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Will Gary Anderson win the UK Open for a second time?

UK Open: Paul Nicholson picks out big names and lesser known outsiders to watch in the 'FA Cup of Darts'

By Paul Nicholson

22:32 · SAT March 02, 2024

The UK Open takes place this weekend and Paul Nicholson picks some players to follow in a tournament he brands 'the first darts major of the season'.

FIRST ‘MAJOR’ OF THE SEASON

Fans of Stephen Bunting may not like me saying this but the UK Open is the first major of the year. Some think it’s The Masters but for me that’s the PDC’s main curtain-raising tournament of the calendar.

The first major which has ranking points attached to it - and longer history attached to it – is the UK Open and this for me is where the season really kicks in.

We’ve had a few Players Championship events and a few weeks of the Premier League where we can see who has started the season sharply but now we throw them into this hugely open ‘FA Cup’ style tournament where anything can happen.

I also rank this as one of the true majors because of how unique it is compared to the rest. We’ve got the ‘non-league’ amateur qualifiers in there, those from the Challenge Tour and the Development Tour – plus every PDC Tour Card holder.

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This format over its history has hardly been touched because it’s as close to perfection as you can get and it gets everyone excited.

The random draw and multiple boards increase the likelihood of shocks and big names falling early on, which is one of the reasons why it was coined as the FA Cup of darts 20 years ago.

I love how everyone has a chance of lifting this trophy and it also gives us the opportunity to see the lesser known players on Friday afternoon trying to embark on life-changing journeys through a format that can be so rewarding and cruel in equal measure.

That's what this tournament's all about - creating headlines. Just think about the story of Rob Cross – would he be a world champion and a World Matchplay winner if it wasn’t for that day when he came through a UK Open qualifier in Norwich? I don’t think so.

Andrew Gilding’s fairytale win this time last year was the biggest shock of all – especially because he defeated Michael van Gerwen in the final – further proof that this tournament is now harder to predict than ever.

The gap between the very top of the Challenge Tour and world number one has never been smaller – which makes everything in the middle very, very interesting. Even the Riley’s Qualifiers are better players than they’ve ever been – after all, Luke Littler was one of those last year!

Because all the outer boards are now streamed, you probably had more darts fans watching his match with Ritchie Edhouse than those tuning into ITV watching the Main Stage!

In general there is much more interest in a wider pool of players than ever which means the PDC have a tough task trying to pick who should grace the Main Stage.

John Henderson is the new World Senior Champion but he’s ended up on stage four against Kevin Burness. I don’t know whether that’s because Hendo’s title is a rival promotion or whether it’s a way to generate more eyes on the outer board streams!

ALL EYES ON LITTLER

It’s remarkable that Luke Littler’s first UK Open as a PDC Tour Card holder begins in round four with the world’s top 32 but that’s the benefit of making £200,000 at the World Championship! Simon Whitlock did the same in 2010 when reaching the final and that saw him leap into the world’s top 20, but it’s a very rare feat.

By doing so he’s avoided all those potentially tricky best-of-11 matches against dangerous operators lower down the rankings and will feel very confident of his chances in getting to Saturday and Sunday.

There have been questions raised about his change of throwing style in recent weeks but this is nothing new as far as Littler is concerned. Look at the Super Series last year – we saw him do exactly this. But by doing it in Newcastle in the Premier League, it obviously gained a lot more attention.

He likes to tinker if something doesn’t feel quite right and I think that’s just another sign that he thinks differently to most players and it shouldn’t be cause for criticism or concern.

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Michael van Gerwen – who has also tweaked his action from time to time down the years – also told the media to back off Littler last week and I completely agree with him.

We need some perspective when he suffers a setback and it doesn’t need too much analysis. For example, he lost to James Wade in the first round of a Players Championship event and it was treated like a shock!

He’s been the gift we’ve been waiting for in darts so we shouldn’t try to change him. We should let him do what he wants and if he loses a few matches – which is inevitable – let’s not put him under the microscope and potentially affect how much fun he’s having.

The thing that annoys me the most is that literally everything he does warrants a push notification. Even defeats in Players Championship events in Wigan or if he’s failed to qualify for a European Tour event. Is that really necessary?

