2010 UK Open

The 2010 Rileys Darts Zones UK Open was the eighth 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 in Bolton, England, from 3–6 June 2010, and had the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw was staged after each round until the final.

It was eventually won by Phil Taylor who defeated Scotland's Gary Anderson 11–5 to make it his fourth UK Open and second consecutive championship. Earlier in the tournament, Anderson was the on the wrong side of a nine-dart finish from Mervyn King.

In the fourth round of this tournament, Phil Taylor beat Kevin Painter 9–0 with a 3–dart average of 118.66, which at the time was the all-time highest 3–dart average for a televised darts match. It was eventually beaten on 25 February 2016 in the 2016 Premier League Darts meeting in Aberdeen, when Michael van Gerwen averaged 123.40 in beating Michael Smith 7–1.

2010 UK Open qualifiers
There were eight qualifying events staged between February and May 2010 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were:

Format and qualifiers
The tournament featured 138 players. As in previous years, eight regional UK Open events were staged across the UK where players winning were collated into the UK Open Order Of Merit. The top 96 players and ties in the list, who played a minimum of three events received a place at the final stages.

Top 32 in Order of Merit (receiving byes into third round)
• 1. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Walsh

• 2. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Phil Taylor

• 3. Gary Anderson

• 4. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 James Wade

• 5. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Colin Lloyd

• 6. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mervyn King

• 7. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jamie Caven

• 8. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wes Newton

• 9. 🇨🇦 John Part

• 10. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Colin Osborne

• 11. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andy Hamilton

• 12. 🇦🇺 Simon Whitlock

• 13. Vincent van der Voort

• 14. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wayne Jones

• 15. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mark Webster

• 16. Peter Wright

• 17. Jelle Klaasen

• 18. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kevin Painter

• 19. Co Stompé

• 20. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Adrian Lewis

• 21. Michael van Gerwen

• 22. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Dudbridge

• 23. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Tabern

• 24. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Maish

• 25. Brendan Dolan

• 26. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Terry Jenkins

• 27. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dennis Priestley

• 28. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matt Clark

• 29. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ronnie Baxter

• 30. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Denis Ovens

• 31. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Eccles

• 32. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Heydon

The Rileys qualifiers and the players outside the top 32 of the UK Open Order of Merit began the tournament on the Thursday night. They played down to 32 players, and they were joined by the top 32 of the UK Open Order of Merit the following night, to provide the competition's last 64. A random draw was made after each subsequent round.

Number 33-64 of the Order of Merit (receiving byes into second round)
• 1. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andy Smith

• 2. 🇦🇺 Paul Nicholson

• 3. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Thompson

• 4. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Frost

• 5. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Justin Pipe

• 6. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Lawrence

• 7. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Fullwell

• 8. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Colin Monk

• 9. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Beaton

• 10. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Barrie Bates

• 11. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darren Johnson

• 12. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dennis Smith

• 13. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Adrian Gray

• 14. Robert Thornton

• 15. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Mason

• 16. Roland Scholten

• 17. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Steve Evans

• 18. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Brown

• 19. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Cox

• 20. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Michael Barnard

• 21. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wayne Mardle

• 22. 🇮🇪 Mick McGowan

• 23. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kirk Shepherd

• 24. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arron Monk

• 25. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Michael Smith

• 26. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kevin McDine

• 27. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stephen Hardy

• 28. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Manley

• 29. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wayne Atwood

• 30. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Ayres

• 31. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alex Roy

• 32. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stuart Dutton

Remaining Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in first and preliminary round)
• 1. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Farmer

• 2. 🇺🇸 Gary Mawson

• 3. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kevin Dowling

• 4. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Hine

• 5. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Hudson

• 6. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Smith

• 7. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Simon Cunningham

• 8. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Quantock

• 9. 🇩🇪 Jyhan Artut

• 10. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joe Cullen

• 11. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Stephenson

• 12. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matt Padgett

• 13. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Honey

• 14. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gary Eastwood

• 15. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darren Webster

• 16. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Louis Blundell

• 17. 🇬🇮 Dylan Duo

• 18. Jason Clark

• 19. 🇮🇪 William O'Connor

• 20. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Scott Rand

• 21. 🇸🇪 Par Riihonen

• 22. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sam Allen

• 23. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Anton Liscsey

• 24. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Danny Pinhorne

• 25. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Rowley

• 26. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martyn Turner

• 27. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darren Latham

• 28. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Robbie Newland

• 29. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Richie Burnett

• 30. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matt Draper

• 31. Chris Loudon

• 32. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andy Hutchings

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

• Melvyn Johnston

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Gibbs

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Broughton

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dean Edlin

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Michael Hammond

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darren Sullivan

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ricky Evans

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alex Harrison

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 James Erricker

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Bowles

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Noel Grant

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Henry Murphy

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Neate

•  John Robertson

•  Ryan Murray

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Lakeman

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barrie Knight

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Wilson

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Reece Robinson

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bradley Williams

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jamie Green

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ashley Whisker

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Warwick

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Whitworth

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stuart Monaghan

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barrie Webb

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joe Palmer

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Pete Fisher

•  Simon Jones

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dean Stewart

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nicky Bache

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dean Harris

10 players qualified as BDO representatives from Avon, Bedfordshire, East Stirlingshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lothian, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Warwickshire. These counties were rewarded one spot each in the UK Open for voting in favour of listening to Barry Hearn's proposed takeover of the BDO. • 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Nott

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kevin Lowe

• Andy Murray

•  Henry O'Neill

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Hutchinson

•  Hugh Ringland

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Gleeson

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jay Foreman

•  Mark Harris

• 🇮🇳 Prakash Jiwa

Prize money
For the second consecutive UK Open, the prize fund was £200,000.

Draw
The draw for the preliminary, first and second rounds was made on 13 May.

Round 1

 * ‡ Steve Farmer received a bye as Dean Edlin was disqualified because he did not register
 * † Tony Hutchinson received a bye as Darren Sullivan was disqualified because he did not register

Round 2

 * * Chris Mason withdrew for personal reasons.

Nine dart finish
Mervyn King hit a nine dart finish in his fourth round match against Gary Anderson, however he lost the match 9-8.

World record
Phil Taylor hit the highest televised average in history in his 9-0 victory over Kevin Painter, finishing the match with a three-dart average of 118.66.