UK Open

UK Open
Tournament information
Venue	Butlin's Minehead
Location	Minehead
Country	England
Established	2003
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs
Prize fund	£350,000 (2017)
Month(s) Played	June (2003–2013) March (2014–)
Current champion(s)
Peter Wright

The UK Open is a Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) darts tournament where, following regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, 128 players compete in an elimination tournament to be crowned champion.

The tournament has the nickname, the "FA Cup of darts", because of the wide mix of players of differing experience. There are also no seedings which means the top players can be drawn against each other at any stage. Just like the FA Cup, a random draw takes place after each round to determine the matches for the next round.

From 2003 to 2013, the UK Open took place in June each year at the Reebok Stadium, in Bolton. In 2014, it moved to Butlin's Minehead taking place in early March. Phil Taylor beat Shayne Burgess in the inaugural final. Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld won the tournament in 2006, the first ever ranking tournament with the PDC in which he has played. He knocked out 13-times World Champion Phil Taylor 11–10 en route to the final where he beat Barrie Bates 13–7. He also successfully defended the title in 2007, again beating Taylor en route.

Taylor has achieved the perfect nine-dart finish four times (2004, 2005, 2007 & 2008). Mervyn King (2010) and Gary Anderson (2012), Wes Newton (2013) and Michael van Gerwen (2016) have also achieved a nine-dart leg (although Newton's was the only one of the eight to not be televised).

The tournament had a different runner-up for the first 13 years.

Format

As of 2016 qualifying events for amateur players are organised by Rileys and held in various locations across the UK. 32 players qualify through these events.

In addition there are six UK Open qualifiers for professional players, which also form part of the PDC Pro Tour. These events are only open to players holding an active PDPA membership - either a tour card or associate membership. Prize money won in these six qualifiers is then collated into an Order of Merit table.

The format is as follows (as of 2017):

• First round (Friday afternoon): The 32 Rileys qualifiers and players ranked 65-96 in the UK Open Order of Merit start the tournament. Best of 11 legs.
• Second round (Friday afternoon): Players ranked 33-64 in the UK Open Order of Merit join the 32 winners of the first round. Best of 11 legs.
• Third round (Friday night): The top 32 in the UK Open Order of Merit join the 32 winners of the second round. Best of 19 legs.
• Fourth round (Saturday afternoon): Best of 19 legs.
• Fifth round (Saturday night): Best of 19 legs.
• Quarter-finals (Sunday afternoon): Best of 19 legs.
• Semi-finals (Sunday night): Best of 21 legs.
• Final (Sunday night): Best of 21 legs.

The draws for the first and second rounds are made in full after all qualifying players are known, while the draws for the third round onward are made separately on stage as soon as each preceding round has concluded.

UK Open finals

^[1]

Year	Champion (average in final)	Score	Runner-up (average in final)	Prize money			Sponsor	Venue
				Total	Champion	Runner-up
2003	Phil Taylor (98.03)	18–8	Shayne Burgess (91.36)	£124,000	£30,000	£15,000	Sky Bet	Reebok Stadium, Bolton
2004	Roland Scholten (89.49)	11–6	John Part (85.98)				Budweiser
2005	Phil Taylor (96.80)	13–7	Mark Walsh (84.52)
2006	Raymond van Barneveld (91.51)	13–7	Barrie Bates (82.98)
2007	Raymond van Barneveld (94.99)	16–8	Vincent van der Voort (88.76)	£150,000			Blue Square
2008	James Wade (94.65)	11–7	Gary Mawson (87.33)	£178,000	£35,000
2009	Phil Taylor (100.81)	11–6	Colin Osborne (93.24)	£200,000	£40,000	£20,000
2010	Phil Taylor (97.71)	11–5	Gary Anderson (92.41)				Rileys Darts Zones
2011	James Wade (96.25)	11–8	Wes Newton (88.51)				Speedy Hire
2012	Robert Thornton (95.44)	11–5	Phil Taylor (98.58)
2013	Phil Taylor (107.04)	11–4	Andy Hamilton (97.95)
2014	Adrian Lewis (109.13)	11–1	Terry Jenkins (93.15)	£250,000	£50,000	£25,000	Coral	Butlins Resort, Minehead
2015	Michael van Gerwen (98.43)	11–5	Peter Wright (99.33)	£300,000	£60,000	£30,000
2016	Michael van Gerwen (106.68)	11–4	Peter Wright (98.33)
2017	Peter Wright (100.55)	11–6	Gerwyn Price (97.78)	£350,000	£70,000	£35,000

Finalists

Player	Won	Runner-up	Finals
Phil Taylor	5	1	6
Raymond van Barneveld	2	0	2
Michael van Gerwen	2	0	2
James Wade	2	0	2
Peter Wright	1	2	3
Roland Scholten	1	0	1
Robert Thornton	1	0	1
Adrian Lewis	1	0	1
Shayne Burgess	0	1	1
John Part	0	1	1
Mark Walsh	0	1	1
Barrie Bates	0	1	1
Vincent van der Voort	0	1	1
Gary Mawson	0	1	1
Colin Osborne	0	1	1
Gary Anderson	0	1	1
Wes Newton	0	1	1
Andy Hamilton	0	1	1
Terry Jenkins	0	1	1
Gerwyn Price	0	1	1

Media coverage

From 2003 until 2013, coverage for the UK Open was shown on Sky Sports in June, but from 2014, the tournament was moved to March and shown on ITV4.

Sponsors

The inaugural event in 2003 was sponsored by Sky Bet. In 2004 Budweiser became the main sponsor. After Budweiser's three-year sponsorship ended in 2006, bookmakers Blue Square took over as title sponsor in 2007 until 2009. The 2010 event was sponsored by Rileys Darts Zones.^[2] From 2011 to 2013 it has been sponsored by Speedy Hire. In 2014 Coral took over sponsorship.

References

External links

• Official Page on PDC website