There wouldn’t be that attention on anyone else. There wouldn’t be a push notification on an amazing performance from anyone else in those tournaments.

Too many media outlets are trying to piggy back on what he’s doing for clicks but it’s gone well over the top.

OUTSIDERS TO WATCH IN EARLY ROUNDS

I do like the look of John Henderson after his high of winning the World Seniors Championship and wouldn’t it be a great story to see him go far.

He was the best player in that tournament by quite some distance and it’s amazing what winning can do for your confidence, especially after struggling for so long to get results on the main PDC circuit.

If he gets past his opening two games, he would then run into the dangerous Gian van Veen but over best-of-11 format, anything can happen.

Everyone on planet darts would love to see him make more headlines like he did at the World Cup. He's a walking serotonin injection – he makes everyone happy.

However, if van Veen were to win that then he’d fancy his chances of a lengthy run having gained some confidence of his own from winning on the Development Tour recently to get his season going.

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It is a lottery trying to pick out some of these names but I’m also going to keep an eye on James Hurrell. He’s got a great attitude, plenty of experience and he’s not even at his peak yet.

I think he could be similar to a player like Peter Wright who finds his best form in his 40s and this is a great opportunity to make his name on a big stage.

He starts in round two after a decent start to the Pro Tour campaign but there’s more levels to find and I back him to do that with his talent levels.

I also fancy Richard Veenstra to do something special. I'm just such an admirer of the way he plays the game and as a former Dutch Open champion, he’s the sort of player who knows how to handle playing a lot of games over several days.

He’s got the same mentality as a James Hurrell – turn up, win, move on. That's what you need to be able to do to get through the mire of this tournament, especially if you’re starting out in the early rounds.

I’m also going to pick out Ryan Joyce.

If he carries through what he felt like at the end of 2023, this is the kind of tournament where he makes the latter stages.

As Mark Walsh once said, he's not a red carpet dart player and he’s not going to get a great deal of main stage exposure unless he faces a big name. So, he can quietly go about his business in the first couple of days and cruise through to the last eight.

He’s one of the most dangerous players on the planet without the column inches that some people get.

Watch out for Callan Rydz too because he’s had a start to the season we can’t ignore.

I feared he was going to have a tough season but whatever he's done between the worlds and the start of the season has obviously worked because he's starting to buck his ideas up, which is tremendous to see.

He's made the quarter finals of the worlds before and the quarter finals of the Matchplay so it’s not as if he’s never done well in a major.

WHICH FA CUP GIANTS WILL SHINE

Gerwyn Price has never won a major in Minehead and that boggles my mind because he’s had several great runs there and it is one of the few places he actually gets cheered due to the proximity to South Wales.

It feels inevitable that he’ll win a UK Open or Players Championship Finals one day because he does play well down there. So, I have him as one of the favourites for sure.

With more eyes on the likes of Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler, I just wonder how much Main Stage time he’ll get and whether it might suit him more to be in the Red’s Bar a bit more than in the past.

Rob Cross is another player I like and he’s also gone close to UK Open glory in the past.

He’s playing some good stuff at the moment and with that early season freshness, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see him celebrating on Sunday night.

A lot of people will obviously be looking at Humphries, who has been a ninja at winning these ranked majors in the last six months and is bidding to do a Minehead double having landed the Players Championship Finals back in November.

Do we need more variety in darts? Five new tournament ideas including Royal Rumble and Ryder Cup!

But this event is so hard to win and we’ve got to look at other contenders.

One name on everybody's lips at the minute – apart from Littler - who could possibly win it for a second time is Gary Anderson. He's playing majestically and last lifted this trophy six years ago when it was played behind closed doors due to the big freeze.

If he went on and won it, nobody would be shocked.

Ryan Searle stopped him adding to his trophy haul this season and he too is another dangerous title contender.

I think a lot of people thought his decision to switch manufacturers at the start of the year would mean he takes a while to find his stride but obviously not. I love the way he plays the game, and everybody loves watching him.

He is the hometown favourite and loves playing at Minehead having reached the final of the Players Championship Finals a few years ago and he certainly comes into the tournament on form having reached three Pro Tour finals, one of which he won.

Lastly, I don't mean to go too technical but if that place is cold, or if it's just a little draughty, he's got a huge advantage because of those “slightly” heavier darts.