Darts ace eyes UK Open progress

The St Leonards thrower will begin his campaign in an event screened live on Sky Sports with a first round tie against Steve Brown this evening (Thursday) on stage four.

Gray, who would like to thank sponsors Dynamic Scaffolding, Horwood Drywall Limited and Remortgageus.co.uk, is 77th on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) order of merit, while Brown is 38th.

The winner of that match will face one of Connie Finnan, Campbell Jackson, Gino Vos or Alan Derrett in the second round on stage three later this evening.

Former champions Phil Taylor, James Wade and Roland Scholten are all in action on the opening night of a four-day event known as ‘the FA Cup of Darts’ for its open draw format.

The UK Open, unique for having eight stages in play simultaneously in the early rounds, features a mixture of top professionals and amateur qualifiers as 146 players compete for the £40,000 first prize.

Professionals competed in a series of eight qualifying events earlier this year, with the top 114 players progressing to play in Bolton, where the leading 32 qualifiers enter at the third round stage.