The opening day of the UK Open takes place in Minehead on Friday and it sees the first four rounds of the tournament dubbed the ‘FA Cup of Darts’ being played out on what is always a start to the event which is full of great darts and huge storylines.
The first three rounds are played out across the afternoon with the lower ranked players battling to join in with the big boys in round four in the evening. As ever the time restrictions will deny us the chance to look at round four but we can get stuck into the opening three rounds. Keep an eye on our Twitter feed @kevshatsports as if prices for round four go up early enough I’ll flag some bets on there.
Round 1
This is the part of the tournament where the players ranking 97-126 are pitted against the amateur qualifiers and the players who have got through via either the Challenge Tour or the Development Tour. Each match is the best of 11 legs and players will be keen to get their match done and dusted as soon as possible as they will be back on the board almost immediately for a second round clash in a busy afternoon.
Among the players we have on show in this first round are Bradley Brooks and Rowby-John Rodriguez who made good showings at the Grand Slam last season, Jelle Klaasen who came through the amateur qualifiers, Canadian ace Matt Campbell, American star Danny Lauby, the World Youth champion Ted Evetts, the former world champion Richie Burnett, Development Tour star Josh Rock, James Wilson and the former Lakeside finalist Jim Williams among many others.
Round 2
In the second round the 32 winners from the opening round mix it with those ranked 65-96 in the PDC Order of Merit. If you have made it into this round then you know what a win here will put you within one win of a shot at the big boys in the evening session. This round is also over the best of 11 legs and will begin across the eight boards as soon as the first round has been concluded on each particular area of the venue. Some bigger names come in at this part in the tournament.
They include the young Irish star Keane Barry who is capable of going deep this weekend. John Henderson has seen his ranking drop so much that he comes in at the second round stage while Lewy Williams is touted as someone with a big future. Danny Baggish lit up the World Championship last season and he’ll be looking to show that form here while Andrew Gilding and former Lakeside champions Scott Waites and Scott Mitchell all enter in this round.
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Round 3
Those who make it through to this stage will know they are six winning legs away from a potential date with Gerwyn Price or Michael van Gerwen among others. This round sees the players ranked 33-64 in the world rankings joined by the 32 second round winners in what is always one of the best rounds of any tournament anywhere given the price that is on offer. The truly big names don’t come into the event until the evening session but some fairly big ones enter here.
The biggest two names entering in this third round stage are the former PDC world champions Raymond van Barneveld and Adrian Lewis. Both will play their third round matches on the main stage. Jamie Hughes and Ross Smith are two others who join in at this point with Kim Huybrechts, Max Hopp, Jason Lowe, Steve Beaton, Steve Lennon, Ricky Evans and Alan Soutar among the stars looking to launch their title bid from this round.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet over the course of these first three matches. That comes in the form of Max Hopp who has a good chance to restore his equilibrium in his career when he takes on Ritchie Edhouse. Hopp has dropped down the rankings so far that he comes in here in the second round when in years gone by he won’t have been in until the big boys come in. That might serve him well though if he can pick up a couple of wins to get to the fourth round.
Hopp will be glad he isn’t playing Kim Huybrechts here as it is the Belgian who has beaten him in two of the four Players Championship events but in between those losses the German has picked up wins over Adrian Lewis and Peter Wright which shows his game is still there. To be fair to Edhouse he has performed a lot better this year than I expected him to and has obviously taken the competitive reps he got in the Darts Live League last year and kicked on. We saw him take a set off Gerwyn Price at the World Championship and he started the season with a good run in PC1 but his form has slowed a little and on a big stage I still think there is missed doubles in him. I get why Edhouse is favourite but I think Hopp is being underestimated a little here. I think the German can come through this one.
Tips
Back M.Hopp to beat R.Edhouse for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Coral
Back him here:
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