Mike De Decker has decided not to compete at the Dutch Darts Masters later this month.

The Belgian, who made his major tournament breakthrough with a triumph at the World Grand Prix last year, was widely expected to feature in the 16-player line-up. And fans were furious when he was nowhere to be seen on the list published by the PDC this morning (Monday).

De Decker was left scratching his head after being omitted from the roster on January 6, becoming the first Grand Prix champion in 20 years to be left out.

While that decision was out of his hands, it is understood that De Decker has himself decided not to compete at the Dutch Darts Masters in Den Bosch due to family commitments.

The 29-year-old, who hails from the Flemish-speaking city of Mechelen in Belgium, is unable to attend as he will be on holiday until January 24 - the day the tournament is scheduled to get underway.

Fans who feared De Decker had been snubbed for the second time in a week spoke out passionately on X, where wrote: "Stop using the whole field for these tournaments.

"Give other players a chance. We see enough of those eight players all those weeks long. Where is De Decker? And [Wessel] Nijman?"

Meanwhile chimed in with: "Definitely an agenda against De Decker," and added: "No De Decker is a joke."

Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and defending champion Michael van Gerwen headline the eight PDC represenatives travelling to Den Bosch. There is also space for Rob Cross, Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall.

They will compete for the title and the £20,000 top prize amongst themselves and against eight 'Benelux' competitors from either Belgium, the Netherlands or Luxembourg. Although Belgium's De Decker is sitting out, there will still be plenty of homegrown heroes for fans to get behind.

Former PDC world champion Ramond van Barneveld joins the likes of Danny Noppert, Dimitri van den Bergh, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Gian van Veen. Also included are Jermaine Wattimena, Richard Veenstra and Kevin Doets.

Van Gerwen edged Littler 8-6 in last year's final, despite 'The Nuke' averaging 106.71 and 'Mighty Mike' managing just over a ton. The pair faced off again in the world final earlier this month, with Littler winning 7-3 in sets.