Angus-based darts player Alan Soutar has qualified for the PDC World Championships – just four months after turning pro.
The Arbroath star has confirmed his place at the £2.5 million event – due to be broadcast live on Sky Sports Darts in December – after smashing the £10,000 threshold for new PDC tour card holders.
Soutar, 43, is currently fifth in the ProTour Order of Merit, with the top 32 guaranteed a place at London’s Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally).
His debut year’s earnings are just £2,500 less than five-times world champion Raymond van Barneveld.
The Dundee firefighter, nicknamed Soots, earned his first-ever PDC tour card in February after winning his way through Q school.
He made it to the UK Open quarter-final in March,
He was also the last player in the world to lose a first round match at The Players Championships.
Soots made it to the money-earning rounds to ‘cash out’ at ten events in a row.
Soutar’s exploits have also booked him a place at The Players Championships in November where the top 64 compete for a £500,000 prize pot.
“I’ve just found out my goal of going to Ally Pally has been achieved,” Soutar told Courier Sport.
“We’ve gone through all the stats and data, including about 5,000 scenarios and I’m there.
“Normally it takes £10,000 earnings on the Pro Tour to qualify and I’m already on £11,750.
“My Manager has told me I’m in the Players Championships and I’m at Ally Pally. I’ve already qualified and we’ve still got Pro Tours to go.
“Hopefully, Covid-permitting, it will be full crowds and a Scottish guy from Arbroath in there in London mixing it with the big dogs.
Soutar’s Ally Pally goal achieved
“I’m really chuffed with that and it will obviously help me to keep my tour card.
“The prize money at Ally Pally is huge and I’m not just turning up to go an play at Ally Pally, I’m going there to…win it, let’s say?
“But let’s set a more achievable target of winning a few matches and putting good money on the rankings. It’s very exciting.”
Soutar is fiercely proud of his Arbroath upbringing where he grew up playing darts in his grandparents old pub The Skate Inn.
Earlier this year Soots revealed his time spent in war-torn Kosovo prepared him for the heat of facing the world’s best darts players.
