The 2018 European Darts Open was the first of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at Ostermann-Arena, Leverkusen, Germany, from 23 to 25 March 2018. It featured a field of 48 players and ã135,000 in prize money, with ã25,000 going to the winner.
This was the first event in the PDC European Tour where the format of the semi-finals and final were slightly altered. As in previous years, the first 3 rounds of action, plus the quarter-finals were all best of 11 legs matches, but the semi-finals became best of 13 legs matches, and the final became a best of 15 legs match.
Peter Wright was the defending champion after defeating Mervyn King 6âÂÂ2 in the final of the 2017 tournament. He reached the final of this tournament, but he was defeated by Michael van Gerwen 8âÂÂ7 in the first best of 15 legs final.
This is how the prize money is divided:
Prize money will count towards the PDC Order of Merit, the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and the European Tour Order of Merit, with one exception: should a seeded player lose in the second round (last 32), their prize money will not count towards any Orders of Merit, although they still receive the full prize money payment.
The top 16 entrants from the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit on 6 February automatically qualified for the event and were seeded in the second round.
The remaining 32 places went to players from five qualifying events â 18 from the UK Qualifier (held in Barnsley on 16 February), eight from the West/South European Qualifier (held on 22 March), four from the Host Nation Qualifier (held on 22 March), one from the Nordic & Baltic Qualifier (held on 26 January) and one from the East European Qualifier (held on 26 January).
The following players participated in the tournament: