2018 UK Open
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, but lost in the third round to Nathan Rafferty. Gary Anderson became the UK Open champion for the first time, defeating Corey Cadby 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 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.
Format and qualifiers
UK Open Qualifiers
There were six qualifying events staged in February 2018 to determine the UK Open Order of Merit Table. The tournament winners were:| No. | Date | Venue | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Ref. |
| 1 | Friday 2 February | Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan | 6 – 3 |  Michael Smith | ||
| 2 | Saturday 3 February | Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan | 6 – 3 | Darren Webster | ||
| 3 | Sunday 4 February | Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan | Michael Smith | 6 – 0 | ||
| 4 | Friday 9 February | Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan | Gary Anderson  | 6 – 2 |  Jeffrey de Zwaan | |
| 5 | Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan | Corey Cadby  | 6 – 4 | Rob Cross | ||
| 6 | Sunday 11 February | Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan | Krzysztof Ratajski  | 6 – 4 |  Daryl Gurney |
The tournament is featuring 128 players. The results of the six qualifiers shown above will be collated into the UK Open Order Of Merit. The top 32 players in the Order of Merit receive a place at the final tournament. In addition, the next 64 players in the Order of Merit list qualify for the tournament, but start in the earlier rounds played on the Friday. A further 32 players qualify via regional qualifying tournaments.
Top 32 in Order of Merit (receiving byes into Third Round)
Number 33-64 of the Order of Merit (receiving byes into Second Round)
Number 65-96 of the Order of Merit qualifiers (starting in First Round)
- * René Berndt dropped out of the tournament because of health reasons.
Rileys qualifiers (starting in First Round)
Prize money
The prize fund stayed the same as last year, £350,000.Draw
Friday 2 March
First round (best of eleven legs)
- * René Berndt withdrew from the tournament because of health reasons.
Second round (best of eleven legs)
- Due to Storm Emma and severe wintry conditions across the country,
Third round (best of nineteen legs)
- Lerchbacher was the only Third Round qualifier to withdraw from the tournament due to the weather conditions, so Hughes received a bye to the Fourth Round.
Saturday 3 March