2018 UK Open explained

Tournament Name:2018 Coral UK Open
Dates:2–4 March 2018
Venue:Butlin's Resort
Location:Minehead
Organization:PDC
Format:Legs
Final – best of 21
Prize Fund:£350,000
Winners Share:£70,000
High Checkout:
Daryl Gurney
Steve West
Winner: Gary Anderson
Prev:2017
Next:2019

The 2018 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the sixteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament was held for the fifth time at the Butlin's Resort in Minehead, England, between 2–4 March 2018, and has the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw was staged after each round until the final.

Peter Wright was the defending champion after defeating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the 2017 final,[1] but he lost in the third round to Nathan Rafferty.

Gary Anderson became the UK Open champion for the first time, defeating Corey Cadby (who was making his debut in the event) 11–7 in the final.

Michael van Gerwen's defeat to Jeffrey de Zwaan in the third round was the first time van Gerwen had lost a live match on ITV since the 2014 Players Championship Finals. Van Gerwen was unbeaten for 77 live matches (including the two live World Series events) on the channel during that period.

The tournament was severely affected by the extreme weather conditions caused by Storm Emma which had forced the complete cancellation of round five of the 2018 Premier League Darts that had been due to be held in Exeter the evening before the tournament started. Eleven players who were due to play in the first, second and third rounds withdrew from the competition, and on 2 March, the unprecedented decision was taken by Butlin's to not allow any fans apart from the players relatives, guests and friends into the venue, resulting in the whole tournament being played behind closed doors.

The tournament was still televised live on ITV4, but the Butlin's Skyline Pavilion Arena was unable to be used for the allocated Main Stage TV matches due to heavy snow and ice, so these matches were reallocated to the secondary Red's Bar stage.[2]

Format and qualifiers

UK Open qualifiers

There were six qualifying events staged in February 2018 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were:

No.DateVenueWinnerScoreRunner-upRef.
1Friday 2 FebruaryRobin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan6 – 3 Michael Smith[3]
2Saturday 3 February6 – 3 Darren Webster[4]
3Sunday 4 February Michael Smith 6 – 0[5]
4Friday 9 February Gary Anderson 6 – 2 Jeffrey de Zwaan[6]
5Corey Cadby 6 – 4 Rob Cross[7]
6Sunday 11 February Krzysztof Ratajski 6 – 4 Daryl Gurney[8]

The tournament featured 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 receive 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 qualify for the tournament, but start in the earlier rounds played on the Friday. A further 32 players qualify via regional qualifying tournaments.

Number 65–96 of the Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in first round)

Rileys qualifiers (starting in first round)

32 amateur players qualified from 28 Rileys Sports Bar qualifiers held across the UK between 20 January and 18 February.[9]

Prize money

The prize fund stayed the same as last year, £350,000.

Stage (no. of players)Prize money
(Total: £350,000)
Winneralign=center (1)align=center £70,000
Runner-upalign=center (1)align=center £35,000
Semi-finalistsalign=center (2)align=center £17,500
Quarter-finalistsalign=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

(Note: Due to extreme weather all matches in the tournament were played behind closed doors)

Friday 2 March

First round (best of eleven legs)

width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Playerwidth=10width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Player
w/o Michael Burgoine (Q) Darryl Pilgrim (Q) 86.296–2 Ian Jopling (Q) 70.81
René Eidams 77.586–44–6 David Airey (Q) 78.30
w/o Scott Robertson (Q)* Chris Lacey (Q)*w/o Martin Biggs (Q)
3–6 Richie Burnett 86.035–6
5–66–1
Chris Quantock 72.524–6 Bradley Brooks 78.67w/o Mick McGowan*
Terry Jenkins 88.505–6 Paul Nicholson 83.93 Cody Harris 94.196–1 Tony Mitchell (Q) 88.04
Kirk Shepherd 85.216–4 Adam Hunt 82.10 Craig Winstanley (Q)*w/o Mark Craddock (Q)
Andrew Pullen (Q)w/o Mark Rice (Q)* William O'Connor*w/o Andy Hamilton (Q)
Michael Rasztovits 82.336–3 Simon Tate (Q) 78.62 Martin Atkins (Q) 70.943–6 Paul Whitworth (Q) 81.20
Luke Humphries 94.936–0 Liam Kelly (Q) 63.55 Paul Hogan (Q) 80.186–5 Darren Brown (Q) 92.88
2–6 Cristo Reyes 92.805–6
René Berndt**w/o Robert Rickwood Ron Meulenkamp 79.566–4 Andy Hibbert (Q) 73.75
6–0 Daniel Lee (Q) 71.59 Andy Jenkins 82.854–6 George Killington 84.59
John Part 82.246–2 John Morris (Q) 72.11 Prakash Jiwa 75.085–6 Jason Mold (Q) 78.47
Ryan Meikle 74.136–5 Mickey Mansell 75.824–6

