- UK Open
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UK Open Tournament information Venue Reebok Stadium Location Bolton, Greater Manchester Country England Established 2003 Organisation(s) PDC Format Legs Prize Fund £200,000 (2009) Month(s) Played June Current champion(s) 
James WadeThe Speedy Hire 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.
The Reebok Stadium where the tournament has been held since its inception.
It has earned the nickname, the "FA Cup of darts" because 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 four times in the UK Open in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008. In the 2010 event Mervyn King also hit a nine-dart finish.
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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.[1]The 2011 event will be sponsored by Speedy Hire.
Sponsor Years Sky Bet 2003 Budweiser 2004 - 2006 [2] Blue Square 2007 - 2009 [3] Rileys Darts Zones 2010 Speedy Hire 2011 - present Final Results
Year Champion Score (legs) Runner-Up Total
Prize Money [1]Champion Runner-Up 2003 Phil Taylor (98.03)18-8 Shayne Burgess£124,000 £30,000 £15,000 2004 
Roland Scholten (89.49)11-6 
John Part (85.98)£124,000 £30,000 £15,000 2005 Phil Taylor (96.80)13-7 Mark Walsh (84.52)£124,000 £30,000 £15,000 2006 Raymond van Barneveld (91.51)13-7 
Barrie Bates (82.98)£124,000 £30,000 £15,000 2007 Raymond van Barneveld (94.99)16-8 Vincent van der Voort (88.76)£150,000 £30,000 £15,000 2008 James Wade (94.65)11-7 
Gary Mawson (87.33)£178,000 £35,000 £15,000 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)£200,000 £40,000 £20,000 2011 James Wade (96.25)11-8 Wes Newton (88.51)£200,000 £40,000 £20,000 Format
Qualifying events are held at Riley's across the UK - winners from each 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 Rileys 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 qualifiers at the televised stages in Bolton.
The format is as follows:
- Preliminary, First and Second Round (Thursday): Rileys and Speedy Hire qualifiers and those placed 33-96 in the UK Open Order of Merit start the tournament here. Best of 7 legs.
- Third Round (Friday): Top 32 in UK Open Order of Merit join the 32 survivors from Thursday. Best of 17 legs.
- Fourth Round (Saturday) Best of 17 legs.
- Fifth Round (Saturday) Best of 17 legs.
- Quarter Finals (Sunday) Best of 19 legs.
- Semi Finals (Sunday) Best of 19 legs.
- Final (Sunday) Best of 21 legs.
Media coverage
The UK Open has been broadcast in the UK by Sky Sports since the first tournament.
Regional Final Results
Main article: PDC Pro TourThere 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 total number of regional final tournament wins (after 2010 UK Open) is:
14 Phil Taylor
5 Raymond van Barneveld
5 James Wade
5 Colin Lloyd
4 Peter Manley
4 Mark Walsh
2 Mark Dudbridge
2 Kevin Painter
2 Andy Smith
2 Alex Roy
1 Andy Jenkins
1 John Part
1 Ronnie Baxter
1 Alan Caves
1 Steve Maish
1 Mark Robinson
1 Wayne Mardle
1 Steve Hine
1 Denis Ovens
1 Jimmy Mann
1 Adrian Lewis
1 Chris Mason
1 Dennis Priestley
1 Andy Hamilton
1 Colin Osborne
1 Gary Anderson
1 Jamie Caven
1 Robert Thornton
1 Mervyn King
1 Alan Tabern- for full list of finals see PDC Pro Tour
References
External links
Professional Darts Corporation tournaments Main tournaments
(in playing order)PDC Pro Tour Other tournaments RTL7 Masters · World Cricket Championship · South African Open · PDC World Youth Championship · PDC World Cup of Darts · North American Darts Championship · US OpenFormer tournaments German Darts Championship · Las Vegas Desert Classic · International Darts League · World Darts Trophy · Masters of Darts · World Series of Darts · Jocky Wilson Cup · South African Masters · PDC Women's World ChampionshipCategories:
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