The 2020

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, th ...

UK Open was a

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

tournament staged by the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

. It was the eighteenth year of the tournament where players compete in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament was held for the seventh time at the Butlin's Resort in

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

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 6–8 March 2020, and has the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw is staged after each round following the conclusion of the third round until the final.

Nathan Aspinall Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number six; he reached a peak ranking of world number ...

was the defending champion after defeating Rob Cross 11–5 in the 2019 final. However, he lost 10–8 to

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player, who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number three; he was ranked world number one from 20 ...

in the fourth round.

won the UK Open for the third time, and the first time since 2016 after beating

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. He competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world ...

11–9 in the final. It was Van Gerwen's first title since he won the 2019 Players Championship Finals, where he beat the same opponent, by the same scoreline, at the same venue. It was the first edition of the UK Open to have more than one nine-darter hit.

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number five. Nicknamed "the Ferret", he has won four PDC major televised s ...

hit a nine-darter on Stage Two during his sixth-round match with Chris Dobey, before

did the same against

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty-five; he reached a peak ranking of world number thre ...

in the semi-finals.

Prize money

The prize fund remained at £450,000.

Format

There is a slight change in format for this year, with the 16 Challenge Tour qualifiers becoming 8, with 8 spaces for the Development Tour now available. The 160 participants will enter the competition incrementally, with 64 players entering in the first round, with match winners joining the 32 players entering in the second and third rounds to leave the last 64 in the fourth round.
*No players are seeded. *A random draw is held for each of the following rounds following the conclusion of the third round. *All matches in the first, second and third rounds will be played over best of 11 legs. *All matches in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds and quarter-finals will be played over best of 19 legs. *All matches in the semi-finals and final will be played over best of 21 legs. *Eight boards will be used for matches in the first, second, third and fourth rounds. *Four boards will be used for matches in the fifth round. *Two boards will be used for matches in the sixth round. *One board will be used for all the matches in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

Qualifiers

Number 1–32 of the PDC Order of Merit (receiving byes into fourth round)

Number 33–64 of the PDC Order of Merit (receiving byes into third round)

Number 65–96 of the PDC Order of Merit (receiving byes into second round)

Number 97–128 of the PDC Order of Merit (starting in first round)

PDC Challenge Tour qualifiers (starting in first round)

The top 8 ranked players from the 2019 Challenge Tour Order of Merit who didn't have a Tour Card for the 2020 season qualified for the first round.

PDC Development Tour qualifiers (starting in first round)

The top 8 ranked players from the 2019 Development Tour Order of Merit who didn't have a Tour Card for the 2020 season qualified for the first round.

Rileys amateur qualifiers (starting in first round)

16 amateur players will qualify from 16 Rileys Sports Bar qualifiers held across the UK between 25 January and 22 February.

Prize money

Format

Qualifiers

Number 1–32 of the PDC Order of Merit (receiving byes into fourth round)

Number 33–64 of the PDC Order of Merit (receiving byes into third round)

Number 65–96 of the PDC Order of Merit (receiving byes into second round)

Number 97–128 of the PDC Order of Merit (starting in first round)

PDC Challenge Tour qualifiers (starting in first round)

PDC Development Tour qualifiers (starting in first round)

Rileys amateur qualifiers (starting in first round)

Draw

Friday 6 March

First round (best of eleven legs)

Second round (best of eleven legs)

Third round (best of eleven legs)

Fourth round (best of nineteen legs)

Saturday 7 March

Fifth round (best of nineteen legs)

Sixth round (best of nineteen legs)

Sunday 8 March

Quarter-finals (best of nineteen legs)

Semi-finals and Final

References