As ever when the first weekend in March comes around the stars of the darting world head to Minehead for the UK Open, the first televised ranking event of the year and one which captures the imagination as amateurs battle the pros in the ‘FA Cup of Darts’.
Danny Noppert ran the gauntlet and came out on top last year when he defeated Michael Smith in a thrilling final and the Dutch ace will be looking to make a successful defence of the crown. 159 players will be out to stop him.
Recent Winners
2022 – Danny Noppert
2021 – James Wade
2020 – Michael van Gerwen
2019 – Nathan Aspinall
2018 – Gary Anderson
2017 – Peter Wright
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – Adrian Lewis
2013 – Phil Taylor
The Format
The 128 players who have tour cards all enter the tournament this year. There have been no qualifying series for them. There have however been 16 pub qualifying events for those who are chasing the dream. Challenge Tour and Development Tour stars also get their chance to mix it with the professionals this week.
The non-tour players go into the first round against the pros ranked 97-128 on the order of merit with the winners going into the second round where players ranked 65-96 join the event. The 32 winners of that round are joined by players ranked 33-64. All these matches are the best of 11 legs and the 32 winners are joined by the top 32 in the world for round four which sees the format go up to the best of 19. The format stays the same for the last 16 and quarter finals before going up to the best of 21 for the semi-finals and final. From round four onwards there is a completely random draw like in the football equivalent of the FA Cup.
Market Leaders
Michael van Gerwen is the 11/2 favourite to win the title this week. He won the last tournament to be held at Minehead in the Players Championship Finals at the back end of 2022 and topped the Premier League table heading into the Exeter leg on Thursday evening. He isn’t as consistent at winning titles these days but he does remain the one to beat. He has only won this title once in the last seven years though so there are plenty of reasons to take him on, especially as most bookmakers are paying four places here.
Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price come next in the betting at 8/1. Smith came within a leg of winning this title a year ago but has since won the Grand Slam and the World Championship and would probably be my idea of the pick of the market leaders, not least because he has been to the semi-finals here too so clearly enjoys the tournament. I don’t think Price is playing as well as in the past but he hasn’t failed to reach the last eight here in the last six years and although he has never won the tournament you would imagine that consistency will pay off eventually.
Peter Wright is the fourth favourite this week at 14/1. His Premier League form would suggest he is not the man to be on this week and his recent record in the tournament suggests similar as he hasn’t been to a quarter final since he won the title in 2017. He is one of those players who might need the draw to work out well for him to get deep in the competition because he isn’t in the greatest form. That is possible in this event but there is much better value at 14/1.
Jonny Clayton is the only other player in the field who is shorter than 20/1 this week. He can be backed at 16/1 and when you consider he was a semi-finalist at the European Tour event last weekend he might be the best value among the market leaders, albeit the format is slightly longer here. Clayton has gone SF-L16-L16 in this tournament and reached the semi-final of the last two Players Championship Finals tournaments here so Minehead is generally good to him and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him run deep into the competition.
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Main Bets
I like the way Jonny Clayton has started the season. He needed a couple of weeks in the Premier League to get going but that was more down to sloppy finishing than anything he did hugely wrong but since then he has caught fire. He made the semi-finals of the opening Players Championship competition this season where the eventual champion Ryan Searle got in his way and since then he has made a couple of last 16s in those tournaments. He then made the last four of the European Tour event last weekend so his form is as good as anyone right now. He knows how to win TV events and if the draw is kind he can deliver on his 16/1 price.
Ryan Searle has made a televised final in Minehead in the past when he reached the final of the Players Championship Finals in 2021 and he reached the last 16 of this event last year as well. He is another who has started 2023 in brilliant touch. He has won a Players Championship tournament where Luke Humphries, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Jonny Clayton were among his victims and then made the final of another one where he saw off the likes of James Wade and Dave Chisnall. He followed that up with a run to the semi-final of the European Tour event last week where Luke Humphries edged him out in a deciding leg in a clash Searle averaged 101.02 in. He’s in good touch and if the draw plays out nicely he can reach Sunday and form there this is for the taking.
Outsiders
Stephen Bunting is a man who is delivering the goods at the minute. He made the quarter final of the World Championship where he looked a million dollars at times in that competition and he comes into the UK Open off the back of a win over Michael van Gerwen last week. That came hot on the heels of reaching the quarter final of the last Players Championship event and that was coming too having reached two last 16s in those events. We know Bunting is a big stage player and showed last week he can beat anyone when they are going in. He’s worth a punt at 66s.
Gabriel Clemens went a round further than Bunting at the World Championship. He made the semi-final where only the eventual champion Michael Smith got the better of him. Sometimes when a player has a near miss in an elite event like that he goes quiet for a while but already this season the German has reached the final of a Players Championship event where Ross Smith was among his victims. There is no sign that Clemens has gone quiet and if the draw allows him to pick up a head of steam he could be a big price.
I always think form is a big thing in this event rather than world ranking. In fact, in the last two runnings of this the last eight has had five and six players who were not in the Premier League so it is well worth looking away from the elite for an outside bet. Another man who comes to the fore is Kim Huybrechts, a player who sits at 14 in the overall averages in the opening four Players Championship events, one of which he won when beating Clemens in the final. Three times in 14 Players Championship matches the Belgian has averaged over a ton and five more have been over 95. He is throwing good darts and is another who is capable of going deep if the draw obliges.
Tips
Back J.Clayton to win UK Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 17.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-4)
Back R.Searle to win UK Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-4)
Back S.Bunting to win UK Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-4)
Back K.Huybrechts to win UK Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-4)
Back them here:
Back G.Clemens to win UK Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfair (1/4 1-4)
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