The 2005 Budweiser UK Open was the third year of the darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. A massive field of 170 players were whittled down to just one in 48 hours of hectic competition at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton. Phil Taylor eventually took the trophy with a 13–7 final victory over Mark Walsh. The tournament also featured Phil Taylor's third televised nine dart finish in his semi-final victory over Roland Scholten.

26 September 2004 (Welsh) Phil Taylor 2–0 Tommy Wilson
17 October 2004 (Irish) Phil Taylor beat Mark Walsh
12 November 2004 (Scottish) Andy Smith 2–1 Gary Anderson
19 January 2005 (North East) Steve Hine 2–0 Bob Anderson
6 February 2005 (South West) Andy Smith 2–0 Andy Jenkins
6 March 2005 (Southern) Denis Ovens 2–1 Mark Dudbridge
20 March 2005 (North West) Alex Roy 2–1 Ronnie Baxter
10 April 2005 (Midlands) Jimmy Mann 2–0 Mark Walsh

Champion: £30,000
Runner up: £15,000
Semi-finalists: £7,500
Quarter-finalists: £4,000
Last 16: £2,000
Last 32: £1,000
Last 64: £500

In the first round there was a fairytale that the UK Open often conjures, which is why it has earned the nickname, "The FA Cup of Darts". A 67-year-old Italian waiter from Lewisham called Sergio Bongiovanni appeared on TV many years before as a competitor in News Of The World tournament. His opponent was Portsmouth’s Ian Critchett. Critchett led 2–1, then 3–2 and it looked like ‘goodnight’ to the Italian. But some inspired darts saw him claw back and go through to round two with a 4–3 win.

In round 2, Richie Burnett soundly beat ‘Fen Tiger’ Peter Evison 4–0. Burnett said that he had taken a couple of months away from darts and had come back with a real desire to win. Another former world champ, Keith Deller seemed to be having a tough time against Surrey’s Jason Roberts at 2–2. However Deller’s experience showed through and he won 4–2 courtesy of a 100 checkout. Other round two highlights included Rod Harrington scraping through against Witney’s Nigel Russell 4–3, which is Harrington's last win on TV to date, and Andy Boulton ending the dreams of Sergio Bongiovanni with a 4–3 win. Snake fancier Steve Alker slithered through to round 4 with a 4–0 win over Rikki Blay and John Lowe continued to reel back the year’s with a 4–3 win over Mark Lawrence from Yorkshire (even going 6 darts into a possible perfect nine-darter during one of the legs). Lady player Deta Hedman provided the round's biggest upset though, defeating Aaron Turner in a last leg decider to become the first lady to defeat a male player in a televised major.

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