The 2018 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the sixteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament was held for the fifth time at the Butlin's Resort in Minehead, England, between 2 to 4 March 2018, and has the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw was staged after each round until the final.

Peter Wright was the defending champion after defeating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the 2017 final, but he lost in the third round to Nathan Rafferty.

Gary Anderson became the UK Open champion for the first time, defeating Corey Cadby (who was making his debut in the event) 11–7 in the final.

Michael van Gerwen's defeat to Jeffrey de Zwaan in the third round was the first time van Gerwen had lost a live match on ITV since the 2014 Players Championship Finals. Van Gerwen was unbeaten for 77 live matches (including the two live World Series events) on the channel during that period.

The tournament was severely affected by the extreme weather conditions caused by Storm Emma which had forced the complete cancellation of round five of the 2018 Premier League Darts that had been due to be held in Exeter the evening before the tournament started. Eleven players who were due to play in the first, second and third rounds withdrew from the competition, and on 2 March, the unprecedented decision was taken by Butlin's to not allow any fans apart from the players relatives, guests and friends into the venue, resulting in the whole tournament being played behind closed doors.

The tournament was still televised live on ITV4, but the Butlin's Skyline Pavilion Arena was unable to be used for the allocated Main Stage TV matches due to heavy snow and ice, so these matches were reallocated to the secondary Red's Bar stage.

Format and qualifiers

UK Open qualifiers There were six qualifying events staged in February 2018 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were:

No. Date Venue Winner Score Runner-up Ref. 1 Friday 2 February Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan 6 – 3 2 Saturday 3 February 6 – 3 3 Sunday 4 February 6 – 0 4 Friday 9 February 6 – 2 5 6 – 4 6 Sunday 11 February 6 – 4

The tournament featured 128 players. The results of the six qualifiers shown above were collated into the UK Open Order Of Merit. The top 32 players in the Order of Merit received byes into the third round of the UK Open. Players ranked 33–64 received byes to the second round, while Players ranked 65–96 entered the main tournament in the first round. A further 32 players qualified via regional qualifying tournaments.

Top 32 in Order of Merit (receiving byes into third round)

Number 33–64 of the Order of Merit (receiving byes into second round)

Number 65–96 of the Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in first round)

** René Berndt dropped out of the tournament because of health reasons.

Rileys qualifiers (starting in first round) 32 amateur players qualified from 28 Rileys Sports Bar qualifiers held across the UK between 20 January and 18 February.

* Due to Storm Emma, multiple players pulled out of the tournament.

Prize money The prize fund stayed the same as last year, £350,000.

Stage (no. of players) Prize money(Total: £350,000) Winner (1) £70,000 Runner-up (1) £35,000 Semi-finalists (2) £17,500 Quarter-finalists (4) £11,500 Last 16 (fifth round) (8) £6,500 Last 32 (fourth round) (16) £3,500 Last 64 (third round) (32) £1,750 Last 96 (second round) (32) n/a Last 128 (first round) (32) n/a

Draw (Note: Due to extreme weather all matches in the tournament were played behind closed doors)

