Rob Cross remains on course for a World Matchplay return, but the latest qualification picture leaves the former world champion outside the seeded places before the final push to Blackpool.
The live World Matchplay race, updated after ET9, has Cross 20th on the main Order of Merit table on £426,500. That keeps him short of the top-16 seed line, where Nathan Aspinall currently occupies the final automatic seeded position.
The race to qualify for the 2026 Betfred World Matchplay is heating up with only three events to go.
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) June 19, 2026
Cross Still Has A Strong Blackpool Route
The position is still far from a crisis. The PDC qualification structure sends the top 16 from the Order of Merit into the draw as seeds, joined by the top 16 non-qualified players from the ProTour Order of Merit.
Cross is listed 17th on that ProTour table on £111,000, but several names above him are already inside the main top 16. That leaves him in a healthier projected position than the headline ranking alone suggests.
The pressure is still obvious. His Slovak Darts Open final defeat to Wessel Nijman underlined both his current scoring level and the cost of missed title chances in a compressed race.
With the cut-off listed for July 8, Cross now needs enough late ranking money to protect his place and, ideally, drag himself closer to the seed line. The danger is not absence yet. It is arriving at the Winter Gardens with a brutal first-round draw waiting.
