Gray ready for UK Open

The St Leonards thrower came through six tough days of qualifying tournaments to finish 60th on the Order of Merit, ensuring he will enter the event proper in round two.

The Coral UK Open televised finals will be held from Friday until Sunday at the Butlins Minehead Resort in Somerset, with 138 players set to do battle live on ITV4 across eight stages. Gray has been drawn against Belgian ace Ronny Huybrechts.

The top 96 professional players, plus ties, from the UK Open Order of Merit following the six qualifiers held in Wigan qualified for the televised finals, where they will be joined by 32 Rileys Amateur Qualifiers.

The final three qualifiers took place the weekend before last. In the last of them, Gray beat Tim Martin 6-3 and then suffered a narrow 6-5 defeat to in-form newcomer Mark Barilli.

The previous day, Gray defeated Stuart Bousfield 6-5 and Mark Stephenson 6-2 before losing 6-1 to Andrew Gilding. Gray lost 6-1 in the first round of qualifier four to Aussie nine-dart hero Kyle Anderson.

The first three qualifiers took place a fortnight previously. In qualifier three, Gray squeezed past both Bernd Roith and Andy Pearce 6-5 before narrowly losing 6-4 to Scottish superstar Gary Anderson.

Gray lost 6-3 to former PDC youth champion James Hubbard in qualifier two, but his best performance came in qualifier one where he won three matches to make the last 32. Gray beat Martin Homer 6-2, Dick Van Dijk 6-4 and Kevin Dowling 6-3 until again being edged out by Gary Anderson, this time 6-5.