Henry Coates’ Form Guide omission was about his Tour Card, not his average
Coates would have ranked 15th by average in the August 2026 PDC Form Guide, but lacked a Tour Card. Here’s what that comparison means.
Henry Coates was missing from the PDC’s 4 August 2026 Form Guide because he did not hold a Tour Card—not because his recent average was too low. PDC statistics analyst Christopher Kempf explicitly explained the omission and said Coates’ recent performances would have placed him 15th by average, just ahead of James Wade and Stephen Bunting, had he been eligible. PDC Form Guide, 4 August 2026
That is a dated, hypothetical position in the averages comparison. It is not a claim that Coates was world number 15 or ranked 15th across every Form Guide metric.
What “15th by average” means
A three-dart average measures points scored per dart, multiplied by three. For a simple worked example, a player who completes a 501 leg in 15 darts has an average of:
501 ÷ 15 × 3 = 100.20
That is the average for that one completed leg, including the darts used to finish. Across multiple legs, the calculation uses total points scored and total darts thrown; it should not simply treat every leg or match average as equally weighted. Our guide to combining darts match averages explains the distinction.
The August Form Guide assessed recent performance using players’ last 200 legs played following the World Matchplay. It also tracked separate measures of doubles, high scoring and checkout efficiency. Coates’ hypothetical 15th place referred specifically to averages, not all of those measures. Kempf gave his position in that comparison without publishing an exact average for him in the article’s prose. PDC’s methodology and Coates comparison
How could he win a Players Championship without a Tour Card?
Being eligible to enter an event and being included in this Form Guide were different things.
Challenge Tour players can enter Players Championships as top-up entrants when the field has not reached 128 players. The PDPA’s 2026 guidance specifies that these places come from the top of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit at the entry deadline. That provides access to individual tournaments without making the replacement entrant a Tour Card holder. PDPA Challenge Tour entry guidance
Kempf identified Coates as the winner of Players Championship 25 the previous Tuesday, while still explicitly stating that he lacked a Tour Card. His tournament success therefore did not remove the reason for his Form Guide exclusion. PDC’s account
Why his world ranking was much lower
The same August article reported Coates as 95th in the world after a £15,000 payday. That does not contradict the hypothetical 15th-place averages comparison: the PDC world rankings measure prize money earned in ranking tournaments over two years, not recent scoring averages. August ranking snapshot · PDC world-ranking method
For readers assessing his form, the distinction is straightforward: Tour Card status determined inclusion; recent averages described performance; ranking prize money determined his world position. His absence from that Form Guide was not evidence of weak play.