Saturday, March 7, 2026
Column CM158
The first day of the 2026 UK Open
While there are numerous debutants on the UK Open stages every year, the field of participants also includes one player who has competed since the inaugural edition in 2003 and another who has been there every year since the second UK Open. Brendan Dolan actually qualified for the very first UK Open, while James Wade has participated every year since 2004. 
Even though Dolan was defeated by Ricky Evans in his opening match this year, the UK Open has consistently been a “good” tournament for the Irishman, who has reached the top 32 and top 16 several times, and even the quarterfinals once – in 2014. The ten-years-younger James Wade has been considerably more successful. He has won the tournament three times and last year made a rather surprising appearance in the final. He narrowly survived his first match this year, beating Chris Dobey – who had been leading for much of the match – by the very close margin of 10- 9 in typical Wade fashion.
But back to the first day of the 2026 UK Open…
The first day of the UK Open is always a long and rather tiring one, as you have to move back and forth between three different venues to watch a total of four rounds of matches.
Butlin’s is always undergoing renovations and remodeling around this time of year, and so this year the six side stages are not located in the Centre Stage but in Studio 36, where the second stage had also been located a few years ago. Studio 36 isn’t quite as cramped as Centre Stage, but stages 3-8 are always particularly popular on the first day. This year they were very crowded and – I can’t say why – considerably louder than usual. The spectators are really close, and you can hear every shout on every board – not an easy situation for many players, and it’s certainly not easy to stay focused.
The first day brought many good matches, including a nine-dart finish from Danny Noppert in the fourth round. There were also many close matches and one or two surprises – for example, Beau Greaves’ early exit against Darryl Pilgrim. 
Some surprises were actually positive – like the decent performance of the German players, four of whom will still be in the tournament on the second day, or Peter Wright finally delivering two solid matches in a row. He will now face the somewhat unwell Danny Noppert in round five.
What’s sadly missing this year, however, is an underdog who is celebrated as a crowd favorite and still in the running on the second – or perhaps even the third – day of the tournament. 
Kai Gotthardt is the only player who started in round one and is still in the tournament at the end of the day – but it can’t be said that he has won over the spectators.
Pilgrim, Oskar Lukasiak, and Dominik Gruellich – who all started in round two and are the only ones from that round still in the running on the second day – aren’t exactly crowd favorites either. Lukasiak and Gruellich are not popular because of their slow pace of play. Pilgrim might be the most likely to win over the fans, although he probably has little chance against Jonny Clayton in round five.
Twenty-one of the 32 players still in the tournament at the end of the first day are ranked in the top 32, seven of whom are playing in this year’s Premier League. Only five players who started the tournament in the first round reached the fourth round: Benjamin Pratnemer, Scott Campbell, Tom Sykes, Niall Culleton, and Alexander Merckx.
Pratnemer is the first-ever Slovenian Tour Card holder, which he finally secured this year at Q School after several attempts. 
He hasn’t been very successful on the tour so far; reaching the fourth round at the UK Open was his biggest achievement to date.
Tom Sykes also earned a Tour Card at the beginning of the year and is ranked several places ahead of Pratnemer in the world rankings. He also participated in last year’s UK Open. Sykes qualified last year through one of the PDC’s UK Open qualifiers and was then defeated by William O’Connor in the third round.
Irishman Niall Culleton is also one of the new Tour Card holders. He hasn’t achieved much on the Pro Tour yet, but he played well at the UK Open, although Dominik Gruellich managed to beat him 10-8 in the fourth round.
Another new Tour Card holder is Dutchman Alexander Merckx, who has won several WDF tournaments and is no stranger to the PDC, having already competed on the Challenge Tour and qualified for the 2024/25 PDC World Championship through it. Last year he was eliminated in the second round of the UK Open, but this year he reached the fourth round.
Scott Campbell, on the other hand, is making his UK Open debut, having qualified via the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. He’s also competing on the Challenge Tour again this year, but he also plays WDF tournaments and reached the semifinals of the Scottish Open this year. Campbell had a bye in the first round, as his opponent, Danny van Trijp, withdrew at short notice for personal reasons.
So far, the spectators haven’t settled on a favorite player, and after the first day of the tournament it is completely open as to who might win the title. 
Defending champion Luke Littler put on a very strong performance, and it will certainly be a challenge to beat him.
However, based on my many years of experience with the UK Open, I can say that the draw after each round means that surprises can’t be ruled out – so we still have two exciting days ahead of us.
