RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD will be the top seed for the Blue Square UK Open televised finals - but exciting Dutch youngster Michael van Gerwen will have to battle through from round one in the tournament. Van Barneveld won last year's UK Open with a 13-7 victory over Barrie Bates in the final at Bolton's Reebok Stadium.
After winning three of the eight Regional Finals for the 2006-2007 event, he will begin the defence of his title in round four at Bolton this June.
The tournament will get underway on Thursday 7 June, when the lower ranked players in the UK Open Order of Merit are joined by the 32 Punch Taverns qualifiers.
Due to the number of players who earned £75 and £50 in the Order of Merit, a Preliminary Round will be introduced to accompany the First Round.
Included in these opening rounds will be teenage Dutch sensation Michael van Gerwen, America's Ray Carver, former World Champion Richie Burnett and the legendary Cliff Lazarenko.
It should be noted that players 95-98 in the Order Of Merit have exactly the same records. When the draw is made, two of these players will be drawn randomly into Round One and the other two will compete in Round Two.
Friday's Second Round will feature the 32 remaining players from Thursday night, along with the players ranked 65-96 in the Order of Merit - including 2005 finalist Mark Walsh, former Lakeside champion Jelle Klaasen and local star Paul Williams.
The players ranked 33-64 come in at the Third Round stage on Friday, with the remaining players joining the top 32 – which features van Barneveld, two-time champion Phil Taylor and 2004 winner Roland Scholten - on Saturday afternoon, with play concluding with the final on Sunday evening.
The draw for the tournament will be made on Monday 14 May, following the Punch Taverns Regional Finals the previous weekend.
Tickets for the Blue Square UK Open Finals are still available for Thursday 7 June and Friday 8 June only from the Bolton Wanderers Box Office – call 0871 871 2932 to book.
The full Order of Merit is:
Pos
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
49
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
68
68
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
82
82
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
101
101
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
111
111
114
114
114
114
114
114
114
114
114
114
114
114
114
127
127
127
127
127
132
132
132
132
132
132
132
132
132
132
132
132
132
The Schedule of Play is:
Friday 8 June
Saturday 9 June
7pm-11pm
Sunday
7pm-9pm
