horrible. He went on to lose 13–6 to Phil Taylor in the second round and, after dropping out of the top 16 on the Order of Merit, he failed to qualify for any of the remaining major events in 2015. Hamilton missed three darts to eliminate Joe Murnan 3–1 in the first round of the 2016 World Championship. The match instead went to a deciding set in which Hamilton missed one dart to force a sudden death leg. It was his first opening round exit in the event after securing at least a second round showing in all of his previous 11 World Championships. He qualified for the third round of the UK Open, but lost 9–2 to Kyle Anderson. He received an entry in to the Players Championship Finals when Anderson was unable to obtain a visa and he was defeated 6–1 by Michael van Gerwen in the opening round. During the course of the year one last 16 appearance was Hamilton's best run in an event. Hamilton dropped out of the top 32 during 2016 which saw his 12-year run of playing in the World Championship come to an end. He was ranked 53rd on the Order of Merit after the event. Hamilton lost his PDC tour card at the end of the 2017 season and made the decision to take a year off from playing PDC darts due to personal reasons. He did get through the Riley Pub qualifiers for PDC UK open but failed to make it past the second round. 2020 onwards On 19 January 2020, Hamilton regained his PDC Tour Card by finishing fifth on the UK Q School Order of Merit. He will play on the Pro Tour in 2020 and 2021. Hamilton entered the 2020 PDC UK Open in Round 2, but lost 4–6 in a quality match to Niels Zonneveld, despite averaging 97.49 against Zonneveld's 95.50. Hamilton picked up £5,500 in total prize money from the Players Championship events he participated in, which placed him 101st in the qualifying order of merit for the 2020 Players Championship Finals race. This tournament includes only the Top 64, hence meaning that Hamilton failed to qualify. Nevertheless, 'The Hammer' sealed spots in 2 of the 4 European Tour events held in 2020: the PDC Belgian Darts Championship and the International Darts Open, with respective earnings of £2,000 (Last 32) and £3,000 (Last 16). His