2010 UK Open


The 2010 Rileys Darts Zones UK Open was the eighth year of the PDC 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 the Reebok Stadium in Bolton, England, from 3–6 June 2010, and had the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw was staged after each round until the final.
It was eventually won by Phil Taylor who defeated Scotland's Gary Anderson 11–5 to make it his fourth UK Open and second consecutive championship. Earlier in the tournament, Anderson was the on the wrong side of a nine-dart finish from Mervyn King.
In the fourth round of this tournament, Phil Taylor beat Kevin Painter 9–0 with a 3–dart average of 118.66, which at the time was the all-time highest 3–dart average for a televised darts match. It was eventually beaten on 25 February 2016 in the 2016 Premier League Darts meeting in Aberdeen, when Michael van Gerwen averaged 123.40 in beating Michael Smith 7–1.

2010 UK Open Qualifiers

There were eight qualifying events staged between February and May 2010 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were:
No.WinnerScoreRunner-UpTotal
Prize Money		WinnerRunner-Up
1 Mervyn King6–1 Simon Whitlock£31,200£6,000£3,000
2 Mark Walsh6–2 Phil Taylor£31,200£6,000£3,000
3 Phil Taylor6–0 Jamie Caven£31,200£6,000£3,000
4 Gary Anderson6–5 Wes Newton£31,200£6,000£3,000
5 Mark Walsh6–3 John Part£31,200£6,000£3,000
6 Phil Taylor6–2 Peter Wright£31,200£6,000£3,000
7 Colin Lloyd6–3 Colin Osborne£31,200£6,000£3,000
8 James Wade6–2 Gary Anderson£31,200£6,000£3,000

Format and qualifiers

The tournament featured 138 players. As in previous years, eight regional UK Open events were staged across the UK where players winning were collated into the UK Open Order Of Merit. The top 96 players and ties in the list, who played a minimum of three events received a place at the final stages.

Top 32 in Order of Merit (receiving byes into Third Round)

The Rileys 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.

Number 33-64 of the Order of Merit (receiving byes into Second Round)

Remaining Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in First and Preliminary Round)

32 players qualified from Rileys qualifiers held in Rileys Dart Zones across Britain.
10 players qualified as BDO representatives from Avon, Bedfordshire, East Stirlingshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lothian, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Warwickshire. These counties were rewarded one spot each in the UK Open for voting in favour of listening to Barry Hearn's proposed takeover of the BDO.

Prize money

For the second consecutive UK Open, the prize fund was £200,000.

Draw

The draw for the preliminary, first and second rounds was made on 13 May.

Thursday 3 June; Best of 11 legs

Preliminary round

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Andy Hutchings3–6 Darren Webster
Kevin Lowe2–6 Jason Clark
Kevin Dowling1–6 Jyhan Artut
Dean Stewart2–6 Dylan Duo
Prakash Jiwa6–4 John Lakeman

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Andy Murray1–6 Scott Rand
Par Riihonen5–6 Steve Farmer
Reece Robinson6–0 Hugh Ringland
Ashley Whisker2–6 Gary Mawson
Peter Hudson6–1 Paul Neate

Round 1

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Darren Sullivan† Tony Hutchinson
Ryan Murray4–6 Jason Clark
Alex Harrison1–6 Jamie Green
Simon Cunningham6–4 Prakash Jiwa
Matt Draper2–6 Mark Harris
Tony Broughton6–3 Mark Stephenson
Jyhan Artut3–6 Scott Rand
Robbie Newland6–5 John Robertson
Sam Allen3–6 Melvyn Johnston
Stuart Monaghan0–6 William O'Connor
Mark Wilson3–6 Paul Gibbs
Gary Eastwood6–5 David Martin
Noel Grant4–6 Ricky Evans
John Quantock3–6 Matt Padgett
Louis Blundell6–5 Richie Burnett
Michael Hammond2–6 Henry O'Neill

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Steve Farmer‡ Dean Edlin
Paul Rowley3–6 Anton Liscsey
Pete Fisher6–2 Barrie Webb
Simon Jones4–6 John Bowles
Nicky Bache4–6 Martyn Turner
Gary Mawson4–6 Dylan Duo
Bradley Williams1–6 Joe Palmer
Danny Pinhorne4–6 Reece Robinson
Dave Honey2–6 Mike Nott
Henry Murphy3–6 Paul Warwick
Darren Latham1–6 Joe Cullen
Dean Harris1–6 Darren Webster
Peter Hudson3–6 Dave Smith
Chris Loudon5–6 Paul Whitworth
Steve Hine6–5 Ian Gleeson
Jay Foreman6–1 Barrie Knight

