Gian van Veen entered for nothing more than honour, as the loss in his previous two matches left him with no chance of reaching the knockouts.
Nevertheless, he threw a fine match, with a three-dart average of 99.04. With that, however, he was no match for 112.30 from Welshman Gerwyn Price, who seems to have returned to the form with which he won the PDC World Championship in 2021.
Van Veen doubled the number of legs Price gave away so far this tournament, but did eventually lose 5-1.
It was a fine match for finishes from Price at 107, 108, 40, 97 and 121. Van Veen's only checkout was also on 121.
Price is the group winner in Group D with three wins.
Berry van Peer no longer stood a chance in his group after two losses ahead of his match with Northern Ireland's Josh Rock.
It wasn't a high-class match, but it did result in a lot of fun. Van Peer was much more engaged with the crowd than with throwing, whipping up the spectators before, during and after just about every hand, much to Rock's amusement.
The Northern Irishman was not too distracted and won the tie 5-1. Van Peers' only won leg, by the way, was a 12-darter, which the crowd could appreciate.
The victory meant Rock won all his three matches and advanced to the knockouts as Group B winner.
After Gary Anderson threw a great match and won 5-1 against Steve Lennon, it was the turn of the third Dutchman of the evening.
Dirk van Duijvenbode still had every chance of making it through his group, but it would take a win over Englishman Luke Humphries to do so.
However, it became clear very soon that that was out of the question - Van Duijvenbode threw far below par and trailed 4-0.
He won one leg as the Humphries did not have his best day on the checkouts, but eventually lost 5-1.
The difference was clear from the three-dart average: Humphries threw 101.93, Van Duijnvenbode did not get beyond a disappointing 77.06.
Humphries and Anderson both qualify for the round of 16 after finishing top of Group C.
Ryan Searle beat Nathan Rafferty in style: he threw a perfect nine-darter in the eighth to end the match.
It finished 5-3 and he secured a spot in the last 16, behind Price in Group D.
In the next match, Krzysztof Ratajski beat 21-year-old Nathan Girvan 5-1.
That was just enough to force a spot in the eighth final, moreover, it meant the next match between James Wade and world champion Michael Smith was all-decisive as to who would secure the other top two spots in Group A.
Smith won the first leg, but that was also his last as Wade went on to win 5-1, mainly as Smith threw at just 12.5 per cent on checkouts.
It resulted in a premature end to the Grand Slam for the first-placed defending champion in the group stage, despite his two wins.
The final match of the day was also all or nothing for Jonny Clayton and Chris Dobey.
Dobey gave away a 3-0 lead and missed two match darts at 4-3, which could have allowed Clayton to equalise, but as the Welshman missed three darts on tops that party did not go ahead, and Dobey won 5-3.
He joins Rock in the knockouts as runner-up in Group B.
