UK Open History

First staged in 2003, The UK Open has earned the nickname 'the FA Cup of darts' due to the unique format which offers pub players the chance to progress through extensive qualifiers and set up a dream meeting with one of the biggest names in the PDC.

Upon its inception the UK Open was the fifth major tournament on the PDC calendar, with Blue Square taking over sponsorship of this massive tournament at a time when the popularity of darts continues to grow. The Blue Square UK Open receives extensive live coverage on Sky TV as it reaches its climax in the superb surroundings of its spiritual home, Bolton's Reebok Stadium.

The inaugral event was held in 2003 and perhaps unsurprisingly it was the sport's dominant force, Phil Taylor, who was the first to lift the trophy and collect the £30,000 winner's cheque. Shayne Burgess was the man on the wrong end of a hammering as 'The Power' romped to an 18-8 final victory in front of a capacity crowd and a large TV audience.

The 2004 UK Open saw Dutchman Roland Scholten capture his first major trophy having reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship the previous year, finally going one better than his runner-up spot in 1999's World Matchplay and 2001's World Grand Prix. In a shorter format than the previous year's final, 'The Tripod' earned a rousing 11-6 victory over Canada's John Part - World champion in 2003.

Phil Taylor won the title back the following year, incredibly making his third televised 9-dart finish against reigning champion Scholten in the semi-final, setting up a meeting with fellow Englishman Mark Walsh in the final. Few gave Walsh any hope of upsetting the odds following a poor semi-final with Peter Manley, and Taylor duly dispatched his opponent 13-7 to underline his dominance of the sport and scoop yet another trophy.

2006 was a landmark year that saw Raymond van Barneveld finally move over to the PDC after fifteen years in the BDO, culminating in World Championship and World Masters victories in 2005, the Dutchman citing a desire to take on the greater challenge of the PDC. An incredible run of form has followed since 'Barney' made the switch to the PDC, and his quarter-final victory over Taylor in 2006's UK Open was a sign of things to come.

Barneveld went on to clinch the 2006 title, sweeping aside the challenge of Barrie Bates in the final as he wrapped up a 13-7 win, and darts fans everywhere were welcoming the arrival of a player who had the game to seriously rival Phil Taylor. So it proved in 2007's amazing World Championship final, Barney beating 'The Power' in arguably the greatest darts match ever played and setting up the mouth-watering proposition of another classic final in June's 2007 Blue Square UK Open.

That final was not to be after Taylor again suffered a quarter-final defeat to 'Barney', the Dutchman in ruthless form as he dispatched 'The Power' 11-4 - but not before Taylor had managed to complete a hat-trick of 9-dart finishes at the Blue Square UK Open. His third perfect finish at the Reebok Stadium came in his fifth round 11-5 victory against Wes Newton, earning him a £20,000 bonus and ensuring Blue Square paid back all losing Outright Winner bets placed before the start of the tournament.

Having dumped Taylor out again, Barneveld was installed as red-hot favourite for the title and duly thrashed Colin Lloyd 11-4 in the semi-finals, with countryman Vincent van der Voort edging out Colin Osborne 11-10 to set up an all-Dutch final. Van der Voort was unable to disrupt the devestating form of the World Champion who went on to retain his UK Open title with a 16-8 victory, a scoreline that probably flattered van der Voort who was never able to find the necessary consistency to stay with his unflappable opponent.