2007 UK Open Darts
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Blue Square UK Open was the fifth 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. Blue Square
took over as title sponsor after Budweiser
's three-year deal expired.
There were two changes being introduced this year where a tournament bracket was introduced from the quarter-final stage to prevent players being forced into playing long back-to-back matches. Previously there had been a random draw after each round and the tournament had earned the nickname the "FA Cup
of darts" as a result. The number of players was expanded from 128 to 168 for the 2007 tournament, but due to players tied on 168th position in the Order of Merit the starting field was 176 players.
Random draws were made after each round up to the quarter final stage; draw bracket has been compiled retrospectively.
champion Michael van Gerwen
, playing his first match on Sky Television in the UK, beat 37 year-old Chris McTernan a pub qualifier from Bacup. Former World Champion Richie Burnett
and Cliff Lazarenko
also played on the opening day - both progressing to the second round.
Alf Turley lost to Nigel Birch 6-3 after having at least 2 darts at a double in every leg a bruised and painful arm lost him the game the well known pub darter as yet to fully recover from his injury and make the big stage again. Reports suggest he is getting back to his usually 10 to 14 dart legs on regular occasions so it should not be too long before we see him again.
and Keith Deller
, who were both struggling for form, were both knocked out. Cliff Lazarenko
's run in the event ended in the third round. The draw for the fourth round, featuring the top 32 players in the world was staged at the end of Friday's play.
Phil Taylor achieved his third nine dart finish
at Bolton in the fifth round against Wes Newton
- its also his fifth televised perfect game. Taylor was playing on the second main stage and whilst his match was in progress Colin Osborne
was on his way to a 11-7 victory against Michael van Gerwen
, including a 170 finish within moments of Taylor hitting the nine-darter. Osborne also saw off Mervyn King 11-10 - his second deciding leg victory of the day to reach the quarter-finals. Kevin Painter
came within one dart of matching Phil Taylor's nine-darter missing double 12 for the finish which would have been the first time that a tournament had witnessed two nine-darters in the same day.
The draw for the final day's matches took place at the end of Saturday's play and the quarter-final line-up featured a repeat of the previous year's quarter-final between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld.
come from 0-5 behind to edge out Premier League finalist Terry Jenkins
11-10 to reach his first PDC semi-final. Colin Osborne
beat Alan Green 11-6 on board two. Colin Lloyd
followed on board two with another comeback, having been 0-4 behind he beat Steve Hine
11-6.
The clash between the world's top two ranked players ended with a convincing victory for Raymond van Barneveld
against Phil Taylor. Van Barneveld won four successive legs from 3-2 up and then further extended his lead to 9-3. Taylor took the 13th leg when he took out 182 with a usual combination of a maximum 180 and double one on his next visit. But van Barneveld won the next leg to win 11-4 and give Taylor one of his heaviest defeats on television.
Vincent van der Voort
produced a second successive 11-10 win to reach the final by beating Colin Osborne
in the semi-final whilst defending champion Raymond van Barneveld had a more comfortable win 11-4 over Colin Lloyd
- meaning he'd beaten his two rivals in the top three of the world rankings on the same day. In the final, van Barneveld raced to a 4-0 win hitting his double on the first attempt each time before van der Voort managed to get two legs on the scoreboard. Van Barneveld then took the next four legs, then further extended his lead to 13-5. Van der Voort tried to stay with van Barneveld and took three of the next five legs but a double top in the 24th leg sealed a second successive UK Open title for van Barneveld.
pubs across the UK - winners from each pub event progress to one of four Regional Finals, to be staged in their relevant area. Players who reach the final eight in the Regional Finals will qualify for the televised stages of the UK Open in Bolton.
In addition there are eight UK Open Regional Finals for the "professional" players. All events are open to all darts players on payment of an entry fee - which means that players from both the PDC
and BDO
are eligible to enter. Players who enter through the Punch Taverns Qualifying Round are not eligible to play in the regional qualifying events and vice-versa.
The results of the eight qualifiers are then collated into an Order of Merit table (Winner £4000; Runner-up £2000; 3-4 £1000; 5-8 £500; 9-16 £250; 17-32 £100; 33-64 £50). This was raised to Winner £5000; Runner-up £2500; 3-4 £1250; 5-8 £600; 9-16 £300; 17-32 £150; 33-64 £75 from January 2007. The top 128 players (plust ties) in this Order of Merit join the 32 Punch Taverns qualifiers at the televised stages in Bolton.
The format for the event changes in 2007 to allow the tournament to expand by an extra day, and increase the number of players in the field.
