2011 SPEEDY HIRE UK OPEN

DARTS TO ROCK THE REEBOK

The Reebok Stadium is once again the venue for the 2011 Speedy Hire UK Open, the four day event known as ‘The F.A Cup of Darts’ with the winners being re-drawn after each round adds to the excitement and makes for one of the most popular of the TV events on the darts calender.

It all gets underway with the preliminary round on the evening of Thursday 2nd June which includes 32 Riley’s qualifiers and the same number of Speedy Hire qualifiers.

Rounds one & two follow on the same evening with matches being played simultaneously on eight boards around the venue as players bid to be in the hat for Friday’s 3rd round draw where the top 32 players from the eight UK open qualifiers join the 32 winners from Thursday’s play.

James Wade is one of a number of high profile players who has to get his darts out on the Thursday evening as a result of not making the top 32 from the qualifiers and the pressure will be on as the prelims, rounds one & two are short format and only the best of 7 legs, so shocks will be on the cards no doubt. James plays a Riley’s qualifier Davey Dodds on the main stage and other fascinating first round games on that stage include former world number one Colin ‘Jaws’ Lloyd against Dutchman Jelle Klaasen, Steve Beaton then takes on Scott Rand a recent quarter-finalist at the Austrian Players Championships in vienna.

‘The Muffin Man’ Steve Hine has to contend with the World Under 21 Champion Aron Monk and it will be a welcome return to the big stage for ‘One Dart’ himself Peter Manley who plays Widnes’ Riley’s qualifier John Bowles on the main stage.

The action doesn’t stop there, board two see’s the old and the young come together, Ireland’s veteran John MaGowan and the young pretender Shaun Griffiths, who through his experiences on the PDC Unicorn Youth tour will fancy his chances. Also on board two Justin Pipe faces a tricky encounter with Gary Welding and board four has Mark Hylton one of the more consistent players on the PDC tour tackling Brian ‘Pecker’ Woods. Fans favourite Dennis ‘The Menace’ Priestley will face an all Yorkshire affair in his first round match on board seven where Dave Ladley and Mark Lawrence play each other with the winner facing ‘The Menace’. The matches will be thick and fast as round two reaches it’s conclusion late Thursday night.

Friday see’s the top 32 enter the event. Recently crowned Premier League champion and last years Reebok runner-up Gary Anderson will be hoping to go one better and add another major TV event to his CV. Defending UK Open Champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor will have a lot to prove, amazingly it’s nearly 9 months since ‘The Power’ has graced a major TV final and he will be wanting to put that right at a venue where he’s enjoyed past successes. Canada’s former world champion John Part could be a dark horse for Bolton. The popular ‘Darth Maple’ has enjoyed a successful 2011 so far winning two PDC pro tour events and will be quietly confident of making a major impact in a tournament where he’s been runner-up in the past. It’s great to see John returning to something like his old form and many players will be hoping to avoid the Canadian in the open draw format.

The 2011 event promises to be the best yet and if you can’t get to Bolton then settle down in your favourite armchair and enjoy the whole event live on Sky Sports and LIVEPDC.TV as another chapter in darting history will be written.

Andrew Devonshire PDPA.