PREVIEW Friday night UK Open: Van Gerwen–Aspinall blockbuster headlines with Littler, Humphries also leading the way
PDCFriday, 06 March 2026 at 19:18
Friday evening sees the fourth round of the UK Open get underway in Minehead, as the 32 winners from Friday afternoon are joined by the world’s top 32 players who enter the tournament at this stage.
With the UK Open draw remaining completely unseeded, several intriguing ties involving leading UK players headline the evening session.
The Main Stage opens with former world champion Rob Cross taking on Dutchman Gian van Veen, before an all-English showdown sees Luke Woodhouse face world number one Luke Humphries. Teenage sensation Luke Littler then meets Australian Damon Heta, before a blockbuster clash between three-time champion Michael van Gerwen and England’s Nathan Aspinall.
Price, Michael Smith, Anderson out on outer boards
There is also plenty of interest across the other stages. On Board 2, Joe Cullen faces Germany’s Martin Schindler, while an all-English contest pits Chris Dobey against five-time major winner James Wade.
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Board 3 features former world champion Michael Smith taking on Leon Weber, while Irish youngster Keane Barry meets England’s Henry Coates.
Gerwyn Price in action on lower boards this evening.
Welsh star and former world champion Gerwyn Price headlines Board 4 against Greg Ritchie. Elsewhere on the same board, two more English players meet as Ross Smith takes on Andrew Gilding.
There is a Scottish battle on Board 5, where Cameron Menzies faces two-time world champion Peter Wright. Meanwhile, Welshman Jonny Clayton meets Alexander Merkx on Board 8, and England’s Dave Chisnall plays Scott Campbell.
Other notable representatives in action include Stephen Bunting, who faces Thibault Tricole on Board 6, as well as Ryan Joyce against Charlie Manby. On Board 7, Connor Scutt meets Darryl Pilgrim, while Northern Ireland’s Josh Rock faces William O'Connor.
Draw & schedule UK Open 2026
Friday, March 6
Evening session (from 8:00 PM)
Fourth round
Main stage
| Rob Cross | v | Gian van Veen |
| Luke Woodhouse | v | Luke Humphries |
| Luke Littler | v | Damon Heta |
| Michael van Gerwen | v | Nathan Aspinall |
Board 2
| Dimitri Van den Bergh | v | Danny Noppert |
| Joe Cullen | v | Martin Schindler |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode | v | Gary Anderson |
| Chris Dobey | v | James Wade |
Board 3
| Mensur Suljovic | v | Jermaine Wattimena |
| Michael Smith | v | Leon Weber |
| Oskar Lukasiak | v | Benjamin Pratnemer |
| Henry Coates | v | Keane Barry |
Board 4
| Greg Ritchie | v | Gerwyn Price |
| Martin Lukeman | v | Ritchie Edhouse |
| Ross Smith | v | Andrew Gilding |
| Kai Gotthardt | v | Tom Sykes |
Board 5
| Niall Culleton | v | Dominik Gruellich |
| Krzysztof Ratajski | v | Ricky Evans |
| Jim Long | v | Madars Razma |
| Cameron Menzies | v | Peter Wright |
Board 6
| Kevin Doets | v | Jeffrey de Graaf |
| Stephen Bunting | v | Thibault Tricole |
| Daryl Gurney | v | Niels Zonneveld |
| Ryan Joyce | v | Charlie Manby |
Board 7
| Richard Veenstra | v | Gabriel Clemens |
| Raymond van Barneveld | v | Wessel Nijman |
| Connor Scutt | v | Darryl Pilgrim |
| Josh Rock | v | William O'Connor |
Board 8
| Jonny Clayton | v | Alexander Merkx |
| Andy Boulton | v | Ryan Searle |
| Mike De Decker | v | Adam Lipscombe |
| Dave Chisnall | v | Scott Campbell |
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- Would love if podcast was available on youtube. Dont have spotify.kangacheckoutz03-03-2026
- ah ok, that helps put it in context, cheersMrMarkWatsonnonotthatone28-02-2026
- Any IDeaS.....richieburnettrocks28-02-2026
- I deserve it I am the greatest I am the people's champion I believe I will win the Premier League because I believe I am the best because honestly I am the people's champion and I honestly made the fans come tonight because I am honestly the greatest and I, I, I, I, I, I, I, Oh shut up you pathetic pandering hideously ugly fat waste of space! Fatty Bunting should be more sincere and humbly accept he needed that instead of I this and I that.richieburnettrocks28-02-2026
- Wright's wife DEMANDS he continues so IT can rook every last penny from him. Commentary beckons.richieburnettrocks28-02-2026
- i can't answer this definitively, but i can make some suggestions. firstly, these are essentially just glorified qualifiers for TV events which double as helping the lesser players on tour make a living, but they aren't really considered that significant. they weren't even streamed until the past decade or so. most casual fans don't even know they exist and getting an audience in might be difficult. i'm assuming they're currently quite cheap to run and they would need to sell a lot of tickets to justify opening them up into more of a spectacle. they're held on weekdays when most people are at work anyway and there's no room on the calendar to put most of them on weekends. the logistics of presenting it to an audience would also be tricky given that they have to get through 7 rounds containing 128 players in a single day, using loads of stages simultaneously. maybe the uk open could be used as a template but it'd need to be even more condensed into a short time period, and even with the uk open it's hard to follow most of the games. the venues they're currently held at wouldn't cater for turning this into a public event as they're pretty small, so they'd need to hire much bigger venues 30 times in places around the country. it just probably isn't feasible. i also suspect the players don't really want to play in front of drunk audiences in every single domestic tournament, they already have the euro tour, world series and majors for that. the players championship is basically a way for players to demonstrate they're ready to make the step up to those levels of competition.colt26-02-2026
- Hi, can someone explain why the Players Championship takes place behind closed doors? I've been watching the big championships on and off for decades, but only just started taking a keener interest in the game, and this strange looking competition is a bit of a head scratcher to me at the moment.MrMarkWatsonnonotthatone25-02-2026
- Not Noppy. Get Beau in.medinabello25-02-2026
- If I was noppert,I'd say,sod you lot. You don't think I'm good enough,but suddenly,I can be a replacement? What a load of rubbish. Either you're in,or not. I keep saying,it's a pointless league,just to get people on seats,and beer down their necks. Scrap the whole thingrick6724-02-2026
- Exactly! Did the Glasgow punters get a partial refund for missing out on a potentially explosive match up? I don't know but I doubt it. Given the existing set up, how about this? Four reserves, one European based player to cover the four overseas rounds (including Dublin) and three UK based players to cover four UK rounds each (including Belfast). If the number of continental rounds changed to four for instance then Dublin could be transferred to the UK players allocation for convenience. All reserves should have their travel and accommodation costs covered and to make it worth their while, if they are not used, the reserve could play a match with a LOCAL non tour card holding player between the semi finals and final. This local player would be chosen by a prior qualifying tournament. The prize for this game could be £/euros 1000 or 2000 as the reserve could be spending his time and effort doing an exhibition instead not that I know what the commercial rate for an exhibition is! If the reserve is used in the main competition then the winner and the runner up of the qualifier can play. This could generate additional local interest and publicity. Obviously this doesn't cover every "what if" scenario i.e. What if two main players pull out? Maybe a second of the four reserves could be chosen at random? What do you think?OldShakey23-02-2026
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