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.

2010 Rileys Darts Zones UK Open
Tournament information
Dates3–6 June 2010
VenueReebok Stadium
LocationBolton
Country England
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Final – best of 21
Prize fund£200,000
Winner's share£40,000
Nine-dart finishEngland Mervyn King
High checkout167 England Phil Taylor
(final)
Champion(s)
England Phil Taylor
«2009 2011»

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 edit

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. Winner Score Runner-up Total
Prize Money
Winner Runner-up
1   Mervyn King 6–1   Simon Whitlock £31,200 £6,000 £3,000
2   Mark Walsh 6–2   Phil Taylor £31,200 £6,000 £3,000
3   Phil Taylor 6–0   Jamie Caven £31,200 £6,000 £3,000
4   Gary Anderson 6–5   Wes Newton £31,200 £6,000 £3,000
5   Mark Walsh 6–3   John Part £31,200 £6,000 £3,000
6   Phil Taylor 6–2   Peter Wright £31,200 £6,000 £3,000
7   Colin Lloyd 6–3   Colin Osborne £31,200 £6,000 £3,000
8   James Wade 6–2   Gary Anderson £31,200 £6,000 £3,000

Format and qualifiers edit

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.[1]

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

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) edit

Remaining Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in first and preliminary round) edit

32 players qualified from Rileys qualifiers held in Rileys Dart Zones across Britain.[2]

10 players qualified as BDO representatives from Avon, Bedfordshire, East Stirlingshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lothian, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Warwickshire.[2] 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.[3]

Prize money edit

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

Stage (no. of players) Prize money
(Total: £200,000)
Winner (1) £40,000
Runner-Up (1) £20,000
Semi-finalists (2) £10,000
Quarter-finalists (4) £6,000
Last 16 (fifth round) (8) £4,000
Last 32 (fourth round) (16) £2,000
Last 64 (third round) (32) £1,000
Last 96 (second round) (32) n/a
Last 128 (first round) (32) n/a
Last 138 (preliminary round) (10) n/a

Draw edit

The draw for the preliminary, first and second rounds was made on 13 May.[4]

Thursday 3 June; Best of 11 legs edit

Preliminary round edit

Round 1 edit

  • ‡ Steve Farmer received a bye as Dean Edlin was disqualified because he did not register
  • † Tony Hutchinson received a bye as Darren Sullivan was disqualified because he did not register

Round 2 edit

  • * Chris Mason withdrew for personal reasons.

Friday 4 June; best of 17 legs edit

Round 3 edit

[5]

Saturday 5 June; best of 17 legs edit

Round 4 edit

[6]

Round 5 edit

[7]

Player #1 Score Player #2
  Phil Taylor 9–6   Simon Whitlock
  Ronnie Baxter 7–9   Andy Hamilton
  Kevin McDine 2–9   James Wade
  Gary Anderson 9–8   Mervyn King
  Andy Smith 1–9   Denis Ovens
  Alan Tabern 5–9   Tony Ayres
  Nigel Heydon 5–9   Wes Newton
  Adrian Lewis 9–4   Wayne Jones

Sunday 6 June edit

Last 8 to final edit

 
Quarter-finals
Best of 19 legs[8]
Semi-finals
Best of 19 legs[9]
Final
Best of 21 legs[10]
 
          
 
 
 
 
  James Wade9
 
 
 
  Tony Ayres10
 
  Tony Ayres3
 
 
 
  Gary Anderson 10
 
  Gary Anderson10
 
 
 
  Andy Hamilton6
 
  Gary Anderson5
 
 
 
  Phil Taylor11
 
  Wes Newton3
 
 
 
  Denis Ovens10
 
  Denis Ovens5
 
 
 
  Phil Taylor10
 
  Phil Taylor10
 
 
  Adrian Lewis2
 

Nine dart finish edit

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

World record edit

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.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "UK Open Order of Merit". pdc.tv. Professional Darts Corporation. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  2. ^ a b "Final UK Open Standings". pdc.tv. Professional Darts Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  3. ^ "PDC Launch Three New Events". pdc.tv. Professional Darts Corporation. Archived from the original on 2010-04-30. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
  4. ^ "UK Open Draw". pdc.tv. Professional Darts Corporation. 2010-05-13. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  5. ^ "UK Open - Day Two". Planet Darts. June 4, 2010. Archived from the original on July 2, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  6. ^ "UK Open - Fourth Round". Planet Darts. June 5, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-07-12. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  7. ^ "UK Open - Fifth Round". Planet Darts. June 5, 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  8. ^ "UK Open Quarter-finals". Planet Darts. June 6, 2010. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010.
  9. ^ "UK Open - Semi-finals". Planet Darts. June 6, 2010. Archived from the original on July 12, 2010.
  10. ^ "Taylor Sweeps To UK Open Title". Planet darts. June 6, 2010. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010.

External links edit