The 2004 Budweiser UK Open was the second time the Professional Darts Corporation held the tournament which had quickly earned the nickname the "FA Cup of Darts". It was held at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium between 4–6 June 2004. Budweiser became the tournament's new sponsor.
Roland Scholten won the title and the tournament featured Phil Taylor's second televised nine-dart finish during his fourth round win over Matt Chapman.
It was also notable for marking the TV debuts of Adrian Lewis and Andy Hamilton.
130 Players qualified via a ranking table played 8 events across the UK & Ireland.
Prize money
Friday 4 June 2004
1st Round, best of 9 legs
128 players started the chase for the title with the lower ranked players. The competition had earned the nickname, "The FA Cup of Darts" by the nature of its random draw for each round - and there was the extraordinary pairing of former world champions John Lowe against Keith Deller in the first round. Lowe, who had been missing several tournaments on the circuit at the time opted to withdraw from the event so Deller received a bye into round two.
Steve Evans against the Welshman Marshall James in the former 1997 world championship finalist by 5–4 in the preliminary round, Alex Roy showed the worst of his form and temperament against "Odd Job" James Barton, an electrical tester from Bradford. Barton edged Roy out 5-4. Richie Burnett was very poor against Eamon Davies who comfortably beat the Welshman 5-3. Rod Harrington hadn't qualified for a televised tournament for a year and even though his darts were now not falling out of the board, he narrowly lost out to Bedfordshire's Derek Hunt 5-4.
Alan Green took out another known face, Leeds player Dave Smith 5-4 and 'The Horse' Reg Harding was also going home early, as was last year's finalist Shayne Burgess who lost 5-2 to Lee Rose. Mick Manning lost 5-1 to Graeme Stoddart and Cliff Lazarenko stormed through to round two courtesy of a 5-1 win over Andrew Davies. Dennis Harbour beat the only lady in the competition Deta Hedman 5-2 and Dutchman Jan van der Rassel started strongly by beating Steve Ritchie 5-1.
Best match of the first round was former BDO player Colin Monk (now full-time with the PDC) against Lee Palfreyman who was last seen on TV in the Las Vegas tournament two years ago. It was a belter of a game with Monk edging out Palfreyman 5-4. Both players averaged around 96.0 in the match.
Preliminary
Ian Eames - Gary Thomson 5 - 4
Marshall James – Steve Evans 4 – 5
Results
Alex Roy - James Barton 4 - 5
Richie Burnett - Eamon Davies 3 - 5
John Lowe - Keith Deller Bye
Colin Monk - Lee Palfreyman 5 - 4
Reg Harding - Dale Pinch 3 - 5
Derek Hunt - Rod Harrington 5 - 4
Andrew Stevenson - Peter Evison 4 - 5
Stewart Rattray - Mick Kenway 5 - 2
Phil Rawson - Ian Covill 3 - 5
Steve Evans - Andy Belton 5 - 4
John Watson - Kelvin Painter 2 - 5
Alan Green - Dave Smith 5 - 4
Mark Holyoake - Kevin Rudling 5 - 4
John MaGowan - Moe Whelan 5 - 0
John King - Ian Eames 4 - 5
Dave Ladley - Andrew Findley 5 - 0
Steve Gillett - Nigel Peden 5 - 2
Brendan Dolan - Jimmy Dunlop 2 - 5
Gary Stevens - Al Hedman 5 - 2
Jan van der Rassel - Steve Ritchie 5 - 1
Tim Daniels - Tom Kirby 3 - 5
Ian Lever - Mark Harris 5 - 4
Ray Farrell - Steve Hine Bye
Dean Williams - Tony Smith 1 - 5
Shayne Burgess - Lee Rose 2 - 5
Derek Williams - Bob Crawley 5 - 3
Steve Smith - Rikki Blay 4 - 5
Dennis Harbour - Deta Hedman 5 - 2
Andrew Davies - Cliff Lazarenko 1 - 5
James Wheatley - Sam Rooney 2 - 5
Mick Manning - Graeme Stoddart 1 - 5
2nd Round, best of 9 legs
Another 32 players entered the fray for the second round and perhaps not quite as many shocks this time. A slimmed down Alan Warriner who had shed two stones in weight since his last TV appearance got off to a shaky start trailing 3-0 to Eddie Lovely. However the "Ice Man" dug deep and ended up the winner 5-4.
The previous year's local hero Paul Williams was edged out 5-4 by Ian Covill and other local 'The Natural' Les Fitton stormed to a 5-0 win over Tony Smith. Matt Clark went through as did Tom Kirby 5-3 against Keith Wetton. "Fat Boy" Andy Keen took out Simon Whatley 5-2 and Mark Landers beat Tony Wilson 5-1. "Uncle Fester" Ritchie Buckle lost out 5-4 to David Platt, who was a "9 dart" challenge qualifier for the 2003 world championship.