UK Open

Butlin's Minehead
Founded2003 (2003)
Inaugural season2003
Organising bodyPDC
CountryEngland
Venue(s)Butlin's Minehead
Most recent
champion(s)		England Andrew Gilding
(2023)
Tournament formatLegs

The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England.[1] The event is often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts" as it has an unseeded open draw made after each round, and entry is open to players at all levels of darts.[2] One-hundred-and-sixty players compete in the multi-board event over eight-stages before the PDC’s Top 32 enter the tournament in the fourth round. The tournament has a prize fund of £600,000; the victor’s prize is £110,000.[3]

History

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, in his first appearance in a PDC ranking event. 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.

As the event has amateur and semi-professional qualifiers, it has produced some upset results over the years.[4] In 2014, Aden Kirk, playing in his first televised match, beat defending and five-time champion Phil Taylor 9–7 in the third round.[5] Kirk then beat Peter Wright 9–5 in the next round.[6] In 2016, Rileys amateur qualifier Barry Lynn recorded a 9–3 win over reigning world champion Gary Anderson and reached the quarter-finals.[7] A year later, Anderson lost to another Rileys qualifier, Paul Hogan, who followed up by beating Adrian Lewis in the next round.[8]

Taylor achieved the perfect nine-dart finish four times (2004, 2005, 2007 & 2008). Mervyn King (2010), Gary Anderson (2012), Wes Newton (2013), Michael van Gerwen (2016 & 2020), Jonny Clayton (2020), Sebastian Białecki (2021), Jitse van der Wal (2021), José Justicia (2022), James Wade (2022) and Michael Smith (2022) have also achieved a nine-dart leg (although Newton's, Białecki’s, van der Wal’s and Justicia's were not televised live, while Clayton's and Smith's were only live on the PDC website). The tournament had a different runner-up for the first 13 years.

Because of extreme weather conditions and fears for the safety of visiting fans the unprecedented decision was taken by the host venue Butlins to play the entire 2018 UK Open behind closed doors leaving the public only being able to watch the event though ITV4’s live coverage and the PDC live web feed.[9]

The Tournament was moved to the Marshall Arena in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and played behind closed doors.[10]

Format

Qualifying events for amateur players are organised by Rileys and held in various locations across the UK. 16 players qualify through these events.

The format is as follows (as of 2020):

  • First round: The 16 Rileys qualifiers, 8 Challenge Tour qualifiers, 8 Development Tour qualifiers and Tour Card holders ranked 97–128 in the PDC Order of Merit.
  • Second round: Players ranked 65–96 in the PDC Order of Merit join the 32 winners of the first round.
  • Third round: Players ranked 33–64 join the 32 winners of the second round.
  • Fourth round to final: Players ranked 1–32 in the PDC Order of Merit join the 32 winners of the third round.

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

Finals

Year[a] 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 Premier Suite at Whites Hotel, 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 Butlin's Minehead, 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 (100.44) 11–6  Gerwyn Price (97.78) £350,000 £70,000 £35,000
2018  Gary Anderson (95.71) 11–7  Corey Cadby (99.78)
2019  Nathan Aspinall (88.72) 11–5  Rob Cross (84.79) £450,000 £100,000 £40,000 Ladbrokes
2020  Michael van Gerwen (101.42) 11–9  Gerwyn Price (99.16)
2021  James Wade (102.52) 11–5  Luke Humphries (97.95) Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
2022  Danny Noppert (84.82) 11–10  Michael Smith (90.33) Cazoo Butlin's Minehead, Minehead
2023  Andrew Gilding (95.46) 11–10  Michael van Gerwen (96.74) £600,000 £110,000 £50,000

Records and statistics

As of 5 March 2023.

Total finalist appearances

Rank Player Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1  Phil Taylor 51614
2  Michael van Gerwen 31416
 James Wade 30321
4  Raymond van Barneveld 20216
5  Peter Wright 12316
6  Gary Anderson 11215
7  Nathan Aspinall 1018
 Andrew Gilding 10110
 Adrian Lewis 10120
 Danny Noppert 1016
 Roland Scholten 10111
 Robert Thornton 10113
13  Gerwyn Price 02210
14  Barrie Bates 01112
 Shayne Burgess 0114
 Corey Cadby 0111
 Rob Cross 0118
 Andy Hamilton 01116
 Luke Humphries 0116
 Terry Jenkins 01116
 Gary Mawson 0113
 Wes Newton 01114
 Colin Osborne 0119
 John Part 01114
 Michael Smith 01115
 Vincent van der Voort 01117
 Mark Walsh 01113
  • Active players are shown in bold
  • Only players who reached the final are included
  • In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by family name

Champions by country

Country Players Total First title Last title
 England 5 11 2003 2023
 Netherlands 4 7 2004 2022
 Scotland 3 3 2012 2018

Nine-dart finishes

Fifteen nine-darters have been thrown at the UK Open. The first one was in 2004, and eleven of them have been televised. Wes Newton in 2013, Sebastian Białecki and Jitse van der Wal in 2021 and José Justicia in 2022 hit nine-darters that were not broadcast.

Player Year (+ Round) Method Opponent Result Ref.
 Phil Taylor 2004, 4th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Matt Chapman 8–2 [11]
 Phil Taylor 2005, Semi-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Roland Scholten 11–6 [11]
 Phil Taylor 2007, 5th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Wes Newton 11–5 [11]
 Phil Taylor 2008, 4th Round 3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12  Jamie Harvey 9–1 [11]
 Mervyn King 2010, 5th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Gary Anderson 8–9 [11]
 Gary Anderson 2012, 3rd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Davey Dodds 9–3 [11]
 Wes Newton 2013, 6th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12†  Adrian Lewis 8–9 [12]
 Michael van Gerwen 2016, 4th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Rob Cross 9–5 [11]
 Jonny Clayton 2020, 6th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Chris Dobey 10–8 [11]
 Michael van Gerwen 2020, Semi-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Daryl Gurney 11–3 [11]
 Sebastian Białecki 2021, 1st Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; 141 CO †  Jim McEwan 6–2 [13][14]
 Jitse Van der Wal 2021, 2nd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; 141 CO †  Sebastian Białecki 3–6 [15][16]
 José Justicia 2022, 3rd Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; 141 CO †  Adam Gawlas 5–6 [17]
 James Wade 2022, 6th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Boris Krčmar 10–8
 Michael Smith 2022, 6th Round 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12  Mensur Suljović 10–9

 †  not televised

High averages

Ten highest UK Open one-match averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
118.66  Phil Taylor 2010, Last 32  Kevin Painter 9–0
115.62  Phil Taylor 2009, Quarter-Final  Mark Lawrence 10–0
115.51  Phil Taylor 2009, Last 32  Ken Mather 9–3
114.91  Michael van Gerwen 2015, Last 16  Kim Huybrechts 9–2
114.54  Phil Taylor 2008, Last 16  Wes Newton 9–3
113.05  Phil Taylor 2010, Semi-Final  Denis Ovens 10–5
111.67  Phil Taylor 2015, Last 16  Vincent van der Voort 9–3
110.88  Peter Wright 2017, Quarter-Final  Raymond van Barneveld 10–8
110.81  Michael van Gerwen 2020, Quarter-Final  Rob Cross 10–4
110.72  Phil Taylor 2012, Last 16  Ronnie Baxter 9–4
Five highest tournament averages
Average Player Year
107.82  Phil Taylor 2015
107.38[18]  Phil Taylor 2009
106.81  Phil Taylor 2013
106.43  Phil Taylor 2010
105.57  Michael van Gerwen 2015

Media coverage

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

References

  1. ↑ "Ladbrokes UK Open". PDC. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  2. ↑ "UK Open Darts 2020 schedule and draw confirmed". Metro. 2020-02-26. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  3. ↑ "Draw and Schedule for 2020 UK Open confirmed". Darts News. 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  4. ↑ "Five biggest ever UK Open darts shocks after Lynn upsets Anderson". coral.co.uk. 6 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "Coral UK Open: Phil Taylor shocked by television debutant Aden Kirk in Minehead". Sky Sports. 3 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "Coral UK Open - Saturday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "Gary Anderson shocked by amateur Barry Lynn in UK Open, while Michael van Gerwen hits nine-darter". Sky Sports. 5 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Darts: Berkshire star Paul Hogan beats World Champions Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis at UK Open". Reading Chronicle. 9 March 2017.
  9. ↑ "PDC Coral UK Open at Butlin's in Minehead to be played with no fans due to 'unprecedented extreme weather'". Somerset Live. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "The UK Open to Move to Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes this March," Sky Sports, 26 January 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 McGourty, Dave (March 2020). "A list of UK Open televised nine-dart finishes". The Stats Zone. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  12. ↑ "UK Open: Wes Newton hits nine-dart finish but still loses in last 16". 11 June 2013.
  13. ↑ "Game Detail". DartConnect. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "RECORD BREAKING DEBUTANT BIALECKI PINS EARLY NINE-DART FINISH TO BEGIN 2021 UK OPEN". 5 March 2021.
  15. ↑ "UK Open: Lisa Ashton sets women's scoring record as Peter Wright and Gary Anderson crash out on day one". Sky Sports. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "Game Detail". DartConnect. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  17. ↑ "Game Detail". DartsConnect. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  18. ↑ "2009 UK Open Stats". Dartsdatabase. Retrieved 4 March 2019.

Notes

  • a Each year is linked to an article about that particular event's draw.
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