Ryan Joyce has moved into one of the more valuable holding positions in the World Matchplay race, with the live cut line now turning the Blackpool scramble into a problem for the bigger names behind him.
The latest race table has Joyce 24th on £386,250, clear of the immediate danger zone and ahead of Andrew Gilding, Daryl Gurney, Dave Chisnall, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Cameron Menzies, Kevin Doets, Joe Cullen and Ritchie Edhouse. That matters because Edhouse is currently 32nd on £308,750, with Michael Smith just outside the provisional field on £301,500 and Peter Wright further back on £290,750.
For Joyce, this is not a glamorous headline position. It is something more useful: control. At this stage of the race, players around the line are no longer only chasing prize money. They are chasing insurance.
Why Joyce’s Buffer Changes The Equation
Joyce’s position gives him a cushion of £77,500 over the provisional cut line and £84,750 over Smith. That does not make him mathematically immune, but it does alter the pressure profile around him. The players beneath 30th have little room to absorb early exits, while Joyce can treat the closing events as consolidation rather than rescue work.
The difference is important because the World Matchplay field rewards accumulated ranking weight, not narrative status. Smith and Wright remain two of the sport’s most recognisable names, but the table is blunt. Smith is trying to repair a slide that has left him outside the current 32, while Wright needs a heavier late push to prevent the Blackpool race from moving beyond him.
Joyce has not built that advantage through a single spectacular televised run. His season has been more economical: steady ProTour money, useful European Tour wins, and enough resistance in tight matches to avoid the sort of ranking bleed that has caught others. Darts Rankings lists his recent Slovak Darts Open run as wins over Johan Engstrom and Jonny Clayton before a 6-5 defeat to Mike De Decker, which is exactly the kind of week that can separate a secure Matchplay contender from a nervous one.
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Smith And Wright Now Need Movement
The danger for Smith is proximity. He is close enough to Edhouse to make the race recoverable, but close enough to the line that every rival’s last-16 or quarter-final cheque reshapes the calculation. Wright’s task is steeper: he must not only find prize money himself, but also hope several players above him fail to stretch the gap.
That is why Joyce’s current standing is stronger than the headline number suggests. He is not battling one player. He is forcing a pack of established names to overtake him while also fighting each other.
The final Blackpool places will still move before the field is confirmed, and the lower end of the table is rarely clean. But Joyce has placed himself on the correct side of the argument. Smith and Wright are now chasing the line; Joyce is defending from above it.
That makes him a quieter but more stable Blackpool story than the former champions beneath him: less dramatic, more secure, and increasingly difficult to drag back into the cutoff fight.
