The world’s greatest darts players all meet this weekend for the highly anticipated UK Darts Open in Minehead. The tournament runs over three days from Friday, March 1 to Sunday, March 3.
The UK open is one of the most unique tournaments in the PDC calendar. There is no televised tournament in the PDC which has such a large field of participants, including an open draw. After the third round, there is a new draw after each round. This makes the tournament very interesting and unique as this can lead to clashes between some of the big-name players early in the tournament.
WHO IS FAVOURITE TO WIN?
With the tournament being an unpredictable nature, it is hard to pinpoint any standout favourite in advance. Of course, we can look at players who have impressed in recent weeks.
With that being said, Michael Van Gerwen is obviously one of the big contenders for the title. “Mighty Mike” won the Dutch Darts Masters in Den Bosch at the end of January and has already gained three weekly titles in the Premier League Darts in the month of February and could make it four tonight in Exeter.
The name that is flooding round the darts community and some what brought more fans to the sports is Luke “The Nuke” Littler. The 17-year-old reached the final of the World Darts Championship, won the Bahrain Darts Masters, has already won a Pro Tour Title and reached the weekly final of the Premier League Darts at week 2 in Berlin.
Looking at the results of the first-floor tournaments of 2024, Ryan Searle and Gary Anderson could also be aiming high at the UK Open. Anderson already stood in two Pro Tour finals, won one and impressed with many high 100+ averages. Searle even reached three finals on the Pro Tour already and leads the Players Championship Order of Merit after four tournaments. Don’t be surprised if one of these two men stands with the trophy in his hands on Sunday night.
Gloucestershire born darts player Lee Evans is also in action where he enters at round two due to being a tour card holder of 65-96, He will face the winner of Christopher Toonders and Chris Landman who play each other in the first round.
University of Gloucestershire darts player Keelan Hills predicts Michael Van Gerwen, but understands that Gary Anderson could challenge if he has the stamina.
“I think Michael Van Gerwen will win, there’s rarely a tournament I go into thinking MVG won’t win.
“He’s on form, he’s third best. But if it’s on form its Gary Anderson, but majors are too much for him he doesn’t have the stamina.”
All matches played on the main stage can be seen on ITV. A live stream of the proceedings on the other seven boards can be followed via PDC TV. The prize pool for the UK Open Darts has stood at £600,000 since the 2023 edition. Of this, £110,000 in prize money goes to the winner of the tournament. The UK Open is the first major tournament of the year to count toward the PDC Order of Merit. This means that all the prize money won will be added to the world rankings. The results of the 2022 edition will expire from the ranking after this tournament.