16 Matches drawn from a pool of 32 Punch Taverns Qualifiers and the 31 players with £50 or £75 in UK Open Order of Merit
32 Matches with 16 Preliminary Round survivors, the remaining 31 players who were not drawn in Preliminary Round and players ranked 97-113 in UK Open Order of Merit
Players ranked 65 to 96 join the first round winners.
Players ranked 33 to 64 join the second round winners.
Players ranked in the top 32 join the third round winners.
Last 32 of competition
Last 16 of competition followed by draw for quarter-finals in bracket form to avoid players being drawn in consecutive matches.
Professional Darts Corporation
The Professional Darts Corporation is a professional darts organization, established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of leading professional players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council...
darts tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. Blue Square
Blue square
Blue square may refer to:*a gambling company owned by The Rank Group*a rating for ski trails* Blue Square - Israel, an Israeli company operating multiple supermarket chains....
took over as title sponsor after Budweiser
Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)
Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
's three-year deal expired.
There were two changes being introduced this year where a tournament bracket was introduced from the quarter-final stage to prevent players being forced into playing long back-to-back matches. Previously there had been a random draw after each round and the tournament had earned the nickname the "FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
of darts" as a result. The number of players was expanded from 128 to 168 for the 2007 tournament, but due to players tied on 168th position in the Order of Merit the starting field was 176 players.
Prize money
- Champion £30,000
- Runner-up £15,000
- Semi-finalists £8,500
- Quarter-finalists £4,000
- Last 16 £2,000
- Last 32 £1,500
- Last 64 £1,000
- Nine-dart finish £5,000 added to current Sky TV tournament rollover bonus of £15,000 (won by Phil Taylor)
- Total Prize fund £150,000 + £20,000
Fourth Round
- Board One
- Chris Mason 4-11 Mervyn King
- Tony Eccles 8-11 Michael van Gerwen
- Peter Manley 3-11 Phil Taylor
- John MaGowan 1-11 Raymond van Barneveld
- Board Two
- Barrie Bates 9-11 Adrian Lewis
- Roland Scholten 5-11 James Wade
- Dennis Smith 4-11 Colin Lloyd
- Wayne Mardle 7-11 Denis Ovens
- Board Three
- Kevin Painter 11-6 Nigel Birch
- Kevin McDine 7-11 Alan Green
- Wayne Jones 11-4 Garry Spedding
- Darren Johnson 6-11 Brendan Dolan
- Board Four
- John Part 11-7 Garrett Gray
- Steve Hine 11-1 Alan Tabern
- Richie Burnett 11-9 Jelle Klaasen
- Colin Osborne 11-10 Steve Maish
- Board Five
- Terry Jenkins 11-8 Andy Roberts
- Andy Smith 11-9 Robbie Green
- Dennis Priestley 11-5 Mick McGowan
- Mark Dudbridge 11-8 Simon Whatley
- Board Six
- Sam Rooney 11-6 Gary Welding
- Wayne Atwood 7-11 Andy Callaby
- Owen Caffrey 11-6 Jason Clark
- Vincent van der Voort 11-5 John Kuczynski
- Board Seven
- Steve Beaton 7-11 Adrian Gray
- Mark Holden 11-8 Andy Jenkins
- Alex Roy 11-5 Lee Palfreyman
- Andy Hamilton 7-11 Darren Webster
- Board Eight
- Colin Monk 11-8 Tony Randell
- Steve Smith 11-8 Alan Reynolds
- David Platt 11-7 Mark Lawrence
- Wes Newton 11-8 Jimmy Mann
Random draws were made after each round up to the quarter final stage; draw bracket has been compiled retrospectively.
Day One - Thursday 7 June 2007
The first round was played on Thursday and featured 81 players competing for a place in the second round. Winmau World MastersWinmau World Masters
The Winmau World Masters is one of the longest running and most prestigious professional darts tournaments, which began in 1974 - even before the current World Professional Championship...
champion Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen is a Dutch professional darts player, nicknamed Mighty Mike. He is the youngest player in history to win a major televised tournament in either the BDO or the PDC, winning the 2006 Winmau World Masters at the age of 17...
, playing his first match on Sky Television in the UK, beat 37 year-old Chris McTernan a pub qualifier from Bacup. Former World Champion Richie Burnett
Richie Burnett
Richie Burnett is a Welsh darts player who was the 1995 Embassy World Darts Champion and currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. His nickname is The Prince of Wales.-BDO career:...
and Cliff Lazarenko
Cliff Lazarenko
Cliff Lazarenko is an English professional darts player who competed for the British Darts Organisation and the Professional Darts Corporation...
also played on the opening day - both progressing to the second round.
