"Hardly remember anything from that weekend" - Roland Scholten reflects on 2004 UK Open win

Roland Scholten will forever remain the first Dutchman to win a PDC major. 'The Tripod' did so in 2004 by winning the UK Open, although he says he doesn't remember much of that particular weekend.

Scholten was recently a guest on the 'Double Top' podcast and in it he was asked about his memories of that UK Open weekend in early June 2004. "I actually remember particularly little about it," Scholten admits somewhat surprisingly. "The final, of course, I remember. I was up against John Part in it and a few weeks before I had stayed with him for a week. We trained together a lot then and I remember I was constantly getting knocked around. Only at the end of that week did I manage to win from him occasionally. It did give me a very good picture of exactly what kind of person John is, so I knew perfectly what to expect in that final."

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"I immediately started that final extremely well and got to a 4-1 lead in legs at the first break. Then I already knew I would never give that away and it turned out that way," continues the now 59-year-old Scholten, who eventually prevailed by an 11-6 scoreline. "But actually in itself I didn't really care that much who I had to play against either, I never thought about that in my career, I always focused on myself and never looked at what the opponent was doing."

Scholten received a cheque for 30,000 pounds for his victory in Bolton. "Back then that was quite a lot, but when you see that now it is 'only' £110,000 for the winner, I think that is actually too little," he assesses. "In twenty years, then, it hasn't evolved that much. I think the winner should earn more."

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