UK Open
The Blue Square UK Open is an innovative PDC darts tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, 128 players compete in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion.
It has earned the nickname, the "FA Cup of darts" due to the fact that the minnows can come up against the big boys. There are also no seedings for the top players 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. However, a slight change will be introduced from 2007 where a tournament bracket is introduced from the quarter-final stage to prevent players being forced into playing long back-to-back matches.
Since 2003, the UK Open has been broadcast in June each year from the Reebok Stadium, in Bolton. 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 three times in the UK Open in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
2007 Event
The 2007 UK Open was held between June 7 and June 10
see main article 2007 UK Open Darts
Sponsors
The inaugural event in 2003 was sponsored by Sky Bet, from 2004 Budweiser became the main sponsor. After Budweiser's three-year sponsorship ended in 2006, bookmakers Blue Square have taken over as title sponsor in 2007.
Sky Bet 2003
Budweiser 2004 to 2006 [1]
Blue Square 2007 to 2009 [2]
Final Results
| Year | Champion | Score | Runner-Up | Total Prize Money [1] |
Champion | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 |  Phil Taylor (98.03)
|
18-8 (legs) | Shayne Burgess
|
£124,000 | £30,000 | £15,000 |
| 2004 |  Roland Scholten (89.49)
|
11-6 (legs) |  John Part (85.98)
|
£124,000 | £30,000 | £15,000 |
| 2005 | Phil Taylor (97.80)
|
13-7 (legs) | Mark Walsh (89.52)
|
£124,000 | £30,000 | £15,000 |
| 2006 | Raymond van Barneveld (91.51)
|
13-7 (legs) |  Barrie Bates (82.98)
|
£124,000 | £30,000 | £15,000 |
| 2007 | Raymond van Barneveld (94.99)
|
16-8 (legs) | Vincent van der Voort (88.76)
|
£150,000 | £30,000 | £15,000 |
Format
Qualifying events are held at Punch Taverns pubs across the UK - winners from each pub event progress to one of four Regional Finals, to be staged in their relevant area. Players who reach the final eight in the Regional Finals will qualify for the televised stages of the UK Open in Bolton.
In addition there are eight UK Open Regional Finals for the "professional" players. All events are open to all darts players on payment of an entry fee - which means that players from both the PDC and BDO are eligible to enter. Players who enter through the Punch Taverns Qualifying Round are not eligible to play in the regional qualifying events and vice-versa.
The results of the eight qualifiers are then collated into an Order of Merit table (Winner £4000; Runner-up £2000; 3-4 £1000; 5-8 £500; 9-16 £250; 17-32 £100; 33-64 £50). The top 96 players in this Order of Merit join the 32 Punch Taverns qualifiers at the televised stages in Bolton.
The format for the event changes in 2007 to allow the tournament to expand by an extra day, and increase the number of players in the field.
- Day 1, 1st round - best of 15 legs
Players who are ranked between 97 and 128 in the UK Open Order of Merit join the 32 Punch Taverns qualifiers in the first round of the UK Open.
- Day 2, 2nd round - best of 15 legs
Players ranked 65 to 96 join the first round winners.
- 3rd round - best of 15 legs
Players ranked 33 to 64 join the join the second round winners.
- Day 3, 4th round - best of 21 legs
Players ranked in the top 32 join the join the third round winners.
- 5th round - best of 21 legs
Last 32 of competition
- 6th round - best of 21 legs
Last 16 of competition followed by draw for quarter-finals in bracket form to avoid players being drawn in consecutive matches.
- Day 4, Quarter finals - best of 21 legs
- Semi finals - best of 21 legs
- Final - best of 31 legs
Regional Final Results
There are eight regional Open events staged each year, where the prize money won is collated into a UK Open Order of Merit table which determines 128 qualifiers (96 up to 2006) for the UK Open finals in Bolton. The list of previous regional final winners is
2002-2003 UK Open
- July 21, 2002 (Wales) Phil Taylor beat Roland Scholten
- December 1 (Laurel UK Open) Andy Jenkins beat Colin Lloyd
- January 12, 2003 (North East) Peter Manley beat Phil Taylor
2003-2004 UK Open
- October 19, 2003 (All Ireland) Ronnie Baxter beat Dennis Smith
- November 9 (Wales) Peter Manley beat Darren Webster
- November 30 (South) Phil Taylor beat Peter Manley
- January 11, 2004 (North East) Alan Caves beat Dennis Priestley
- January 24 (Scotland) Steve Maish beat Steve Parsons
- February 15 (South-West) Kevin Painter 2-0 Roland Scholten
- March 21 (North-West) Mark Robinson beat Mark Dudbridge
- April 4 (Midlands) Wayne Mardle beat Andy Jenkins
2004-2005 UK Open
- September 26, 2004 (Wales) Phil Taylor 2-0 Tommy Wilson
- October 17 (All-Ireland) Phil Taylor 2-0 Mark Walsh
- November 19 (Scotland) Andy Smith 2-1 Gary Anderson
- January 19, 2005 (North East) Steve Hine 2-0 Bob Anderson
- February 6 2005 (South West) Andy Smith 2-0 Andy Jenkins
- March 6 (South) Denis Ovens 2-1 Mark Dudbridge
- March (North West) Alex Roy 2-1 Ronnie Baxter
- April 9 (Midlands) Jimmy Mann 2-0 Mark Walsh
2005-2006 UK Open
- September 25, 2005 (Wales) Mark Walsh 2-1 Phil Taylor
- October 23 (Ireland) Colin Lloyd 2-1 Andy Smith
- November 6 (Scotland) Adrian Lewis 2-0 Colin Lloyd
- January 8, 2006 (North-East) Kevin Painter 2-0 Colin Lloyd
- February 12 (South-West) Mark Dudbridge
- March 5 (South) Chris Mason 2-1 Barrie Bates
- March 19 (North-West) Alex Roy 2-1 Ronnie Baxter
- April 9 (Midlands) Raymond van Barneveld 2-0 Ronnie Baxter
2006-2007 UK Open
- 24 September, 2006 (Wales) Phil Taylor 2-1 Adrian Lewis
- October 22 (Ireland) Raymond van Barneveld 2-1 Colin Lloyd
- November 5 (Scotland) Raymond van Barneveld 2-0 Barrie Bates
- January 6, 2007 (North-East) Raymond van Barneveld 2-0 Roland Scholten
- February 11 (South-West) Dennis Priesley 2-0 James Wade
- March 4 (South) Phil Taylor 2-0 Wayne Mardle
- March 18 (North-West) James Wade 2-0 Terry Jenkins
- April 1 (Midlands) Andy Hamilton 2-0 James Wade
2007-2008 UK Open
semi-finals and finals reverted from sets to matchplay
- 23 September, 2007 (Wales) James Wade 8-7 Raymond van Barneveld
- 7 October (Ireland) Raymond van Barneveld 8-2 Kevin McDine
- 21 October (Scotland) James Wade 8-2 Ronnie Baxter
External Links
- Current UK Open Order of Merit (top 128 plus ties receive automatic qualification)
- PDPA results
- Expanded format for 2007 UK Open