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UK Open: Magic of the cup, world number one battle, waving off Phil Taylor, the 'Anderson trilogy' and outsiders to watch

By Paul Nicholson

19:04 · FRI March 04, 2022

Paul Nicholson looks ahead to this weekend’s UK Open in his latest darts column as the battle between Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright at the top of the world rankings intensifies.

The Asset, who will be on commentary duty during the first ranked major of the season, also sheds light on his famously controversial UK Open rivalries with Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson down the years as well as picking out his outsiders to watch.

World number one battle

The world number one shoot-out between Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright was great to see on Sunday when they both made the final of the International Darts Open – but the UK Open is where it’s most likely to change.

Price held onto his status by the skin of his teeth by defeating Snakebite in a breathtaking match in which they both averaged 106 and afterwards he told him “you’ll have to wait until next week!”

This could have just been a flippant jokey comment or he knows that next week will be a harder task for him to keep the world number one spot.

Price needs to reach the final to remain top – regardless of how far Wright goes – because he’s defending a lot of ranking money from being runner-up to Michael van Gerwen two years ago.

However, if Wright goes as far as the semi-finals or final then Price must win the title for the first time in his career.

They are both on this quest to pick up the titles they’ve never won, so that would make victory even sweeter for The Iceman, who is in such a hot streak of form right now and performing to blockbusting levels.

If Price does manage to remain number one then he’ll keep it for a few months because two years ago there weren’t any events from March until the Summer Series due to the initial Covid outbreak, so there’s no prize money to defend.

But, not only is Wright playing just as well as Price right now, the nature of the UK Open’s random draw makes it a lot more of a lottery for the big names than a traditional seeded tournament.

They could even face each other in their first match and what a story that would be.

Magic of the cup

In the old days of the UK Open, many of the Rileys amateurs were very much unknown quantities, which helped create this ‘magic of the cup’ vibe about the tournament – as well as the random draw.

They were regarded as the ‘non-league’ participants but you can’t say that this year.

Of the 16 who made it through via the Rileys qualifiers, there are nine players of note; Jelle Klaasen, Diogo Portela, Ryan Murray, Kai Fan Leung, Danny Lauby, Paul Hogan, Ryan Harrington, Scott Taylor and Prakash Jiwa.

It’s a bit of a grey area whether this is good for the event. We do want new talent via this avenue like we had with Rob Cross and also the potential fairytale runs from those who have never experienced a televised stage, like Barry Lynn a few years back.

It’s harder to find the same kind of stories when we’ve seen many of these qualifiers before – especially a former world champion in Jelle Klaasen and the ‘professional amateur’ Paul Hogan, who always seems to spring unsurprising ‘surprises’ in this event – including defeating me in 2018!

Klaasen is therefore more of a Blackburn Rovers than a non-league side in an FA Cup analogy so he’d have to go on a very lengthy run to really raise some eyebrows.

It could be someone like Matt Good, who hit a nine-darter during his qualifying event, who provides ones of this year’s big shocks.

Even when you look at some of the Challenge Tour and Development Tour qualifiers, we know them all.

Someone like Toni Alcinas has played in a million World Cups (not literally) and famously knocked Peter Wright out of a World Championship a few years ago.

Maybe it’s because our knowledge is deeper due to the increased media interest in darts in recent times.

That said, there are a few names I’m unfamiliar with so if I have to commentate on their matches, then I’ll have to pack in the research and use my contacts around the regions to find out some nuggets of information about how they’ve played in their local scene.

I’d much rather one of those guys use this platform to make a name for themselves than one of the players who have recently fallen off the tour. That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all, but it wouldn’t be as big a story.

Playing a ‘nobody’ isn’t easy for the top players.

Although I never played the role of the unknown quantity in my career, I know what the pressure is like to be on the receiving end of such an opponent.

I once played in the first game of the tournament on the main stage against a player I’d never heard of called Harry Miles – and even now I had to go on Wikipedia to remember. I was properly nervous! I didn’t want to be that big name who loses to somebody nobody knows.

I did win that game but a few years earlier my debut UK Open was ended by the unknown Ken Mather, which we’ll come to a bit later.

Powering up the rivalry

The match I had with Phil Taylor in the 2011 UK Open when I waved him off will always be one of the matches I’ll be remembered for and I don’t regret anything about it at all.

At that time in my career I felt pretty fearless and thought of myself as the best player in the world.

I’d won a Players Championship event seven days before that UK Open, where I ended up reaching the quarter-finals, and then won the very next one a week later.

Paul Nicholson waving goodbye to Phil Taylor - 2011 PDC UK Open

While the draw was being made I was sat eating in Nandos after beating Gary Anderson 9-8 in a tremendous match during the afternoon session. My manager at the time then told me I’d be playing Phil and I just thought, ‘yeah, OK.” I did not care who I faced and there was probably a small part of me that wanted to play him.

