gerwen, world number two Humphries, and the all-conquering Littler.
Several other PDC stars will believe they have a chance of success this weekend, while one or two Australian dark horses are looking to cause an upset on home soil. You can find a full list of odds for the 2026 Australian Darts Masters here.
Let’s assess the form of the two players considered the most likely to prevail in Wollongong….
Gerwyn Price
After an extremely underwhelming start to the season, Price has been back at his scintillating best in recent months. The Iceman suffered a sobering exit at the 2026 World Championships, losing 3-0 to unseeded Dutchman Wesley Plaisier in the second round.
However, things had started to slowly turn by the end of January as the World Series of Darts rolled into the Middle East. Price defeated Motomu Sakai and Littler to reach the last four at the Bahrain Masters, but Van Gerwen blocked his route to the final. A second consecutive semi-final appearance materialised in Saudi Arabia, as the Welshman thumped Alexis Toylo and edged past Humphries to set up another showdown with Littler. The teenage sensation would get his revenge, before beating Van Gerwen in a high-quality final at Riyadh’s spectacular Global Theater.
With the next World Series of Darts event not scheduled until June, Price focused his attention on several other premier PDC tournaments. The Caerphilly-born archer also advanced to the semi-finals of both the World Masters and UK Open, while continuing to build his momentum in the Premier League. He delivered impressive displays particularly during the initial phase of the competition, emerging triumphant in the Premier League’s first-ever visit to Antwerp before sweeping the field aside in Manchester. These results would help him qualify for the Playoffs, where he was once again bested by Littler.
Successive quarter-final exits in June’s World Series of Darts events then followed, as Price was eliminated by close friend Clayton at the Nordic Masters and familiar foe James Wade in New York.
The three-time Grand Slam of Darts winner almost claimed his first major title in close to four years midway through the summer, as he navigated his way to the World Matchplay final by defeating a series of esteemed opponents. Somewhat predictably, Littler was the man who thwarted his bid to clinch a long-awaited piece of prestigious silverware.
Last weekend’s New Zealand Masters also ended in disappointment at the final hurdle, as Price lost to Clayton for a third time in the space of 13 weeks.
Jonny Clayton
Although he can reflect favourably on his efforts throughout 2026, Clayton has ultimately delivered a mixed bag of results.
The Welshman’s Premier League heroics have perhaps deflected the spotlight away from some of his less impressive displays, although he’s admittedly enjoyed a fairly fruitful World Series of Darts campaign despite missing the competition’s opening two events.
After being knocked out at the quarter-final stage of the PDC World Championships by 20th seed Ryan Searle, Clayton suffered a further blow when Price advanced to the third round at his expense at the World Masters. He responded by reaching the last eight of the UK Open, but once again lost out to his former World Cup teammate as their 2026 rivalry began to intensify.
Meanwhile, four nightly wins had catapulted Clayton to the summit of the Premier League rankings. However, a first Premier League crown since 2021 wasn’t forthcoming, as a rejuvenated Humphries snuck past the 51-year-old in a thrilling play-off semi-final at the 02 Arena.
Having skipped the Middle Eastern portion of the circuit, ‘the Ferret’ arrived on the World Series of Darts stage in Copenhagen. Before being knocked out in the semi-finals by the imperious Van Gerwen, Clayton hammered experienced Swede Andreas Harrysson and beat Price for a second time in quick succession.
However, he was unable to replicate his performance in the Danish capital when the World Series of Darts reconvened for the U.S. Masters at the end of June, where he lost to reigning World Youth champion Gian van Veen in the quarter-finals. Another surprise second-round exit followed the next month, as Scottish veteran Gary Anderson put him to the sword at the World Matchplay.
Clayton heads into this weekend having triumphed in Auckland last time out, with victories over Haupai Puha, Gian van Veen, and James Wade preceding the aforementioned final against Price.
Prize Money
The total prize pot for the 2026 Australian Masters stands at £100,000 in total, the same amount awarded at each of this season’s previous five World Series of Darts events (supplementary cash prizes were on offer in Saudi Arabia for any player who delivered a nine-dart finish and then a subsequent accurate shot at bullseye, but nobody achieved either of these feats).
This weekend’s winner will receive a cool £30,000 in addition to their 12 Order of Merit points, with the remainder of the prize fund being distributed on a sliding scale dependent on performance. Those eliminated in the first round are still given a small stipend for their endeavours, although this equates to less than 2% of the overall kitty.
We’ve provided a full breakdown of the prize money allocations below. Please note that these figures are exactly the same as the corresponding 2025 Australian Masters amounts.
Winner: £30,000
Runner-up: £16,000
Semi-finalists: £10,000
Quarter-finalists: £5,000
First round: £1,750