The 2008 Blue Square UK Open was the sixth 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 Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

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 Bolton Wanderers'

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 ri ...

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 weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

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 5–8 June 2008. James Wade won the tournament; his first UK Open title, and his third major championship inside 12 months. He defeated American

Gary Mawson Gary Mawson (born May 17, 1963) is a Canadian-born American professional darts player. He currently resides in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. Mawson played darts for the USA in 2004 and the years immediately following, having previously ...

in the final 11–7.

Format

As in previous years, eight regional UK Open events were staged across the UK where players winning were collated into the UK Order Of Merit. The top 128 players in the list, who played a minimum of three events (plus ties) won a place at the final stages.UK Open Order of Merit table
planetdarts.tv The final UK Open Order of Merit qualifiers (146) were also joined by 32 Holsten qualifiers from pub tournaments throughout the UK. The Holsten 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

Prize money

Schedule

*Preliminary & First Round (Thursday, best of 11 legs): Holsten pub qualifiers and those lowest in the UK Open Order of Merit start the tournament here. *Second Round (Thursday, best of 11 legs): The players just outside the top 32 in UK Open Order of Merit join Preliminary and First Round winners. *Third Round (Last 64) (Friday, best of 17 legs): Top 32 in UK Open Order of Merit join the 32 survivors from the first night's play. *Fourth Round (Last 32) (Saturday afternoon, best of 17 legs) *Fifth Round (Last 16) (Saturday evening, best of 17 legs) *Quarter Finals (Sunday afternoon, best of 19 legs) *Semi Finals (Sunday evening, best of 19 legs) *Final (Sunday evening, best of 21 legs)

2007-2008 UK Open Regional Finals

There were eight regional final events staged between September 2007 and March 2008 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were: :23 September 2007 (Wales): James Wade 8-7 Raymond van Barneveld :7 October (Ireland): Raymond van Barneveld 8-2 Kevin McDine :21 October (Scotland): James Wade 8-2 Ronnie Baxter :13 January 2008 (North East): Colin Osborne 8-6 Denis Ovens :10 February 10 (South West): Colin Lloyd 8-6 Andy Hamilton :2 March (South): Colin Lloyd 8-6 Phil Taylor :16 March (North West): Phil Taylor 8-7 Adrian Lewis :30 March (Midlands): Phil Taylor 8-0 Brendan Dolan

Tournament review

The tournament has 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 random draw is staged after each round. This provides no protection for the top players, who are usually seeded to avoid each other in early rounds. Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor, the top two in the PDC rankings respectively, met at the quarter-final stage for the third successive year, with the Dutchman coming out on top each occasion, this time 10-9. In addition, Adrian Lewis and Wayne Mardle - two players who played in the 2008 Premier League - played as early as the third Round, the last 64 stage. Van Barneveld, who had won the tournament for the previous two years went out in the semi-finals to

, which was the Dutchman's first loss at the Reebok Stadium in the event. It also meant that Phil Taylor now overtook him to regain the top spot in the PDC Order of Merit/world rankings, as van Barneveld had failed to defend the £30,000 from the UK Open two years ago. Earlier in the tournament, Phil Taylor threw his fourth nine dart leg in six years in the UK Open, during a 9-1 victory over Jamie Harvey in the fourth Round. In his Fifth Round match against Wesley Newton, Taylor achieved the highest televised 3 dart average (to date) of 114.53 surpassing

Darryl Fitton Darryl Fitton (born 5 May 1962) is an English professional darts player. He is nicknamed The Dazzler and comes to the stage dancing to the Madness song " One Step Beyond" wearing sunglasses; one of the most popular walk-ons with the audienc ...

's record (114.15) in the

International Darts League The Topic International Darts League was a darts tournament held at the Triavium in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Raymond van Barneveld dominated the tournament, held in his home country, winning it on three of the five occasions it was held. Gary Anders ...

2004 against

Davy Richardson David Richardson-Page (born 21 October 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He was nicknamed Rocky and The Face. Career Richardson was well renowned for having the worst r ...

. The semi-final line-up contained only one player from the United Kingdom for the first time it the tournament's six-year history. That one player - James Wade, however went on to claim to the title.

was the first American player to reach the UK Open final, and the first American since Larry Butler in 1994 to reach a major PDC final.

Results

Preliminary Round

Best of 11 legs * Johnny Haines 6 V 5 John Kuczynski *

Scott Waites Scott Waites (born 17 February 1977) is an English professional darts player who plays in tournaments of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He is a two-time BDO World Darts Champion having won the 2013 tournament and 2016 tournament. ...

6 V 0 Scott Mitton * Paul Whitworth 6 V 2 Mark Jodrill * Nigel Birch 6 V 2 Paul Knighton * Nicky Turner 6 V 3 Gordon Fitzpatrick * Alan Casey 6 V 1 Alan Green * Paul Cooper 6 V 2 Michael Barnard * Chris Hornby 6 V 4 Steve Hillier

First Round

Best of 11 legs *Jamie Harvey 6 V 1 Richie Burnett *Robert Thornton 6 V 5 Anastasia Dobromyslova *

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...

