| 2018 Coral UK Open | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament information | |||
| Dates | 2–4 March 2018 | ||
| Venue | Butlin's Resort | ||
| Location | Minehead | ||
| Country |  England | ||
| Organization(s) | PDC | ||
| Format | Legs Final – best of 21 | ||
| Prize fund | £350,000 | ||
| Winner's share | £70,000 | ||
| High checkout | 170  Michael Rasztovits  Daryl Gurney Steve West | ||
| Champion(s) | |||
 Gary Anderson | |||
| |||
The 2018 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the sixteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competed in a single elimination tournament to be crowned champion. The tournament was held for the fifth time at the Butlin's Resort in Minehead, England, between 2–4 March 2018, and has the nickname, "the FA Cup of darts" as a random draw was staged after each round until the final.
Peter Wright was the defending champion after defeating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the 2017 final,[1] but he lost in the third round to Nathan Rafferty.
Gary Anderson became the UK Open champion for the first time, defeating Corey Cadby (who was making his debut in the event) 11–7 in the final.
Michael van Gerwen's defeat to Jeffrey de Zwaan in the third round was the first time van Gerwen had lost a live match on ITV since the 2014 Players Championship Finals. Van Gerwen was unbeaten for 77 live matches (including the two live World Series events) on the channel during that period.
The tournament was severely affected by the extreme weather conditions caused by Storm Emma which had forced the complete cancellation of round five of the 2018 Premier League Darts that had been due to be held in Exeter the evening before the tournament started. Eleven players who were due to play in the first, second and third rounds withdrew from the competition, and on 2 March, the unprecedented decision was taken by Butlin's to not allow any fans apart from the players relatives, guests and friends into the venue, resulting in the whole tournament being played behind closed doors.
The tournament was still televised live on ITV4, but the Butlin's Skyline Pavilion Arena was unable to be used for the allocated Main Stage TV matches due to heavy snow and ice, so these matches were reallocated to the secondary Red's Bar stage.[2]
- ^ "UK Open: Peter Wright beats Gerwyn Price in Minehead". BBC Sport. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
- ^ "PDC Coral UK Open at Butlin's in Minehead to be played with no fans due to 'unprecedented extreme weather'". Somerset Live. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.