PDC Q School Day Two: Tabern, Robbe and Owen triumph

Alan Tabern, Mario Robbe and Robert Owen all prevail on day two at the PDC’s Qualifying School.

Germany’s Mario Robbe won his first ever in Hildesheim today after a fantastic run. Robbe was a top player in the mid-2000s qualifying for the BDO World Championship on two occasions before taking a few years and out of the game and returning to PDC action in recent years.

The Dutchman saw off some of Europe’s best darters on day two in Germany to seal his tour card. Hannes Schnier was Robbe’s first opponent of day two, a former World Championship qualifier from Austria. The Dutchman thrashed the Austrian 5-2. Robbe whitewashed Michele Turella 5-0 in the quarter-finals before another simple win against Poland’s Tytus Kanik.

Robbe faced a tough opponent in Frantisek Humpula in the final. The Dutchman got across the line with a 15-dart leg in the decider, with Humpula sat on 39 waiting to claim the victory for himself.

St Helens-based Alan Tabern rolled back the years in Wigan as he wins back his tour card after being forced to play on the Challenge Tour throughout 2017. Tabern is a former UK Open semi-finalist and will be looking for a successful season on the tour to avoid having to revisit the Robin Park Leisure Centre.

The 51-year-old left hand slinger had a fairly easy start to the day before facing Tipton-based Jamie Hughes, a former Finder Darts Masters winner, in the round of 32. Tabern managed to see off ‘Yozza’ 5-2 to reach the last 16.

A 5-3 win over Terry Temple followed before another deciding-leg win, this time over Philip Borthwick, moved ‘The Saint’ into the deciding match against Steven Kirkby, a game he won comfortably to regain his Tour Card.

“I’m happy but I think of myself as someone who shouldn’t have to be qualifying to play the game,” said Tabern, a former UK Open semi-final and a winner of four Challenge Tour events, the most recent being just last year.

“I’ve not been putting the hours in and now is the time to apply myself more. I’ve been on the fringes for a while now and you can relax a little more on the Challenge Tour, but hopefully this makes me try harder and practice more.”

Robert Owen lost his tour card at the end of 2017 despite qualifying for the Players Championship Finals in Minehead and has won it back today at the Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan. ‘Stack Attack’ stacked up some cracking wins beating the likes of George Gardener 5-1, Tony Martin 5-4, Simon Stevenson 5-0 and Nathan Aspinall 5-3 to reach the final match against Mike Norton, where he came through with a 5-3 victory.

Owen set his aims on becoming the Welsh number one just a few months ago as he reached the quarter-finals of the Dutch Darts Masters in Maastricht. The Welshman then went onto reach the Players Championship Finals at Butlins Resort in Minehead.

Winning a tour card will enable players to play the full tour of 22 Players Championship, events, 13 European Tour events and the six UK Open qualifiers. It will also give them the chance to qualify for tournaments such as World Championship, Players Championship and the World Matchplay and possibly become the next Rob Cross.

Full results can be found on the Darts Planet TV Forum, which can be found at the top of your screen!

UK Qualifying School Day Two

Last 16

Steven Kirkby 5-4 Darren Beveridge

Luke Woodhouse 5-4 Ryan Murray

Philip Borthwick 5-3 Rhys Griffin

Alan Tabern 5-3 Terry Temple

Dave Prins 5-3 Bradley Brooks

Mike Norton 5-3 Ian Jones

Robert Owen 5-0 Simon Stevenson

Nathan Aspinall 5-4 Ryan Joyce

Last Eight

Steven Kirkby 5-4 Luke Woodhouse

Alan Tabern 5-4 Philip Borthwick

Mike Norton 5-3 Dave Prins

Robert Owen 5-2 Nathan Aspinall

Last Four

Alan Tabern 5-1 Steven Kirkby

Robert Owen 5-3 Mike Norton

PDC Tour Card Winners

Alan Tabern

Robert Owen

European Qualifying School

Last Eight

Tytus Kanik 5-4 Robert Marijanovic

Mario Robbe 5-0 Michele Turetta

Frantisek Humpula 5-1 Brian Raman

Mike Holz 5-3 Ulf Ceder

Last Four

Mario Robbe 5-1 Tytus Kanik

Frantisek Humpula 5-2 Mike Holz

Last Two

Mario Robbe 5-4 Frantisek Humpula

PDC Tour Card Winner

Mario Robbe