6 V 1 Danny King *

Dave Honey David Honey (born 30 November 1966 from Droitwich Spa) is an English professional darts player, who played in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Honey played in the 2006 PDC World Darts Championship, but lost in the last 64 to Adrian ...

6 V 1 Nicky Turner * Mike Smith 6 V 3 Alan Caves *

6 V 5 Darren Johnson * Dave Johnson 6 V 3 Stuart Pickles * Ian Jopling 6 V 5 Ken Dobson *

Joey Palfreyman Joey Palfreyman (born 21 February 1974) is an English darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Palfreyman made his first impact in a PDC event at the 2013 UK Open by beating Keegan Brown and Steve Beaton to ...

6 V 1 Mel Davies * Martin Burchell 6 V 3 Darren Sutton * Dave Harris 6 V 3 Mick Savvery *Alan Casey 6 V 4 Lee Palfreyman * John Quantock 6 V 4 Gary Noonan *Dan Timmins 6 V 0 Andrew Callary Snr *

Tony Ayres Tony Ayres (born 16 July 1961) is an Australian showrunner, screenwriter, director in television and feature film. He is most notable for his films '' Walking on Water'' and '' The Home Song Stories'', as well his work in television, includi ...

6 V 3 David Howells *

Darren Webster Darren Michael Webster (born 10 June 1968) is an English darts player nicknamed Demolition Man. Career Webster won the 2005 Open Oust Nederland, beating Co Stompé in the final. Originally nicknamed The Sniper, Webster reached the quarter-fina ...

6 V 1 Chris Hornby *

Martyn Turner Martyn Turner (born 1948) is an English-born Irish political cartoonist, caricaturist and writer, working for the Irish Times since 1971. His cartoons appear four times a week in the newspaper, parodying current events. Life Early life and educ ...

6 V 5 Alan Reynolds * Bob Crawley 6 V 1 Harry Anderson *Adrian Welsh 6 V 5 David Woodwards * Paul Whitworth 6 V 5

Dave Ladley Dave Ladley (born 29 September 1975) is an English darts player that competes in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Ladley joined the PDC in 2002, and qualified for the 2004 UK Open, where he lost to Barrie Bates in the second rou ...

* Tony Mitchell 6 V 1 Geoff Harkup * Johnny Haines Bye Darren Williams *

6 V 3

Aaron Turner Aaron Turner (born November 5, 1977) is an American musician, singer, graphic artist, and founder of label Hydra Head Records. He is most widely known for his role as guitarist and vocalist for the post-metal bands SUMAC and Isis, while also ...

*Shane Passey 6 V 3 Joe Bata *

Sean Palfrey Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angliciz ...

6 V 5 Jamie Robinson *Lee White 6 V 5 Ryan Francis * Nigel Birch 6 V 1 Dale Pinch * Joe Cullen 6 V 0 Mark Stapleton * Sam Rooney 6 V 1 Ritchie Corner *

Justin Pipe Justin Pipe (born 9 November 1971) is an English former professional darts player who has played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was a former top 10 player. Playing career Pipe was a boxer in his youth, and, as a staunc ...

6 V 4

Geoff Wylie Geoffrey "Geoff" Wylie (born 23 September 1956 from Ballymena) is a retired Northern Ireland, Northern Irish professional darts player who currently plays in the Professional Darts Corporation events. Darts career Wylie played in three stages o ...

* Paul Cooper 6 V 4

Kevin McDine Kevin McDine (born 23 May 1985 in Wallsend) is an English professional darts player currently residing in Wallsend. Career In November 2004 he reached the last 16 of the JR & Vauxhall Holiday Park 128 Plus Classic. He improved on that perfor ...

Second Round

Best of 11 legs *

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 ...

6 V 0

Wayne Mardle Wayne Elliot Mardle (born 10 May 1973) is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO). He was runner-up in three PDC majors, losing to Phil ...

6 V 3 Gary Welding *

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 ...

6 V 2 Tony Eccles * Matt Clark 6 V 4

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the BDO World Darts Championship in 1996 and is a former World No. 1. Background Beaton was born in Co ...

Kirk Shepherd Kirk Shepherd (born 5 October 1986) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He was the youngest player ever to reach the final of the World Professional Darts Championshi ...

6 V 4

Jan van der Rassel Jan van der Rassel (born 5 January 1964) is a former Dutch professional darts player. He used the nicknames The Project and Rassel Dazzle for his matches. Career He began his darts career competing on the BDO circuit in 2002, and reached the ...

