| Tournament Name: | 2008 Blue Square UK Open |
| Dates: | 5–8 June 2008 |
| Venue: | Reebok Stadium |
| Location: | Bolton |
| Organisation: | PDC |
| Format: | Legs Final – best of 21 |
| Prize Fund: | £178,000 |
| Winners Share: | £35,000 |
| Nine Dart: | Phil Taylor |
| Winner: | James Wade |
| Prev: | 2007 |
| Next: | 2009 |
The 2008 Blue Square UK Open was the sixth year of the PDC's UK Open darts tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament was held at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium, Bolton, England, between 5–8 June 2008.
James Wade won the tournament; his first UK Open title, and his third major championship inside 12 months. He defeated American Gary Mawson in the final 11–7.
As in previous years, eight regional UK Open events were staged across the UK where players winning were collated into the UK Order Of Merit. The top 128 players in the list, who played a minimum of three events (plus ties) won a place at the final stages.[1]
The final UK Open Order of Merit qualifiers (146) were also joined by 32 Holsten qualifiers from pub tournaments throughout the UK. The Holsten qualifiers and the players outside the top 32 of the UK Open Order of Merit began the tournament on the Thursday night. They played down to 32 players, and they were joined by the top 32 of the UK Open Order of Merit the following night, to provide the competition's last 64. A random draw was made after each subsequent round
| Stage (no. of players) | Prize money (Total: £178,000) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | align=center | (1) | align=center | £35,000 | |
| Runner-Up | align=center | (1) | align=center | £15,000 | |
| Semi-finalists | align=center | (2) | align=center | £10,000 | |
| Quarter-finalists | align=center | (4) | align=center | £5,000 | |
| Last 16 (fifth round) | align=center | (8) | align=center | £4,000 | |
| Last 32 (fourth round) | align=center | (16) | align=center | £3,000 | |
| Last 64 (third round) | align=center | (32) | align=center | £1,000 | |
| Last 96 (second round) | align=center | (32) | align=center | n/a | |
| Last 128 (first round) | align=center | (32) | align=center | n/a | |
| Last 136 (preliminary round) | align=center | (8) | align=center | n/a | |
| Nine-dart finish | align=center | (1) | align=center | £25,000 | |
There were eight regional final events staged between September 2007 and March 2008 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were:
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
13 January 2008 (North East): Colin Osborne 8-6 Denis Ovens
10 February 10 (South West): Colin Lloyd 8-6 Andy Hamilton
2 March (South): Colin Lloyd 8-6 Phil Taylor
16 March (North West): Phil Taylor 8-7 Adrian Lewis
30 March (Midlands): Phil Taylor 8-0 Brendan Dolan
The tournament has the nickname, the "FA Cup of darts" as a random draw is staged after each round. This provides no protection for the top players, who are usually seeded to avoid each other in early rounds. Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor, the top two in the PDC rankings respectively, met at the quarter-final stage for the third successive year, with the Dutchman coming out on top each occasion, this time 10-9. In addition, Adrian Lewis and Wayne Mardle - two players who played in the 2008 Premier League - played as early as the third Round, the last 64 stage.
Van Barneveld, who had won the tournament for the previous two years went out in the semi-finals to Gary Mawson, which was the Dutchman's first loss at the Reebok Stadium in the event. It also meant that Phil Taylor now overtook him to regain the top spot in the PDC Order of Merit/world rankings, as van Barneveld had failed to defend the £30,000 from the UK Open two years ago.
Earlier in the tournament, Phil Taylor threw his fourth nine dart leg in six years in the UK Open, during a 9-1 victory over Jamie Harvey in the fourth round. In his Fifth round match against Wesley Newton, Taylor achieved the highest televised 3 dart average (to date) of 114.53 surpassing Darryl Fitton's record (114.15) in the International Darts League 2004 against Davy Richardson.
The semi-final line-up contained only one player from the United Kingdom for the first time it the tournament's six-year history. That one player - James Wade, however went on to claim to the title.
Gary Mawson was the first American player to reach the UK Open final, and the first American since Larry Butler in 1994 to reach a major PDC final.
Best of 11 legs
Best of 11 legs
Best of 11 legs
Best of 17 legsMain Stage
J Part 9-2 C MonkBoard Two
Board Three
Board Four
Board Five
Board Six
Board Seven
G Mawson 9-7 A RoyBoard Eight
Best of 17 legs, Main Stage
J Barry 7-9 R van BarneveldBoard Two
Board Three
Board Four
Random draws were made after each round up to the semi-final stage. Draw bracket has been compiled retrospectively.