The UK Open Darts 2019 kicks off on March 1st and this will be the 17th edition of the tournament. The arrows action will be coming from Minehead and it is a short burst of action over the weekend. The tournament draws to a close on Sunday, March 3rd.
The excitement from this event is that it is just an open draw. Think the FA Cup of Darts with no seeding in place.
UK Open Darts Winner Odds*
Michael van Gerwen 5/6
Gary Anderson 8/1
Michael Smith 10/1
Peter Wright 14/1
Rob Cross 16/1
Gerwyn Price 20/1
Mensur Suljovic 20/1
Glen Durrant 25/1
Daryl Gurney 33/1
Dave Chisnall 33/1
James Wade 33/1
66/1 bar
* (betting odds taken from February 28th, 2019 at 10:49 pm)
Tournament Format
In the first round it will be Amateur qualifiers, PDC Challenge Tour qualifiers and those ranked 97-128 in the PDC Order of merit playing.
In the second round those ranked 65-96 on the Order of Merit join the action.
In the third round comes those ranked 33-64 on the Order of Merit.
In the fourth round is where the top 32 in the Order of Merit step into action.
Each round is just an open draw. There is no seeding.
Defending Champion
Gary Anderson is the reigning champion. He took out Corey Cadby in last season’s final 11-7. Anderson’s big match was in the quarter finals really when he beat former World Champion Rob Cross. If you look at last year’s semi final line up though of Gary Anderson, David Pallett, Robert Owen and Corey Cadby, then you can see just how unpredictable this tournament can be. Anderson is at 8/1 to land the title defence* (betting odds taken from February 28th, 2019 at 10:49 pm). This will be his first appearance back after his back injury which has caused him to miss the Premier League season.
Key contenders
Where is Michael van Gerwen? He is the obvious front runner for the event. He had a nightmare at Butlins twelve months ago though. He crashed out in the third round against Jeffrey de Zwaan in a massive upset. That was the first time that Van Gerwen had lost a televised match (on ITV) since 2014. That was a staggering run of 77 televised live matches that he had won in a row. That having been said he is a two-time winner of the tournament having taken the UK Open in 2015 and in 2016.
Peter Wright, a 14/1 shot this year* (betting odds taken from February 28th, 2019 at 10:49 pm) seems to enjoy himself at this tournament. He has been to three of the last four finals. He lost to Van Gerwen in 2015 and 2016 but bounced straight back to lift the 2017 title over Gerwyn Price. So even though he has been struggling a bit for form recently, the Scotsman has been one of the more consistent contenders at the event.
Rob Cross was knocking on the door last year until he ran into Gary Anderson in the quarterfinals. He could shape up well in an event like this and the other one in the same sort of ballpark is Michael Smith who is shorter in the outright winner market than Cross is. Mensur Suljovic is the type of player who can put a strong run of form together out of nowhere and is a decent contender.
Durrant enters the fray
Then there is Glen Durrant who is going to be lining up. He has earned his PDC Tour Card and he got a title in just his fourth PDC Pro Tour event. The three time BDO World Champion is carrying some form and now he is stepping it up and mixing it among the PDC ranks, he is going to be a threat.
Duzza will no doubt have plenty of support at Minehead as a 25/1 shot* (betting odds taken from February 28th, 2019 at 10:49 pm). Because he hasn’t worked his way up the PDC Order of Merit, he will enter at the second round as he is currently ranked 74th.
Prediction
This is an FA Cup style tournament so you just don’t know who is going to be going up against whom and at what stage. The big guns have an obvious advantage of coming in at a later round so that’s the first place to start really.
Van Gerwen at odds-on is just not viable enough of an option at all, nor is Anderson who is just coming back from injury. That’s too big of a risk.
So it points to there being more value in the underdogs here among the likes of Cross, Smith and yes, even Durrant. Who knows. He certainly has enough fire in his belly at the moment as he proves that he belongs with and compete with, the best in the world.