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
William O'Connor6–3 Mark Frost
Justin Pipe4–6 Chris Thompson
Colin Monk6–4 Darren Johnson
Wayne Atwood6–4 Steve Brown
Stuart Dutton5–6 Simon Cunningham
Tony Hutchinson1–6 Steve Evans
Anton Liscsey5–6 Barrie Bates
Tony Broughton6–4 Scott Rand
Mike Nott3–6 Joe Cullen
Paul Warwick6–3 Steve Farmer
Jason Clark5–6 Matt Padgett
Mark Harris6–4 Martyn Turner
Kirk Shepherd6–4 Adrian Gray
Darren Webster5–6 Andy Smith
Ricky Evans2–6 Steve Beaton
Robert Thornton6–2 Paul Gibbs

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
John Bowles3–6 Michael Barnard
Mark Cox6–5 Henry O'Neill
Dave Smith4–6 Paul Nicholson
Joe Palmer3–6 Roland Scholten
Gary Eastwood4–6 Dylan Duo
Stephen Hardy6–4 Jay Foreman
Alex Roy6–3 Mark Lawrence
Wayne Mardle6–3 Mick McGowan
Kevin McDine6–2 Jamie Green
Michael Smith6–3 Peter Manley
Nick Fullwell3–6 Arron Monk
Tony Ayres6–4 Paul Whitworth
Steve Hine6–1 Melvyn Johnston
Louis Blundell1–6 Reece Robinson
Pete Fisher*6 – 0 Chris Mason
Robbie Newland1–6 Dennis Smith

Round 3

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Steve Maish9–8 Dennis Priestley
Dylan Duo3–9 Colin Osborne
Mark Webster6–9 Tony Eccles
Stephen Hardy8–9 Alan Tabern
John Part6–9 Mark Walsh
Mark Dudbridge7–9 Nigel Heydon
Denis Ovens9–5 Arron Monk
Reece Robinson5–9 Simon Whitlock
Robert Thornton9–8 Mark Cox
Mervyn King9–5 Joe Cullen
Peter Wright7–9 William O'Connor
Paul Warwick9–3 Co Stompé
Tony Ayres9–3 Pete Fisher
Dennis Smith9–5 Colin Monk
Andy Smith9–5 Colin Lloyd
Barrie Bates8–9 Alex Roy

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Kevin Painter9–5 Mark Harris
Roland Scholten9–3 Simon Cunningham
Steve Hine7–9 James Wade
Andy Hamilton9–1 Brendan Dolan
Matt Clark3–9 Michael Smith
Tony Broughton0–9 Kevin McDine
Steve Beaton3–9 Jamie Caven
Wayne Mardle2–9 Phil Taylor
Adrian Lewis9–3 Michael Barnard
Wes Newton9–1 Terry Jenkins
Kirk Shepherd6–9 Paul Nicholson
Michael van Gerwen4–9 Gary Anderson
Steve Evans6–9 Jelle Klaasen
Ronnie Baxter9–4 Chris Thompson
Vincent van der Voort7–9 Wayne Atwood
Wayne Jones9–2 Matt Padgett

Saturday 5 June; Best of 17 legs

Round 4

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Denis Ovens9–7 Dennis Smith
Roland Scholten5–9 Alan Tabern
Alex Roy6–9 Andy Hamilton
Wayne Jones9–6 Jelle Klaasen
Andy Smith9–5 Jamie Caven
William O'Connor3–9 James Wade
Mark Walsh7–9 Tony Ayres
Adrian Lewis9–5 Colin Osborne

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Kevin Painter0–9 Phil Taylor
Ronnie Baxter9–4 Tony Eccles
Simon Whitlock9–4 Robert Thornton
Michael Smith6–9 Mervyn King
Gary Anderson9–7 Paul Nicholson
Steve Maish1–9 Wes Newton
Kevin McDine9–8 Paul Warwick
Wayne Atwood6–9 Nigel Heydon

Round 5

Player #1ScorePlayer #2
Phil Taylor9–6 Simon Whitlock
Ronnie Baxter7–9 Andy Hamilton
Kevin McDine2–9 James Wade
Gary Anderson9–8 Mervyn King
Andy Smith1–9 Denis Ovens
Alan Tabern5–9 Tony Ayres
Nigel Heydon5–9 Wes Newton
Adrian Lewis9–4 Wayne Jones

Sunday 6 June

Last 8 to final

Nine Dart Finish

Mervyn King hit a nine dart finish in his fourth round match against Gary Anderson, however he lost the match 9-8.

World Record

Phil Taylor hit the highest televised average in history in his 9-0 victory over Kevin Painter, finishing the match with a three-dart average of 118.66.