Price leads Clayton on the European Tour, and Clayton beat Price in August

Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton arrive at the Czech Darts Open, the twelfth European Tour event of 2026, one place apart in the world rankings and six places apart on the European Tour money list. Price has entered three of the 11 events completed this season and won one, beating Ross Smith 8-6 in the final of the European Darts Grand Prix in Sindelfingen in April. Clayton has entered seven and has yet to win one, his best week a runner-up finish at the Belgian Darts Open in March. Price sits 11th on the 2026 European Tour list with 50,000 pounds, Clayton 17th with 43,000.

The European Tour is not the whole season, and away from it the order reverses. Clayton beat Price 8-4 in the final of the New Zealand Darts Masters in Auckland on 15 August, the most recent time the two met and Clayton's one senior title of the year against two for Price. Career for career, Price holds 45 senior PDC titles to Clayton's 19, 32 of Price's and 12 of Clayton's won on the ProTour circuit that the European Tour sits inside.

Neither Price nor Clayton throws on Friday. Both came through the top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit, the route that carries a player straight into round two on Saturday, so each waits on a first-round winner. A third Welshman does play on Friday. Rob Owen, 61st in the world, came through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier and meets Martin Schindler of Germany in the first round, where the 32 unseeded players are cut to 16 before the seeds come in. Nick Kenny, 64th, is not named on any of the six qualifying lists for this one.

The Prague pot holds 230,000 pounds and the winner takes 35,000. Round two, where the two seeds start, pays 3,500 pounds to the player who loses it and 5,000 guaranteed to the player who wins it and reaches the last 16. That money counts three times over: to the PDC Order of Merit, to the ProTour Order of Merit, and to the European Tour Order of Merit, which sends its top 32 to the European Championship at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund from 22 to 25 October. Price at 11th and Clayton at 17th are already inside that 32. Every round up to and including the quarter-finals is played over the best of 11 legs, the semi-finals over 13 and the final over 15.

Update, 3 September 2026, 19:55

This piece was filed on Thursday morning, when the PDC had not published the draw. The draw went up during the day: Rob Owen plays Martin Schindler in the first round on Friday, and Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton each await a first-round winner in round two on Saturday. The standfirst and the copy have been updated.