2017 UK Open explained

Tournament Name:	2017 Coral UK Open
Dates:	3–5 March 2017
Venue:	Butlin's Resort
Location:	Minehead
Organization:	PDC
Format:	Legs Final – best of 21
Prize Fund:	£350,000
Winners Share:	£70,000
High Checkout:	167 Daryl Gurney (fourth round) Kim Huybrechts (fifth round)
Winner:	Peter Wright
Prev:	2016
Next:	2018

The 2017 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the fifteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competing in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament was held for the fourth time at the Butlin's Resort in Minehead, England, between 3–5 March 2017, and has the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw will be staged after each round until the final.

Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion, but withdrew on the morning of the event with a back injury. Two-time runner-up and top seed Peter Wright won his first PDC major, defeating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the final.^[1]

Format and qualifiers

UK Open qualifiers

There are six qualifying events staged in February 2017 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners are:

No.	Date	Venue	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Ref.
1	Friday 3 February	Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan	Peter Wright	6–4		^[2]
2	Saturday 4 February		Simon Whitlock	6–4	Gary Anderson	^[3]
3	Sunday 5 February		Peter Wright	6–5		^[4]
4	Friday 10 February			6–3		^[5]
5			Simon Whitlock	6–3		^[6]
6	Sunday 12 February		Peter Wright	6–3	James Wade	^[7]

The tournament is featuring 128 players. The results of the six qualifiers shown above were collated into the UK Open Order Of Merit. The top 32 players in the Order of Merit received a place at the final tournament. In addition, the next 64 players (without ties in this year's edition) in the Order of Merit list qualified for the tournament, but started in the earlier rounds played on the Friday. A further 32 players qualify via regional qualifying tournaments.

Top 32 in Order of Merit (receiving byes into third round)

• Michael van Gerwen withdrew on March 3 due to a back injury and was not replaced; the last player drawn in the third round got a bye.^[8]

Riley qualifiers (starting in first round)

32 amateur players qualified from Riley qualifiers held across the UK.

Prize money

The prize fund increased from last year's edition prize fund to £350,000.^[9]

Stage (no. of players)		Prize money (Total: £350,000)
Winner	align=center	(1)	align=center	£70,000
Runner-up	align=center	(1)	align=center	£35,000
Semi-finalists	align=center	(2)	align=center	£17,500
Quarter-finalists	align=center	(4)	align=center	£11,500
Last 16 (fifth round)	align=center	(8)	align=center	£6,500
Last 32 (fourth round)	align=center	(16)	align=center	£3,500
Last 64 (third round)	align=center	(32)	align=center	£1,750
Last 96 (second round)	align=center	(32)	align=center	n/a
Last 128 (first round)	align=center	(32)	align=center	n/a

Draw

^[10]

Friday 3 March

First round (best of eleven legs)

^[11]

width=230	Player	width=40	Score	width=230	Player	width=10		width=230	Player	width=40	Score	width=230	Player
	6 – 5			Alan Tabern	6 – 4
Johnny Haines (Q)	6 – 0	Wayne Morris (Q)		Jamie Caven	6 – 3	Dan Read (Q)
Ritchie Edhouse	4 – 6	Rob Hewson		Joe Davis	6 – 2	Paul Harvey
Keegan Brown	3 – 6	Paul Hogan (Q)		Wayne Jones	6 – 5	Lee Bryant
	6 – 4	Jamie Bain			4 – 6	Paul Barham (Q)
James Carroll (Q)	6 – 3	Brandon Walsh (Q)			6 – 1	Kevin Edwards (Q)
	6 – 5				6 – 4	Gary Eastwood (Q)
Antonio Alcinas	4 – 6			Ron Meulenkamp	6 – 1	Royden Lam
	6 – 4	Martin Biggs (Q)		Paul Milford	6 – 3
Tony Newell	6 – 4	Mark Layton (Q)		Matt Padgett	6 – 2	Paul Cartwright (Q)
Paul Rowley	5 – 6	Ronnie Baxter		Jonny Clayton	6 – 1	Jimmy McKirdy (Q)
	6 – 1				6 – 5	(Q)
Darryl Pilgrim (Q)	4 – 6	Ben Green (Q)			6 – 5
	6 – 2	Andy Roberts (Q)		Jonathan Worsley	6 – 4	Dave Prins (Q)
	6 – 3	Damian Smith (Q)		Steve Maish (Q)	4 – 6	Neil Smith (Q)
Vincent Kamphuis	3 – 6	Ryan Meikle		Dave Parletti (Q)	6 – 2	Gareth Pass (Q)