But it wasn’t me waving Phil off the stage that started the rivalry. He tried to get in my head so I thought the best way to keep him quiet was beat him in a dramatic match and that’s what happened. We all know Phil learned a lot of his psychological tactics from the great Eric Bristow, who was able to flummox some players with just four or five words before stepping onto the oche.

I thought of myself as quite psychologically savvy not long after coming to the PDC and I could see some of Phil’s tactics coming. But what really made me angry on this occasion was him putting his hands on my waist and jostling me around before getting onto the stage. You’re not supposed to touch players unless they invite contact through a handshake or hug for example.

I did not like that at all and refused to acknowledge what he was doing. I kept my sunglasses on and earplugs in and thought “you are going to lose right now because you’ve really hit a nerve.” I may have got the better of him on that occasion but during my era, Phil was by far the best psychological tactician I will ever see.

The Anderson Trilogy

When I made my UK Open debut in 2009 I was already well known due to having already played in a World Championship and Grand Slam of Darts, which helped me climb inside the world’s top 50.

I’d reached the quarter-finals at Ally Pally on my debut a few months earlier but I didn’t play in many tournaments at the start of the season due to some personal problems including a divorce.

I subsequently went into that UK Open playing really poorly and my head was all over the place. That’s when the fines from the DRA started to happen.

My first ever game in this event was against Gary Anderson, who was also making his tournament debut. He was also my first televised opponent in the previous season’s Grand Slam of Darts.

In the practice room beforehand I was hitting absolutely nothing and I was so worried going up on that stage. It was also when I first started with my tie and waistcoat look, which was in tribute to Tom Kirby who had recently passed away.

I then played really well, averaging 99 and hitting a 132 checkout to beat him 6-4 on the Main Stage in Bolton, but my celebration was full of aggression due to everything I’d been going through. Even Gary was ready to pop me because he reckons I was too aggressive.

But, he didn’t know the full story about what was going on in my life – it was nothing against him. We didn’t speak much for the next couple of years as I thought it best to let him simmer down although our paths kept crossing in the UK Open.

2009 UK Open Darts Round 2 Paul Nicholson vs Gary Anderson

My debut was eventually ended by Ken Mather and that’s when I got my first fine. He had so many fans shouting at me on those outside boards and my subsequent outburst at them got me into big trouble. I was in such a bad place that weekend, and was a fiery red chilli in the melting pot and ready to explode.

Quite frankly, when I look back at it now, I got off lightly.

Paul Nicholson vs. The Crowd Incident - 2009 PDC UK Open

The next year I played Anderson on the Main Stage and that’s when someone in the crowd gave me abuse about my divorce, which also hurt.

Gary and I weren’t talking at the time – not even a greeting when we passed each other in a room - and he badly wanted to take me out. He signalled to the crowd ‘one more’ when he was one leg away from beating me, that’s how much he wanted to win.

I didn’t realise that at the time but when I later saw the footage, I kept it in my memory.

The following year we played each other for the third successive year in the last 32 and I thought “there’s only one result here.” I’d got all my personal issues together and I felt like the best player I could be. It went down to a last leg decider but I nicked it for a very sweet victory.

After that game we drew a line under everything and didn’t have any problems again.

The trilogy with Gary will take up a chapter in my book one day although I’ll always look back on it fondly.

Contenders and outsiders

This year’s winner should either be Gerwyn Price or Peter Wright given how high a level they are playing compared to everyone else.

As an analyst right now, I’d have to give the edge to Price but it’s almost 50:50.

He’s determined to win it for the first time, he’s in bulletproof form and he’s also a crowd favourite at Minehead, where he rarely gets booed. It’s as close to home as he can get when he plays in England.

As for the outsiders who could give you a run for your money at a big price, I do like the look of Daryl Gurney right now and he is trending in the right direction.

I think it’s also wise to keep an eye on some of those who have come through Q-School and will be hungry to make an impression in their first major of the season.

Especially those who have come from the old BDO and WDF system, who are used to long tournament days with multiple matches across different stages and irregular times. The UK Open format won’t be a problem for them – just like Alan Soutar proved last year by knocking out Raymond van Barneveld en route to the sixth round.

Some of the younger generation in the PDC system are used to playing multiple games on the floor concurrently, but if you come through the WDF system, the days are longer and not as stringently structured. Some of the finals are fought at 11pm at night! That experience will help in a UK Open campaign.

Mario Vandenbogaerde is therefore one to look out for as well as Ross Montgomery, who is the reigning Dutch Open champion.

One player from leftfield I like the look of is Nathan Rafferty. He’s got some talent and if he can get a favourable draw then he could be dangerous.