Second round (best of eleven legs)

width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Playerwidth=10width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Player
6–3 Jason Mold (Q) 86.93 Gerwyn Price 93.406–2
6–0 Andy Hamilton (Q) 69.22 Maik Langendorf*w/o Michael Rasztovits
6–3 Martin Biggs (Q) 81.99 Toni Alcinas 85.384–6
Mike Norton 90.135–6 Ryan Meikle 80.056–4
5–6 84.22 Keegan Brown 83.836–3 George Killington 77.92
Chris Dobey 97.676–5 Stephen Bunting 82.506–2 Bradley Brooks 73.28
Dave Chisnall 96.056–2 René Eidams 86.95 Geert Nentjes 79.314–6 Darryl Pilgrim (Q) 86.40
Stuart Kellett 78.761–6 David Airey (Q) 88.51 Ted Evetts 86.551–6
Danny Noppert 89.893–6 Ryan Harrington 87.046–1
Jason Lowe 82.536–42–6
6–4 David Evans 81.266–4
4–66–2 José Justicia 71.93
w/o (Q) Nathan Aspinall 91.816–3 Andrew Pullen (Q) 87.50
Vincent Kamphuis 86.523–6 Carl Wilkinson 85.722–6
0–6 Robert Rickwood 83.50 John Part 71.576–0
3–6 Gabriel Clemens 88.416–0 Andrew Gilding 83.70

Third round (best of nineteen legs)

width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Playerwidth=10width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Player
10–32–10
10–810–6
8–102–10
Kim Huybrechts 86.0810–810–9
10–7 James Wade 87.9610–6
9–10 Chris Dobey 93.7410–2
4–10 Matthew Edgar 91.006–10
8–1010–3 Robert Rickwood 94.88
10–57–10
10–410–8
10–9 Jelle Klaasen 88.2310–7
Adrian Lewis 88.585–10 Gerwyn Price 89.9410–6
Justin Pipe 80.213–10 Stephen Bunting 88.09 Dave Chisnall 85.786–10
Jonny Clayton 98.6310–6 Dave Prins 85.024–10
10–78–10 Keegan Brown 91.44
Corey Cadby 92.2110–5w/o

Saturday 3 March

Fourth round (best of nineteen legs)

width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Playerwidth=10width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Player
8–1010–7
9–1010–9
5–1010–5
10–610–7
10–310–8
10–810–7
8–105–10
10–410–6

Fifth round (best of nineteen legs)

width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Player
9–10
10–6
10–7
8–10
7–10
7–10
10–9
3–10

Sunday 4 March

Quarter-finals (best of nineteen legs)

width=230Playerwidth=40Scorewidth=230Player
5–10
10–3
Corey Cadby 99.3210–6 Gerwyn Price 94.25
Rob Cross 95.535–10

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: PDC Coral UK Open at Butlin's in Minehead to be played with no fans due to 'unprecedented extreme weather'. 2 March 2018. Somerset Live. 2 March 2018.
  3. Web site: Coral UK Open Qualifier One. PDC. 2 February 2018.
  4. Web site: 100 Up For Van Gerwen. PDC. 3 February 2018.
  5. Web site: Super Smith's Qualifier Three Success. PDC. 4 February 2018.
  6. Web site: Coral UK Open Qualifier Four. PDC. 9 February 2018.
  7. Web site: Coral UK Open Qualifier Five. PDC. 10 February 2018.
  8. Web site: Allen . Dave . UK Open Qualifier 6. PDC. 12 February 2018.
  9. Web site: Ten Players Complete Rileys Qualifiers. 19 February 2018. Professional Darts Corporation. 19 February 2018.
  10. Web site: Allen. Dave. 2018 Coral UK Open Update. PDC. 1 March 2018.
  11. Web site: Allen. Dave. Coral UK Open - Fri Update. PDC. 2 March 2018.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2018 UK Open".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.