Second round (best of eleven legs)

width=230	Player	width=40	Score	width=230	Player	width=10		width=230	Player	width=40	Score	width=230	Player
Jamie Lewis	4 – 6				5 – 6	Paul Barham (Q)
Daryl Gurney	6 – 3	Ryan Palmer			6 – 4
Devon Petersen	2 – 6			Jan Dekker	5 – 6	Rob Hewson
	6 – 3	Paul Milford			4 – 6
Tony Newell	4 – 6			Alan Tabern	6 – 3	James Carroll (Q)
Jamie Caven	6 – 0	Ben Green (Q)			6 – 4
	6 – 5			Justin Pipe	6 – 0	Ryan Meikle
Andy Jenkins	4 – 6	David Pallett			6 – 2	Steve Lennon
Ross Twell	6 – 4	Joe Davis		Martin Lukeman	6 – 5	Matt Padgett
Mark Barilli	3 – 6	Kirk Shepherd			5 – 6
Terry Jenkins	2 – 6				6 – 1	Neil Smith (Q)
Stephen Bunting	2 – 6			Andrew Gilding	6 – 4	Ryan Murray
	6 – 4	Dave Parletti (Q)		Richard North	3 – 6	Ronnie Baxter
	6 – 3				6 – 0
Mick McGowan	6 – 4				3 – 6	Barrie Bates
Stuart Kellett	4 – 6				3 – 6	Johnny Haines (Q)

Third round (best of nineteen legs)

width=230	Player	width=45	Score	width=230	Player	width=10		width=230	Player	width=45	Score	width=230	Player
Mick Todd	3 – 10			Darren Webster	8 – 10	Ronnie Baxter
	10 – 2				10 – 3
Kim Huybrechts	10 – 8				7 – 10	Alan Tabern
	10 – 9	Ross Twell			10 – 2
	7 – 10			Dave Chisnall	10 – 4	Jamie Caven
Kevin Painter	8 – 10	Chris Dobey		Simon Whitlock	10 – 2	Chris Quantock
Daryl Gurney	10 – 2				10 – 7	Jonny Clayton
Martin Lukeman	10 – 9	Rob Hewson			9 – 10
	9 – 10				10 – 6	Matthew Dennant
Gerwyn Price	10 – 5	Justin Pipe		Ryan Searle	10 – 7	Mick McGowan
Ronny Huybrechts	4 – 10			Steve Beaton	6 – 10	David Pallett
Kirk Shepherd	10 – 8			Andrew Gilding	5 – 10	Ted Evetts
	7 – 10	Ron Meulenkamp		James Wade	8 – 10	Adrian Lewis
Christian Kist	5 – 10				10 – 2	Paul Barham (Q)
	10 – 4				10 – 5	Johnny Haines (Q)
	10 – 6			(withdrew)	w/o

Saturday 4 March

Fourth round (best of nineteen legs)

^[12]

width=230	Player	width=45	Score	width=230	Player	width=10		width=230	Player	width=45	Score	width=230	Player
Benito van de Pas		Alan Norris
Jelle Klaasen	9 – 10			Rob Cross	10 – 5	Ryan Searle
Peter Wright	10 – 5	Dave Chisnall		Adrian Lewis	6 – 10	Paul Hogan (Q)
Chris Dobey	5 – 10	Martin Lukeman		Michael Smith	10 – 8	Jermaine Wattimena
Gerwyn Price	10 – 4	David Pallett		Cristo Reyes	5 – 10	Joe Cullen
Kim Huybrechts	10 – 1	Ted Evetts			10 – 6	Ronnie Baxter
	10 – 3	Ron Meulenkamp		Daryl Gurney	10 – 3	Mark Webster
John Michael	6 – 10	Alan Tabern		Ian White	10 – 7	Kirk Shepherd

