The 2011

Speedy Hire Speedy Hire plc, doing business as Speedy Hire, is a provider of tools and equipment hire, based in the United Kingdom, and also provides services to the construction, infrastructure, industrial markets. History The company was founded in Wigan b ...

UK Open was the ninth year of the PDC darts tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament was held at the

Reebok Stadium The Toughsheet Community Stadium is a Association football, football stadium in Horwich near Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers Football Club, with an all-seated capacity of 28, ...

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, between 2–5 June 2011, and has the nickname, "the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

of darts", as a random draw is staged after each round until the final. The title was won by

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number nine; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2010. ...

, who defeated

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Op ...

11–8 in the final.

Format and qualifiers

2011 UK Open qualifiers

There were eight qualifying events staged in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

between February and May 2011 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were: The six players above that won a qualifying tournament all finished in the Top 32 in the merit table and thus entered the main tournament at the third round stage. The tournament featured 172 players. As in previous years, eight UK Open qualifiers were staged across the north of England, where players' winnings were collated into the UK Open Order of Merit. The top 32 players in the Order of Merit, who played a minimum of two events, received a place in the third round of the final tournament. In addition, the next 76 players in the Order of Merit qualified for the tournament, but needed to start in the earlier rounds played on the Thursday. A further 64 players qualified via regional qualifying tournaments.

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

Remaining Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in first and preliminary round)

Rileys qualifiers

32 players qualified from Rileys qualifiers held in Rileys Dart Zones across Britain.

Speedy qualifiers

32 players qualified from Speedy qualifiers held at four venues across Britain from 12 to 15 April. Bristol * Charlie Cooper * Bruce Harrison * Jon Jukes * Martin Perring * Darren Pugh * Damien Sherwood * Peter White * Stuart White Dartford * Ian Covill *

Kevin Edwards Kevin Durell Edwards (born October 30, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who currently serves as DePaul University men's basketball team's director of community, corporate, and professional relations. Edwards was selec ...

* John Keating * John Kennedy * Eddy Martin * Craig Mucklow * Jamie Robinson *

Conan Whitehead Conan Whitehead (born 18 February 1986) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former quarter-finalist of the BDO World Darts Championship. Career Whitehead has competed in ...

Stoke-on-Trent * Colin Appleton * Andy Beardmore * Paul Cartwright * Stuart Daniels *

Robbie Green Robbie Green (born 19 July 1974) is a former English professional darts player. His nickname was Kong. PDC career Green made his televised debut at the 2004 UK Open, reaching the last 64 stage. The same year he qualified for the World Matchpl ...

* John Jackson *

Kevin Simm Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English singer and songwriter. He was a member of Liberty X (2001–2007) and is the vocalist of Wet Wet Wet. Simm also won ''The Voice UK'' in 2016. Career 2001–2007: Liberty X In 2001, Simm a ...

Brandon Walsh Brandon Walsh is a fictional character played by Jason Priestley on Fox television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210''. He was the first character introduced in the ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' franchise and served as the lead male character in the tel ...

Glasgow * Charlie Burns * John Donaldson * Gordon Foster * Kirk Gordon * Duncan Hastings * Danny Jones * Tommy Little * Ryan Murray

Prize money

For the third consecutive UK Open, the prize fund was £200,000.

Draw

The draw for the preliminary, first and second rounds was made on 12 May.

Thursday 2 June; best of 7 legs

Preliminary round

Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Stage 8

Round 1

Main Stage Stage 2 * † Brandon Walsh received a bye as Mensur Suljović was disqualified. * † Shaun Griffiths received a bye as John MaGowan withdrew due to injury. Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Stage 8

Round 2

Main Stage Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Stage 8

Friday 3 June; best of 17 legs

Round 3

Draw made after Round 2 matches
Main Stage Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Stage 8

Saturday 4 June; best of 17 legs

Afternoon – Round 4

Draw made after Round 3 matches.
Main Stage Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

Evening – Round 5

Draw made after Round 4 matches Main Stage Stage 2

Sunday 5 June

These matches took place on the main stage.

Afternoon – Quarter-finals; best of 19 legs

Draw made after Round 5 matches.

Evening – Final 4

Draw made after the Quarter-finals.

References

External links

The official PDC page for the UK Open
{{2011 in PDC darts UK Open UK Open Darts

UK Open (darts) The Ladbrokes UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlin's Minehead, Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. The event is often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts" as it has a ...

Open (darts)