2010 UK Open

2010 Rileys Darts Zones UK Open
Tournament information
Dates	3–6 June 2010
Venue	Reebok Stadium
Location	Bolton
Country	England
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs Final – best of 21
Prize fund	£200,000
Winner's share	£40,000
Nine-dart finish	Mervyn King
High checkout	167 Phil Taylor (final)
Champion(s)
Phil Taylor
«2009 2011»

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.

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

Thursday 3 June; Best of 11 legs

Preliminary round

Round 1

• ‡ 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

• * Chris Mason withdrew for personal reasons.

Friday 4 June; best of 17 legs

Round 3

^[5]

Saturday 5 June; best of 17 legs

Round 4

^[6]

Round 5

^[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

Last 8 to final

	Quarter-finals Best of 19 legs[8]				Semi-finals Best of 19 legs[9]				Final Best of 21 legs[10]
	James Wade	9
	Tony Ayres	10
					Tony Ayres	3
					Gary Anderson	10
	Gary Anderson	10
	Andy Hamilton	6
									Gary Anderson	5
									Phil Taylor	11
	Wes Newton	3
	Denis Ovens	10
					Denis Ovens	5
					Phil Taylor	10
	Phil Taylor	10
	Adrian Lewis	2

Nine dart finish

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

World record

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

• UK Open history of event and previous winners
• 2010 in darts includes extended results of Pro Tour events
• PDC Pro Tour history of PDC "floor events"

References

External links

• The official PDC page for the UK Open