* Robert Thornton 6 V 2 Bob Crawley * Joe Cullen 6 V 3 Dennis Smith * Paul Cooper 6 V 1 Carlos Rodriguez *

John Magowan Johnny "John" Magowan (born 10 June 1941 in Newtownards, County Down) is a Northern Irish former professional darts player who competed in the Professional Darts Corporation and British Darts Organisation events. BDO career MaGowan reached th ...

Bye Jimmy Mann *

Dave Askew Dave Askew (born 3 April 1963) is a former English professional darts player who competed in events of the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He is a two-time semi-finalist of the PDC World Championship ...

6 V 4

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 ...

* Nigel Birch 6 V 5 Shane Passey *

Andy Jenkins Andrew Jenkins (born 11 March 1971) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was nicknamed "Rocky" due to his rough personality. Jenkins has reached high rankings in the PDC, but ha ...

6 V 1 Mike Smith *

6 V 0

Mark Frost Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...

6 V 2 Kevin Dowling *

6 V 4

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 ...

* Steve Evans 6 V 4 Owen Caffrey *

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 ...

6 V 4 Martin Burchell *

6 V 5 Paul Whitworth * Jason Clark 6 V 0 Johnny Haines *

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, ...

6 V 4

Jamie Caven Jamie Robert Caven (born 10 March 1976) is an English former professional darts player who plays in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. He has won seven events on the PDC Pro Tour, including two in the same weekend in May 2013. Caven was ...

*Martyn Turner 6 V 1 John Quantock *

6 V 0 Lee White *

Steve Maish Stephen Maish (born 22 November 1963 in Southend, Essex) is a retired English professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation events. He used the nickname Mr Magic for his matches. Career Maish made his televised deb ...

6 V 1 Ian Jopling *Alan Warriner-Little 6 V 2 Tony Mitchell *

Jason Barry Jason Barry (born 14 December 1972) is an Irish actor best known for his portrayal of Tommy Ryan in the 1997 film '' Titanic''. He also starred in '' The Still Life'' for which he won numerous awards. Early life Jason Barry was born in Artane ...

6 V 5 Adrian Welsh * Mark Lawrence 6 V 5

6 V 2

Lionel Sams Lionel Jeffrey Sams (born 20 January 1961 in Paddington, London) is a former English darts player who previously played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. His nickname was The Lion for his matches. Since 2011, he played f ...

* John Ferrell 6 V 3 Dan Timmins * Simon Whatley 6 V 2

* Jamie Harvey 6 V 4 Dave Harris *Alan Casey 6 V 2 Dave Johnson

Third Round

Best of 17 legs Main Stage *M van Gerwen 7-9 R Thornton *V van der Voort 9-4 C Lloyd *J Ferrell 3-9 P Taylor *A Lewis 9-8 W Mardle *J Part 9-2 C Monk Board Two *M King 8-9 W Newton *T Ayres 0-9 R van Barneveld *K Painter 3-9 C Osborne *J Wade 9-3 J Pipe *A Smith 1-9 T Jenkins Board Three *K Shepherd 8-9 W Jones *P Cooper 7-9 A Tabern *J Klaasen 9-6 D Askew *M Turner 6-9 J Harvey Board Four *M Dudbridge 9-8 A Warriner-Little *B Bates 9-4 J Clark *P Manley 9-3 D Honey *S Evans 8-9 S Whatley Board Five *N Birch 9-8 D Priestley *M Walsh 9-4 R Scholten *A Casey 2-9 J Barry Board Six *S Brown 9-5 K McDine *M Clark 2-9 A Hamilton *S Smith 9-7 A Jenkins Board Seven *S Waites 9-4 W Atwood *G Mawson 9-7 A Roy *D Platt 4-9 M Lawrence *R Baxter 9-1 S Rooney Board Eight *J MaGowan 5-9 B Dolan *S Maish 9-6 D Ovens *C Mason 9-5 J Cullen *C Thompson 9-4 A Gray

Fourth Round

Best of 17 legs, Main Stage * J Harvey 1-9 P Taylor *Phil Taylor hit nine-darter* * R Baxter 9-6 S Waites * J Barry 7-9 R van Barneveld * P Manley 7-9 M Dudbridge * C Osborne 8-9 V van der Voort Board Two * T Jenkins 6-9 J Part * J Wade 9-5 S Brown * A Hamilton 9-6 C Mason * J Klaasen 9-3 N Birch Board Three * A Tabern 9-6 R Thornton * W Newton 9-7 M Walsh * M Lawrence 4-9 G Mawson Board Four * W Jones 9-2 B Bates * A Lewis 8-9 B Dolan * S Maish 5-9 C Thompson * S Smith 6-9 S Whatley

Final Stages

Random draws were made after each round up to the semi final stage. Draw bracket has been compiled retrospectively.

References

External links

UK Open netzone (results & reports)
planetdarts.tv {{DEFAULTSORT:2008 UK Open Darts UK Open UK Open Darts