Steve 'The Adonis' Beaton is in prime position to regain his PDC Tour Card following a superb run to quarter-finals at UK Q-School on Thursday.
Beaton fell to a 6-5 defeat at the hands of Australia's Adam Leek on the first day of the final stage event in Milton Keynes.
The former Lakeside world champion decided to step away from the oche at the end of 2024, but after just one year away from professional darts the 61-year-old made a dramatic U-turn, joining 925 names all looking for that coveted Tour Card.
Beaton was just two wins away from securing his Tour Card at the first opportunity but is still well placed. He sits in fifth position in the order of merit, with the top five being awarded a Tour Card after four days of action.
Arno Merk and Filip Bereza were the first players to secure their Tour Cards with the pair defeating Jeffrey Sparidaans and Jeffrey De Zwaan respectively.
Merk follows up a memorable debut at Alexandra Palace by recovering from 5-3 down to edge out Sparidaans 6-5.
Poland's Bereza battled back from 5-1 down, surviving nine match darts to beat former World Matchplay semi-finalist De Zwaan.
Rhys Griffin and Beaton's conqueror Leek became the second pair to earn their Tour Cards.
Welshman Griffin returned to the PDC Tour at the first time of asking courtesy of an emphatic 6-0 whitewash of Scott Waites, while Aussie ace Leek secures a coveted PDC Tour Card for the first time after edging out Tyler Thorpe in a deciding leg.
PDC Tour Cards are awarded to the last two players left standing on each day's play in Final Stage at both the UK and European Qualifying Schools.
There are 128 players are competing in each event, with the two finalists progressing to the PDC tour, with all other players' points going towards the order of merit.
Some big names fell at both UK and EU Q-School, including fan favourites Fallon Sherrock and Charlie Manby in the first round.
Devon Peterson also fell at the hands of Beaton in round one, with Jose De Sousa taking out Matt Campbell in the next stage over in Kalkar, Germany.
De Sousa and Mervyn King crashed out at the last-32 stage.
De Sousa beat both Davy Proosten and former tour card holder Campbell 6-3 before falling short to Ricardo Ulrich by the same scoreline.
King had wins over Tom Lonsdale and Martin Grearson with a high average of 94.17 before he was defeated by Ireland's Stephen Rosney.
Some other names out included Boris Krcmar, Cristo Reyes, Jelle Klaasen, John Part, Mason Whitlock, Willie Borland and Nathan Rafferty.
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