The 2007 Blue Square UK Open was the fifth year of the PDC's

UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...

darts tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament took place at the

Reebok Stadium The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming righ ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, between 7–10 June 2007. 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 The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

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.

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

defended his title, by defeating fellow Dutchman

Vincent van der Voort Vincent van der Voort (born 18 December 1975) is a Dutch professional darts player on the PDC circuit. As of the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, his nickname is the "Dutch Destroyer", although he used to go by "Grease Lightning". He is bes ...

16–8 in the final.

Prize money

Format

Qualifying events are held at

Punch Taverns Punch Pubs & Co is a pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 1,300 leased pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constitu ...

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 (plus 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 :22 October (Ireland) Raymond van Barneveld 2–1 Colin Lloyd :5 November (Scotland) Raymond van Barneveld 2–0 Barrie Bates :6 January 2007 (North-East) Raymond van Barneveld 2–0 Roland Scholten :11 February (South-West) Dennis Priestley 2–0 James Wade :4 March (South) Phil Taylor 2–0 Wayne Mardle :18 March (North-West) James Wade 2–0 Terry Jenkins :1 April (Midlands) Andy Hamilton 2–0 James Wade

Results

Collated results from later stages:-

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 Evelyn Nigel Chetwode Birch, Baron Rhyl (18 November 1906 – 8 March 1981) was a British Conservative politician. The son of General Sir Noel Birch and his wife Florence Chetwode, Nigel Birch was educated at Eton. He was a partner in Cohe ...

: Kevin McDine 7–11 Alan Green : Wayne Jones 11–4

Gary Spedding Gary Spedding (born 15 August 1968) is an English retired professional darts player, who played in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Spedding played in one BDO World Darts Championships in 2000, losing 3-0 to Steve Douglas and playe ...

: 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 Michael McGowan (born 1 February 1973) is an Irish professional darts player who last played in events for the British Darts Organisation (BDO). Career McGowan last played on the PDC pro tour in the Killarney Pro Tour 1 in October 2013 and his ...

: Mark Dudbridge 11–8 Simon Whatley *Board Six : Sam Rooney 11–6

Gary Welding Gary Welding (born 23 May 1964 from St Helens, Merseyside) is an English professional darts player who played in British Darts Organisation events and formerly on the Professional Darts Corporation. Career From St Helens, Merseyside, Welding ...

: Wayne Atwood 7–11

Andy Callaby Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds *Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...

: Owen Caffrey 11–6 Jason Clark : Vincent van der Voort 11–5

John Kuczynski John Kuczynski (born October 16, 1973 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania) is a former American professional darts player. He currently resides in Zion Grove, Pennsylvania and used the nickname Johnny K for his matches. Career For five years running ...

*Board Seven : Steve Beaton 7–11

Adrian Gray Adrian Gray (born 28 February 1981) is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Gray made his televised debut at the 2003 UK Open. He only began playing darts at the age of 18, and within thre ...

: 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 Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...

11–8 Alan Reynolds :

David Platt David Andrew Platt (born 10 June 1966) is an English former professional football coach and player, who played as a midfielder. Born in Chadderton, Lancashire, Platt began his career as an apprentice at Manchester United before moving to Crewe ...

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.

Tournament Review

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 Masters The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are th ...

champion

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

, 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 Richard Mark "Richie" Burnett (born 7 February 1967), nicknamed Prince of Wales, is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former World No. 1 who won the 1995 Embassy World Darts Cha ...

and

Cliff Lazarenko Cliff Lazarenko (born 16 March 1952) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "Big Cliff" due to his height (193 cm / 6'4") and weight (over 127 kg at his peak), he is known for being a colourful character on and off the stage ...

also played on the opening day – both progressing to the second round.

Day Two – Friday 8 June 2007

There were very few shocks on day two of the tournament, although former world champions Bob Anderson and

Keith Deller Keith Kelvin Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship and Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987. He was the first qualifier ever to ...

, who were both struggling for form, were both knocked out.

'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 A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly an ...

at Bolton in the fifth round against

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Op ...

– it is 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 (born 19 June 1975) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2009, he won the Championship League and reached the final of the UK Open. Darts career Osborne has won two ...

was on his way to an 11–7 victory against

, 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 (born 12 July 1967) is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the ...

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 on 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

come from 0–5 behind to edge out Premier League finalist

Terry Jenkins Terry Jenkins (born 26 September 1963) is an English former professional darts player who was nicknamed The Bull, having previously used the name "Tucker" for his matches. He reached number three in the world rankings and was a runner-up in nin ...

11–10 to reach his first PDC semi-final.

beat Alan Green 11–6 on board two.

Colin Lloyd Colin Edward Lloyd (born 7 August 1973), nicknamed Jaws, is an English retired professional darts player. He is a former world number one ranked player and has won two major television titles in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) – the ...

followed on board two with another comeback, having been 0–4 behind he beat

Steve Hine Stephen "Steve" Hine (born 20 April 1969 from Coventry) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation events. He works as a baker and consequently he is nicknamed The Muffin Man. He is well known for bringing muff ...

11–6. The clash between the world's top two ranked players ended with a convincing victory for

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.

produced a second successive 11–10 win to reach the final by beating

in the semi-final whilst defending champion Raymond van Barneveld had a more comfortable win 11–4 over

– 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.

External links

List of qualifiers from the Order of Merit
{{2007 in PDC darts UK Open UK Open Darts