The opening day of the UK Open is always a busy affair and it is no different on Friday, when the first four rounds of the tournament will be played across what will be two frenetic sessions of action down at Butlins in Minehead.
We have to wait until the evening session for the top 32 in the world to join the party such as Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright et al, but such is the strength of the tour these days that the afternoon session where the first three rounds are played still contains some household names – not least Lisa Ashton and Fallon Sherrock.
Round 1
This is the round where the players ranked 97 to 128 in the world are joined by the 16 pub qualifiers along with the eight from the Challenge Tour and the other eight from the development tour in matches over the best of 11 legs with the winners progressing into the second round later in the afternoon.
Among the players we will see on show in this round are the two females, qualifier Fallon Sherrock and tour card holder Lisa Ashton. Former world champion Scott Waites is in here too as are Damon Heta, Wesley Harms, Andy Hamilton, Wayne Jones and Andy Jenkins, so there is no shortage of quality.
Round 2
The winners of the first round mix in with the players who are ranked between 65 and 96 in the world over the best of 11 legs to move within one win of joining the big boys in the random draw and more importantly the money which comes from making it to the third round. Every match in this round is worth £1,000 to the winner so it is significant.
The players who come into the tournament at this level include the likes of former world finalists Jeff Smith and Kirk Shepherd, Mark McGeeney, semi-finalist at the Belgian Darts Championship at the weekend in Dirk van Duijvenbode, previous finalist in this tournament Barrie Bates, Ted Evetts, Rowby-John Rodriguez and Joe Murnan.
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Round 3
This is the round where the players ranked 33 to 64 join the winners from the second round over the best of 11 legs for the right to be in the draw with the big boys for the fourth round later in the day. Winners of this match doubles the money for those who come out on top so there is plenty at stake here.
Among the players who are introduced into the event at this stage are the likes of Jelle Klassen, German star Gabriel Clemens, Justin Pipe, Jose de Sousa, Steve West, Devon Petersen, Vincent van der Voort, William O’Connor, Luke Humphries, Luke Woodhouse, Kim Huybrechts, Robert Thornton and Kyle Anderson.
Betting
I’ll go with three bets over the course of the afternoon session. The first of them comes in the opening round where Karel Sedlacek is an outsider against Adam Hunt but I don’t see it that way. Sedlacek has shown in the past that he can handle the big stage and in recent times he has put in some decent results. He won one of the European Q-School events to secure his card and they take some winning. He has also made the last 16 of a Players Championship event where Rob Cross and Luke Humphries were among his victims. Adam Hunt got his card on countback at Q-School and has only won five matches in six events since then. I’m far from convinced he wins this so I’ll take the Czech player here.
Moving into the second round and I like the idea of Harry Ward to beat Gavin Carlin. Ward hasn’t started this season off how he would like but the fact he made it to the Players Championship Finals and the World Championship at the end of last year shows that he is a player who is capable of performing to a decent level. He won his first round match at the World Championship so experience is on his side also. Carlin hasn’t started the season off much better either and I’m not convinced that is as much of a surprise as it is for Ward. Ward should be shorter than 10/11 for this one.
Lastly we go to the third round for our final bet where Josh Payne is an outsider against Luke Woodhouse and not surprisingly I can’t be having that either. Woodhouse had a good World Championship where he beat Michael Smith but I’ve not seen much either side of that to suggest he should be a favourite against Payne. Payne might not have the results we would expect from someone of his talent, but his talent is not in question. He is one of those players who tends to perform better on the bigger stages and with this match on the main stage I fancy Payne can rise to the occasion.
Tips
WON – Back K.Sedlacek to beat A.Hunt for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Sky Bet
WON – Back H.Ward to beat G.Carlin for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Payne to beat L.Woodhouse for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
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