Alf Turley lost to Nigel Birch 6-3 after having at least 2 darts at a double in every leg a bruised and painful arm lost him the game the well known pub darter as yet to fully recover from his injury and make the big stage again. Reports suggest he is getting back to his usually 10 to 14 dart legs on regular occasions so it should not be too long before we see him again.
Day Two - Friday 8 June 2007
There were very few shocks on day two of the tournament, although former world champions Bob AndersonBob Anderson (darts player)
Robert Charles "Bob" Anderson is a former world darts champion. He was ranked as world number one for over three years in the late 1980s. Nicknamed The Limestone Cowboy, he lives in Clevedon in Somerset.-Before Darts:Anderson threw his first darts maximum at the age of just five...
and Keith Deller
Keith Deller
Keith Deller is an English darts player, who won the Embassy World Professional Darts Championship in 1983. He was the first qualifier ever to win the championship and remains one of the youngest champions in history...
, who were both struggling for form, were both knocked out. Cliff Lazarenko
Cliff Lazarenko
Cliff Lazarenko is an English professional darts player who competed for the British Darts Organisation and the Professional Darts Corporation...
's run in the event ended in the third round. The draw for the fourth round, featuring the top 32 players in the world was staged at the end of Friday's play.
Day Three - Saturday 9 June 2007
64 players remained when matches got underway on Saturday afternoon, after a late night on Friday. Raymond Barneveld would book a place in Round 5 with an 11-1 win over John "Mr. Magoo" MaGowan, who he defeated 11-7 in the Semi-Finals twelve months ago. It was a different story against John Part with less doubles hit for Barney (compared to 80% against MaGowan). Part led 10-9, but van Barneveld squeezed through to hit double 16 and edge a great match 11-10.Phil Taylor achieved his third nine dart finish
Nine dart finish
A nine-dart finish is the ultimate checkout in the game of darts, constituting a perfect game. It is notoriously difficult to achieve, even by the game's top professionals...
at Bolton in the fifth round against Wes Newton
Wes Newton
Wesley "Wes" Newton is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation tournaments.-Darts career:...
- its also his fifth televised perfect game. Taylor was playing on the second main stage and whilst his match was in progress Colin Osborne
Colin Osborne
Colin Osborne is an English darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation events.-Darts career:Osborne has won two PDC Pro Tour events and he also managed to hit two perfect nine dart finishes in 2005...
was on his way to a 11-7 victory against Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen is a Dutch professional darts player, nicknamed Mighty Mike. He is the youngest player in history to win a major televised tournament in either the BDO or the PDC, winning the 2006 Winmau World Masters at the age of 17...
, including a 170 finish within moments of Taylor hitting the nine-darter. Osborne also saw off Mervyn King 11-10 - his second deciding leg victory of the day to reach the quarter-finals. Kevin Painter
Kevin Painter
Kevin Painter is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation tournaments, where he is known as "The Artist"...
came within one dart of matching Phil Taylor's nine-darter missing double 12 for the finish which would have been the first time that a tournament had witnessed two nine-darters in the same day.
The draw for the final day's matches took place at the end of Saturday's play and the quarter-final line-up featured a repeat of the previous year's quarter-final between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld.
Day Four - Sunday 10 June 2007
The tournament reached the quarter-finals stage and the first match on the main board saw Vincent van der VoortVincent van der Voort
Vincent van der Voort is a professional darts player.-Playing style:Vincent is well known for his spasmodic style and machine-gun speed of play which has gained him a reputation in both the BDO and the PDC for being one of the more erratic throwers in the darting world...
come from 0-5 behind to edge out Premier League finalist Terry Jenkins
Terry Jenkins
Terry Jenkins is an English professional darts player who is nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the nickname "Tucker" for his matches...
11-10 to reach his first PDC semi-final. Colin Osborne
Colin Osborne
Colin Osborne is an English darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation events.-Darts career:Osborne has won two PDC Pro Tour events and he also managed to hit two perfect nine dart finishes in 2005...
beat Alan Green 11-6 on board two. Colin Lloyd
Colin Lloyd
Colin Lloyd , nicknamed Jaws, is an English professional darts player on the Professional Darts Corporation circuit. He is a former world number one ranked player and he has won two major television titles in the PDC - the 2004 World Grand Prix and 2005 World Matchplay...
followed on board two with another comeback, having been 0-4 behind he beat Steve Hine
Steve Hine
Steve Hine is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. He works as a baker and consequently he is nicknamed The Muffin Man...
11-6.
The clash between the world's top two ranked players ended with a convincing victory for Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...
against Phil Taylor. Van Barneveld won four successive legs from 3-2 up and then further extended his lead to 9-3. Taylor took the 13th leg when he took out 182 with a usual combination of a maximum 180 and double one on his next visit. But van Barneveld won the next leg to win 11-4 and give Taylor one of his heaviest defeats on television.