Friday 2 March

First round (best of eleven legs) Player ScorePlayerPlayer ScorePlayer* w/o Michael Burgoine (Q) Darryl Pilgrim (Q) 86.296–2 Ian Jopling (Q) 70.81 René Eidams 77.586–44–6 David Airey (Q) 78.30w/o Scott Robertson (Q)* Chris Lacey (Q)*w/o Martin Biggs (Q)3–6 Richie Burnett 86.035–65–66–1 Chris Quantock 72.524–6 Bradley Brooks 78.67w/o Mick McGowan* Terry Jenkins 88.505–6 Paul Nicholson 83.93 Cody Harris 94.196–1 Tony Mitchell (Q) 88.04 Kirk Shepherd 85.216–4 Adam Hunt 82.10 Craig Winstanley (Q)*w/o Mark Craddock (Q) Andrew Pullen (Q)w/o Mark Rice (Q)* William O'Connor*w/o Andy Hamilton (Q) Michael Rasztovits 82.336–3 Simon Tate (Q) 78.62 Martin Atkins (Q) 70.943–6 Paul Whitworth (Q) 81.20 Luke Humphries 94.936–0 Liam Kelly (Q) 63.55 Paul Hogan (Q) 80.186–5 Darren Brown (Q) 92.882–6 Cristo Reyes 92.805–6 René Berndt**w/o Robert Rickwood Ron Meulenkamp 79.566–4 Andy Hibbert (Q) 73.756–0 Daniel Lee (Q) 71.59 Andy Jenkins 82.854–6 George Killington 84.59 John Part 82.246–2 John Morris (Q) 72.11 Prakash Jiwa 75.085–6 Jason Mold (Q) 78.47 Ryan Meikle 74.136–5 Mickey Mansell 75.824–6

** René Berndt withdrew from the tournament because of health reasons.

Second round (best of eleven legs) Player ScorePlayerPlayer ScorePlayer6–3 Jason Mold (Q) 86.93 Gerwyn Price 93.406–26–0 Andy Hamilton (Q) 69.22 Maik Langendorf*w/o Michael Rasztovits6–3 Martin Biggs (Q) 81.99 Toni Alcinas 85.384–6 Mike Norton 90.135–6 Ryan Meikle 80.056–45–6 84.22 Keegan Brown 83.836–3 George Killington 77.92 Chris Dobey 97.676–5 Stephen Bunting 82.506–2 Bradley Brooks 73.28 Dave Chisnall 96.056–2 René Eidams 86.95 Geert Nentjes 79.314–6 Darryl Pilgrim (Q) 86.40 Stuart Kellett 78.761–6 David Airey (Q) 88.51 Ted Evetts 86.551–6 Danny Noppert 89.893–6 Ryan Harrington 87.046–1 Jason Lowe 82.536–42–66–4 David Evans 81.266–44–66–2 José Justicia 71.93w/o (Q) Nathan Aspinall 91.816–3 Andrew Pullen (Q) 87.50 Vincent Kamphuis 86.523–6 Carl Wilkinson 85.722–60–6 Robert Rickwood 83.50 John Part 71.576–03–6 Gabriel Clemens 88.416–0 Andrew Gilding 83.70

* Due to extreme weather, multiple players pulled out of the tournament.

Third round (best of nineteen legs) Player ScorePlayerPlayer ScorePlayer10–32–1010–810–68–102–10 Kim Huybrechts 86.0810–810–910–7 James Wade 87.9610–69–10 Chris Dobey 93.7410–24–10 Matthew Edgar 91.006–108–1010–3 Robert Rickwood 94.8810–57–1010–410–810–9 Jelle Klaasen 88.2310–7 Adrian Lewis 88.585–10 Gerwyn Price 89.9410–6 Justin Pipe 80.213–10 Stephen Bunting 88.09 Dave Chisnall 85.786–10 Jonny Clayton 98.6310–6 Dave Prins 85.024–1010–78–10 Keegan Brown 91.44 Corey Cadby 92.2110–5 w/o * Lerchbacher was the only third-round qualifier to withdraw from the tournament due to the weather conditions, so Hughes received a bye to the fourth round.

Saturday 3 March

Fourth round (best of nineteen legs) Player ScorePlayerPlayer ScorePlayer8–1010–79–1010–95–1010–510–610–710–310–810–810–78–105–1010–410–6

Fifth round (best of nineteen legs) Player ScorePlayer9–1010–610–78–107–107–1010–93–10

Sunday 4 March

Quarter-finals (best of nineteen legs) Player ScorePlayer5–1010–3 Corey Cadby 99.3210–6 Gerwyn Price 94.25 Rob Cross 95.535–10

Semi-finals and Final (best of twenty-one legs)

References