Fifth round (best of nineteen legs)

Player	Score	Player
Gerwyn Price 101.26	10 – 6	Paul Hogan (Q) 99.60
	10 – 7	Alan Tabern 88.28
Ian White 91.22	10 – 3	Martin Lukeman 86.89
Michael Smith 93.26	6 – 10	Alan Norris 94.89
Kim Huybrechts 97.14	10 – 9	Joe Cullen 96.42
Simon Whitlock 94.80	10 – 7	William O'Connor 93.70
Daryl Gurney 92.07	10 – 5	94.51
Peter Wright 101.33	10 – 6	Rob Cross 99.11

Sunday 5 March

^[13]

Quarter-finals (best of nineteen legs)

Player	Score	Player
Kim Huybrechts 98.94	9 – 10	Alan Norris 97.78
Ian White 103.09	9 – 10	Gerwyn Price 97.18
Simon Whitlock 96.37	9 – 10	Daryl Gurney 102.03
Peter Wright 110.88	10 – 8

Semi-finals and Final (best of twenty-one legs)

Notes and References

1. Web site: UK Open: Peter Wright beats Gerwyn Price in Minehead. 5 March 2017. BBC Sport. 8 March 2017.
2. Web site: Wright Claims Qualifier One Win. PDC. 3 February 2017. 2017-02-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20170204003431/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/k9xw2dt72xl1et4ytl2pu2db/title/coral-uk-open-qualifier-one-latest. 2017-02-04. dead.
3. Web site: Whitlock Sees Off Anderson In Q2. PDC. 4 February 2017. 4 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170205095822/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/sc1n386zlbmq1tjijc2faspf9/title/coral-uk-open-qualifier-two-updates. 5 February 2017. dead. dmy-all.
4. Web site: Wonderful Wright Seals Wigan Double. PDC. 5 February 2017. 5 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170206103554/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/7jq11nvoxts11cce906id6szo/title/coral-uk-open-qualifier-three-latest. 2017-02-06. dead.
5. Web site: Van Gerwen wins UK Open Qualifier 4. PDC. 10 February 2017. 10 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080143/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/17fcj1rgsdc2mzhk5ptcs0t33/title/coral-uk-open-qualifier-four-updates. 2017-02-11. dead.
6. Web site: Whitlock's Wigan Delight. PDC. 11 February 2017. 11 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170212164001/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1jdwgwafdji4l1jxid66aw8uu4/title/coral-uk-open-qualifier-five-latest. 2017-02-12. dead.
7. Web site: Wright's Coral UK Open Qualifying Hat-Trick. PDC. 12 February 2017. 12 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170214001330/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1d2m4xncotujv1ntx8wxclkf22/title/coral-uk-open-qualifier-six-updates. 14 February 2017. dead. dmy-all.
8. Web site: Coral UK Open Day One. PDC. 3 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170304041003/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/56k9x7yhbeau1hdgq4xhimx0h/title/coral-uk-open-day-one. 4 March 2017. dead.
9. Web site: 2017 UK Open Prize Money . Professional Darts Organisation . 19 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170203161954/http://www.pdc.tv/premier-league-darts/article/1gx38ghla22uw1c49krgw4bv65/title/record-prize-money-on-offer-in-2017 . 3 February 2017 . dead .
10. Web site: 2017 UK Open Results. Darts Database. 4 March 2017.
11. Web site: 2016 Coral UK Open Day One. PDC. 4 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170304041003/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/56k9x7yhbeau1hdgq4xhimx0h/title/coral-uk-open-day-one. 4 March 2017. dead.
12. Web site: 2016 Coral UK Open Day Two. PDC. 4 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170304133350/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1ga4eb0rrezlx1ga7q9tnjbpvw/title/coral-uk-open-day-two. 2017-03-04. dead.
13. Web site: Coral UK Open Finals Day. PDC. 5 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170305091640/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1ntiix60isivt13p2t1tjf3i9x/title/coral-uk-open-finals-day. 2017-03-05. dead.