Vincent van der Voort
Vincent van der Voort
Vincent van der Voort is a professional darts player.-Playing style:Vincent is well known for his spasmodic style and machine-gun speed of play which has gained him a reputation in both the BDO and the PDC for being one of the more erratic throwers in the darting world...
produced a second successive 11-10 win to reach the final by beating Colin Osborne
Colin Osborne
Colin Osborne is an English darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation events.-Darts career:Osborne has won two PDC Pro Tour events and he also managed to hit two perfect nine dart finishes in 2005...
in the semi-final whilst defending champion Raymond van Barneveld had a more comfortable win 11-4 over Colin Lloyd
Colin Lloyd
Colin Lloyd , nicknamed Jaws, is an English professional darts player on the Professional Darts Corporation circuit. He is a former world number one ranked player and he has won two major television titles in the PDC - the 2004 World Grand Prix and 2005 World Matchplay...
- meaning he'd beaten his two rivals in the top three of the world rankings on the same day. In the final, van Barneveld raced to a 4-0 win hitting his double on the first attempt each time before van der Voort managed to get two legs on the scoreboard. Van Barneveld then took the next four legs, then further extended his lead to 13-5. Van der Voort tried to stay with van Barneveld and took three of the next five legs but a double top in the 24th leg sealed a second successive UK Open title for van Barneveld.
Format
Qualifying events are held at Punch TavernsPunch Taverns
Punch Taverns plc is the largest pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 6,800 leased, tenanted and managed pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire...
pubs across the UK - winners from each pub event progress to one of four Regional Finals, to be staged in their relevant area. Players who reach the final eight in the Regional Finals will qualify for the televised stages of the UK Open in Bolton.
In addition there are eight UK Open Regional Finals for the "professional" players. All events are open to all darts players on payment of an entry fee - which means that players from both the PDC
Professional Darts Corporation
The Professional Darts Corporation is a professional darts organization, established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of leading professional players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council...
and BDO
British Darts Organisation
The British Darts Organisation, or the BDO for short, is a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, OBE. The BDO is a founder member of the World Darts Federation which was formed in 1976....
are eligible to enter. Players who enter through the Punch Taverns Qualifying Round are not eligible to play in the regional qualifying events and vice-versa.
The results of the eight qualifiers are then collated into an Order of Merit table (Winner £4000; Runner-up £2000; 3-4 £1000; 5-8 £500; 9-16 £250; 17-32 £100; 33-64 £50). This was raised to Winner £5000; Runner-up £2500; 3-4 £1250; 5-8 £600; 9-16 £300; 17-32 £150; 33-64 £75 from January 2007. The top 128 players (plust ties) in this Order of Merit join the 32 Punch Taverns qualifiers at the televised stages in Bolton.
The format for the event changes in 2007 to allow the tournament to expand by an extra day, and increase the number of players in the field.
- Day 1, Preliminary Round - best of 15 legs
16 Matches drawn from a pool of 32 Punch Taverns Qualifiers and the 31 players with £50 or £75 in UK Open Order of Merit
- 1st round - best of 15 legs
32 Matches with 16 Preliminary Round survivors, the remaining 31 players who were not drawn in Preliminary Round and players ranked 97-113 in UK Open Order of Merit
- Day 2, 2nd round - best of 15 legs
Players ranked 65 to 96 join the first round winners.
- 3rd round - best of 15 legs
Players ranked 33 to 64 join the second round winners.
- Day 3, 4th round - best of 21 legs
Players ranked in the top 32 join the third round winners.
- 5th round - best of 21 legs
Last 32 of competition
- 6th round - best of 21 legs
Last 16 of competition followed by draw for quarter-finals in bracket form to avoid players being drawn in consecutive matches.
- Day 4, Quarter finals - best of 21 legs
- Semi finals - best of 21 legs
- Final - best of 31 legs
UK Open Regional Final results
The UK Open Order of Merit was based on the results of the eight qualifying events across the UK. The eight final results were:-- 24 September 2006 (Wales) Phil Taylor 2-1 Adrian Lewis
- October 22 (Ireland) Raymond van Barneveld 2-1 Colin Lloyd
- November 5 (Scotland) Raymond van Barneveld 2-0 Barrie Bates
- January 6, 2007 (North-East) Raymond van Barneveld 2-0 Roland Scholten
- February 11 (South-West) Dennis Priesley 2-0 James Wade
- March 4 (South) Phil Taylor 2-0 Wayne Mardle
- March 18 (North-West) James Wade 2-0 Terry Jenkins
- April 1 (Midlands) Andy Hamilton 2-0 James Wade