Van Gerwen, who will of course be present tonight in the third round of the Premier League in Glasgow, has not given a reason for his absence in England. He will be replaced on Saturday by James Hurrell and a day later by Owen Bates.
Despite Van Gerwen’s absence, a record number of 23 Dutch players will participate in the two Players Championship tournaments. Jeffrey de Zwaan, Kevin Doets, Jimmy Hendriks, Danny Jansen, Martijn Kleermaker, Maik Kuivenhoven, Damian Mol, Geert Nentjes, Danny Noppert, Luc Peters, Owen Roelofs, Jeffrey Sparidaans, Raymond van Barneveld, Jurjen van der Velde, Vincent van der Voort , Dirk van Duijvenbode, Danny van Trijp, Gian van Veen, Richard Veenstra, Jermaine Wattimena and Niels Zonneveld. They will also be joined by Christian Kist and Chris Landman, who have been added to the field due to the absence of Michael Smith and Peter Wright, among others.