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.
| 2018 Coral UK Open | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament information | |||
| Dates | 2–4 March 2018 | ||
| Venue | Butlin's Resort | ||
| Location | Minehead | ||
| Country |  England | ||
| Organization(s) | PDC | ||
| Format | Legs Final – best of 21 | ||
| Prize fund | £350,000 | ||
| Winner's share | £70,000 | ||
| High checkout | 170  Michael Rasztovits  Daryl Gurney Steve West | ||
| Champion(s) | |||
 Gary Anderson | |||
| |||
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
editUK Open qualifiers
editThere were six qualifying events staged in February 2018 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were:
| No. | Date | Venue | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday 2 February | Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan | Michael van Gerwen |
6 – 3 | [3] | |
| 2 | Saturday 3 February | Michael van Gerwen |
6 – 3 | [4] | ||
| 3 | Sunday 4 February | Michael Smith |
6 – 0 | [5] | ||
| 4 | Friday 9 February | Gary Anderson |
6 – 2 | [6] | ||
| 5 | Saturday 10 February | Corey Cadby |
6 – 4 | [7] | ||
| 6 | Sunday 11 February | Krzysztof Ratajski |
6 – 4 | [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.
Top 32 in Order of Merit (receiving byes into third round)
editMichael van Gerwen
Michael Smith
Krzysztof Ratajski
Corey Cadby
Gary Anderson
Daryl Gurney
Kim Huybrechts
Zoran Lerchbacher*Jamie Lewis
Martin Schindler
Number 33–64 of the Order of Merit (receiving byes into second round)
editJohn Goldie*José Justicia
Maik Langendorf*
Number 65–96 of the Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in first round)
editMichael Rasztovits
Cody Harris
William O'Connor*René Berndt**Mick McGowan*John Part
Prakash Jiwa
** René Berndt dropped out of the tournament because of health reasons.
Rileys qualifiers (starting in first round)
edit32 amateur players qualified from 28 Rileys Sports Bar qualifiers held across the UK between 20 January and 18 February.[9]
Andrew Davidson* (GRE, 20 January)Mark Rice* (LIV, 28 January)Chris Lacey* (SHE, 3 February)Craig Winstanley* (CHE, 4 February)Scott Robertson* (ABE, 17 February)
* Due to Storm Emma, multiple players pulled out of the tournament.[10][11]
Prize money
editThe prize fund stayed the same as last year, £350,000.
| Stage (no. of players) | Prize money (Total: £350,000) | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | (1) | £70,000 |
| Runner-up | (1) | £35,000 |
| Semi-finalists | (2) | £17,500 |
| Quarter-finalists | (4) | £11,500 |
| Last 16 (fifth round) | (8) | £6,500 |
| Last 32 (fourth round) | (16) | £3,500 |
| Last 64 (third round) | (32) | £1,750 |
| Last 96 (second round) | (32) | n/a |
| Last 128 (first round) | (32) | n/a |
Draw
edit(Note: Due to extreme weather all matches in the tournament were played behind closed doors)
Friday 2 March
editFirst round (best of eleven legs)
edit| Player | Score | Player | Player | Score | Player | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| w/o | 6–2 | |||||
| 6–4 | 4–6 | |||||
| w/o | w/o | |||||
| 3–6 | 5–6 | |||||
| 5–6 | 6–1 | |||||
| 4–6 | w/o | |||||
| 5–6 | 6–1 | |||||
| 6–4 | w/o | |||||
| w/o | w/o | |||||
| 6–3 | 3–6 | |||||
| 6–0 | 6–5 | |||||
| 2–6 | 5–6 | |||||
| w/o | 6–4 | |||||
| 6–0 | 4–6 | |||||
| 6–2 | 5–6 | |||||
| 6–5 | 4–6 |
** René Berndt withdrew from the tournament because of health reasons.
Second round (best of eleven legs)
edit| Player | Score | Player | Player | Score | Player | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6–3 | 6–2 | |||||
| 6–0 | w/o | |||||
| 6–3 | 4–6 | |||||
| 5–6 | 6–4 | |||||
| 5–6 | 6–3 | |||||
| 6–5 | 6–2 | |||||
| 6–2 | 4–6 | |||||
| 1–6 | 1–6 | |||||
| 3–6 | 6–1 | |||||
| 6–4 | 2–6 | |||||
| 6–4 | 6–4 | |||||
| 4–6 | 6–2 | |||||
| w/o | 6–3 | |||||
| 3–6 | 2–6 | |||||
| 0–6 | 6–0 | |||||
| 3–6 | 6–0 |
* Due to extreme weather, multiple players pulled out of the tournament.
Third round (best of nineteen legs)
edit* Lerchbacher was the only third-round qualifier to withdraw from the tournament due to the weather conditions, so Hughes received a bye to the fourth round.
Saturday 3 March
editFourth round (best of nineteen legs)
edit| Player | Score | Player | Player | Score | Player | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8–10 | 10–7 | |||||
| 9–10 | 10–9 | |||||
| 5–10 | 10–5 | |||||
| 10–6 | 10–7 | |||||
| 10–3 | 10–8 | |||||
| 10–8 | 10–7 | |||||
| 8–10 | 5–10 | |||||
| 10–4 | 10–6 |
Fifth round (best of nineteen legs)
edit| Player | Score | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 9–10 | ||
| 10–6 | ||
| 10–7 | ||
| 8–10 | ||
| 7–10 | ||
| 7–10 | ||
| 10–9 | ||
| 3–10 |
Sunday 4 March
editQuarter-finals (best of nineteen legs)
edit| Player | Score | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 5–10 | ||
| 10–3 | ||
| 10–6 | ||
| 5–10 |
Semi-finals and Final (best of twenty-one legs)
edit| Semi-finals (best of 21 legs) | Final (best of 21 legs) | ||||||||
| 11 | |||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||
| 11 | |||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||
| 11 | |||||||||
References
edit- ^ "UK Open: Peter Wright beats Gerwyn Price in Minehead". BBC Sport. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
- ^ "PDC Coral UK Open at Butlin's in Minehead to be played with no fans due to 'unprecedented extreme weather'". Somerset Live. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
- ^ "Coral UK Open Qualifier One". PDC. 2 February 2018.
- ^ "100 Up For Van Gerwen". PDC. 3 February 2018.
- ^ "Super Smith's Qualifier Three Success". PDC. 4 February 2018.
- ^ "Coral UK Open Qualifier Four". PDC. 9 February 2018.
- ^ "Coral UK Open Qualifier Five". PDC. 10 February 2018.
- ^ Allen, Dave. "UK Open Qualifier 6". PDC. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "Ten Players Complete Rileys Qualifiers". Professional Darts Corporation. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ Allen, Dave. "2018 Coral UK Open Update". PDC. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
- ^ Allen, Dave. "Coral UK Open - Fri Update". PDC. Retrieved 2 March 2018.[permanent dead link]