2008 UK Open

Blue Square UK Open
Tournament information
Dates	5–8 June 2008
Venue	Reebok Stadium
Location	Bolton
Country	England
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs Final – best of 21
Prize fund	£178,000
Winners share	£35,000
Nine dart finish	Phil Taylor
Champion(s)
James Wade
«2007 2009»

The 2008 Blue Square UK Open was the sixth 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 Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium between June 5 and June 8, 2008.

James Wade won the tournament; his first UK Open title, and his third major championship inside 12 months. He defeated American Gary Mawson in the final by 11 legs to 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.^[1]

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

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:

September 23, 2007 (Wales): James Wade 8-7 Raymond van Barneveld

October 7 (Ireland): Raymond van Barneveld 8-2 Kevin McDine

October 21 (Scotland): James Wade 8-2 Ronnie Baxter

January 13, 2008 (North East): Colin Osborne 8-6 Denis Ovens

February 10 South-West: Colin Lloyd 8-6 Andy Hamilton

March 2, South: Colin Lloyd 8-6 Phil Taylor

March 16, North-West: Phil Taylor 8-7 Adrian Lewis

March 30, Midlands: Phil Taylor 8-0 Brendan Dolan

Tournament review

The tournament has the nickname, the "FA Cup 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 Gary Mawson, 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's record (114.15) in the International Darts League 2004 against Davy Richardson.

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.

Gary Mawson 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.

Prize money

Champion £35,000

Runner-up £15,000

Semi-finalists £10,000

Quarter-finalists £5,000

Last 16 £3,000

Last 32 £2,000

Last 64 £1,000

Nine dart finish £25,000 won by Phil Taylor

Results

Preliminary Round

Best of 11 legs

First Round

Best of 11 legs

Second Round

Best of 11 legs

Third Round

Best of 17 legs

Fourth Round

Best of 17 legs,

Final Stages

	5th Round				Quarter Finals				Semi Finals				Final
	James Wade	9
	Ronnie Baxter	2
					Wade 91.72	10
					Tabern 92.80	6
	Alan Tabern	9
	Simon Whatley	8
									Wade 101.39	10
									v d Voort 93.20	4
	V. v.d. Voort	9
	Jelle Klaasen	6
					v d Voort 93.59	10
					Thompson 91.00	5
	Chris Thompson	9
	Brendan Dolan	2
													James Wade 94.65	11
													Gary Mawson 87.33	7
	Wes Newton	3
	Phil Taylor *114.53	9
					Taylor 101.38	9
					v Barneveld 97.72	10
	Andy Hamilton	4
	v.Barneveld	9
									Barneveld 92.15	8
									Mawson 90.66	10
	John Part	6
	Wayne Jones	9
					Jones 87.93	6
					Mawson 87.14	10
	Mark Dudbridge	8
	Gary Mawson	9

* Phil Taylor hits highest televised 3 dart average to date (114.53)

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

See also

• UK Open history of event and previous winners
• 2007 in darts and 2008 in darts includes extended results of Pro Tour events
• PDC Pro Tour history of PDC "floor events"

References

External links

• UK Open netzone (results & reports) planetdarts.tv