Monaghan's Shane McGuirk, who only won his PDC tour card earlier this month, has qualified for the prestigious World Masters and will take on world number 14 Nathan Aspinall this evening.
The 30-year-old beat compatriot Niall Culleton, also a new tour card holder and Belgian Stefaan Henderyck in the preliminary group stage before recording knockout wins over Scotland's Cameron Menzies, Keane Barry from Meath, and England's Scott Waites.
"Had a brilliant start to the PDC campaign," the 2024 Lakeside world champion wrote on Facebook.
"Delighted to have qualified to the televised stage of the Masters."
The top 24 players from the PDC order of merit automatically qualified for the 32-player main event at Milton Keynes, with the remaining eight players sealing their spots in Wednesday's preliminary rounds.
Northern Ireland's Josh Rock begins his challenge against qualifier Connor Scutt, while Rock’s World Cup partner Daryl Gurney has been handed a tough test against Dutch star Danny Noppert.
Luke Humphries is the defending champions and faces Dave Chisnall in his first-round match on Friday. World number one Luke Littler takes on Mike de Decker.
The Winmau World Masters champion will take home a £100,000 prize, with £50,000 on offer to the runner-up.
The event is live on ITV4 and PDC TV.
Thursday 1900
Round One
Chris Dobey v Jermaine Wattimena
Gary Anderson v Niels Zonneveld
James Wade v Madars Razma
Nathan Aspinall v Shane McGuirk
Jonny Clayton v Wessel Nijman
Gerwyn Price v James Hurrell
Michael van Gerwen v Damon Heta
Gian van Veen v Ryan Joyce
Friday 1900
Round One
Martin Schindler v Luke Woodhouse
Ross Smith v Jimmy van Schie
Danny Noppert v Daryl Gurney
Ryan Searle v Rob Cross
Josh Rock v Connor Scutt
Luke Littler v Mike De Decker
Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall
