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UK Open

Annual darts tournament

Annual darts tournament

FieldValue
titleUK Open
logo[[File:Ladbrokes_UK_Open.png200px]]
[[File:Skyline Pavilion, Minehead, Somerset (cropped).jpg200px]]
captionButlin's Minehead
venueButlin's Minehead
countryEngland
founded
inaugural2003
organizerPDC
tournament_formatLegs
champion
champ_season2025

The Ladbrokes UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. 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. 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.

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. In 2014, Aden Kirk, playing in his first televised match, beat defending and five-time champion Phil Taylor 9–7 in the third round. Kirk then beat Peter Wright 9–5 in the next round. In 2016, Rileys amateur qualifier Barry Lynn recorded a 9–3 win over reigning world champion Gary Anderson and reached the quarter-finals. A year later, Anderson lost to another Rileys qualifier, Paul Hogan, who followed up by beating Adrian Lewis in the next round.

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.

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

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

YearChampion (average in final)ScoreRunner-up (average in final)Prize moneySponsorVenueTotalChampionRunner-up
200318–8£124,000£30,000£15,000Sky BetPremier Suite at Whites Hotel, Bolton
200411–6Budweiser
200513–7
200613–7
200716–8£150,000Blue Square
200811–7£178,000£35,000
200911–6£200,000£40,000£20,000
201011–5
201111–8Speedy Hire
201211–5
201311–4
201411–1£250,000£50,000£25,000CoralButlin's Minehead, Minehead
201511–5£300,000£60,000£30,000
201611–4
201711–6£350,000£70,000£35,000
201811–7
201911–5£450,000£100,000£40,000Ladbrokes
202011–9
202111–5Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
202211–10CazooButlin's Minehead, Minehead
202311–10£600,000£110,000£50,000
202411–10Ladbrokes
202511–2

Records and statistics

Total finalist appearances

RankPlayerWonRunner-upFinalsAppearances
151614
231418
31423
420218
512318
611217
710111
10113
10120
10110
1018
10112
1028
1013
1502212
0228
170114
01114
01113
01112
01117
0113
0119
01114
01116
01116
0111
01110
01117
  • Active players are shown in bold
  • Only players who reached the final are included
  • In the event of identical records, players are sorted by date first achieved

Champions by country

CountryPlayersTotalFirst titleLast title
England61220032025
Netherlands4720042022
Scotland3320122018
Belgium1120242024

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.

PlayerYear (+ Round)MethodOpponentResultRef.
2004, 4th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12csx8–2last1=McGourtyfirst1=Davetitle=A list of UK Open televised nine-dart finishesurl=https://www.thestatszone.com/darts/a-list-of-uk-open-nine-dart-finishes-874420website=The Stats Zoneaccess-date=7 March 2021date=March 2020}}
2005, Semi-Final3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D1211–6
2007, 5th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D1211–5
2008, 4th Round3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12csx9–1
2010, 5th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D128–9
2012, 3rd Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12csx9–3
2013, 6th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D128–9
2016, 4th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D129–5
2020, 6th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D1210–8
2020, Semi-Final3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D1211–3
2021, 1st Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; 141 CO6–2
2021, 2nd Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; 141 CO3–6
2022, 3rd Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; 141 CO5–6
2022, 6th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D1210–8
2022, 6th Round3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D1210–9

not televised

High averages

Ten highest UK Open one-match averagesAveragePlayerYear (+ Round)OpponentResult
118.662010, Last 329–0
115.92Niko Springer2025, 1st RoundCor Dekker6–2
115.622009, Quarter-Finalcsx10–0
115.512009, Last 32csx9–3
114.912015, Last 169–2
114.542008, Last 169–3
113.052010, Semi-Final10–5
111.672015, Last 169–3
110.882017, Quarter-Final10–8
110.812020, Quarter-Final10–4
110.722012, Last 169–4
Five highest tournament averagesAveragePlayerYear
107.822015
107.382009
106.812013
106.432010
105.572015

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

Notes

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

References

  1. "Ladbrokes UK Open".
  2. (2020-02-26). "UK Open Darts 2020 schedule and draw confirmed".
  3. (2020-02-24). "Draw and Schedule for 2020 UK Open confirmed".
  4. (6 March 2016). "Five biggest ever UK Open darts shocks after Lynn upsets Anderson". coral.co.uk.
  5. (3 March 2014). "Coral UK Open: Phil Taylor shocked by television debutant Aden Kirk in Minehead". Sky Sports.
  6. "Coral UK Open - Saturday Afternoon". [[Professional Darts Corporation.
  7. (5 March 2016). "Gary Anderson shocked by amateur Barry Lynn in UK Open, while Michael van Gerwen hits nine-darter". Sky Sports.
  8. (9 March 2017). "Darts: Berkshire star Paul Hogan beats World Champions Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis at UK Open". Reading Chronicle.
  9. (2 March 2018). "PDC Coral UK Open at Butlin's in Minehead to be played with no fans due to 'unprecedented extreme weather'". Somerset Live.
  10. [https://www.skysports.com/darts/news/12288/12199276/the-uk-open-to-move-to-the-marshall-arena-in-milton-keynes-this-march "The UK Open to Move to Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes this March,"] Sky Sports, 26 January 2021.
  11. (March 2020). "A list of UK Open televised nine-dart finishes".
  12. (11 June 2013). "UK Open: Wes Newton hits nine-dart finish but still loses in last 16".
  13. "Game Detail".
  14. (5 March 2021). "RECORD BREAKING DEBUTANT BIALECKI PINS EARLY NINE-DART FINISH TO BEGIN 2021 UK OPEN".
  15. "UK Open: Lisa Ashton sets women's scoring record as Peter Wright and Gary Anderson crash out on day one".
  16. "Game Detail".
  17. "Game Detail".
  18. "2009 UK Open Stats". Dartsdatabase.
Info: Wikipedia Source

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