The qualification process for the World Matchplay differed this year. The top 16 in the PDC Order of the Merit after the 2009 UK Open qualified automatically as the 16 seeds. The other 16 places would be made up of the 16 highest ranked players (not already in the top 16) from the 2009 Players Championship Order of Merit - decided by the various Player Championship events taking place on the PDC Pro Tour from January 2009 - the cutoff point was the Las Vegas Players Championship just before the 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic.[1]