IT hasn't been the best of starts to the Coral UK Open qualifiers from Mark Webster.

The Denbigh dartist joined the great and the good of the PDC in Wigan over the weekend to compete in the first three qualifiers for the UK Open, which will be held at the Butlins Minehead Resort between March 2 and 4.

Webster received byes through the opening two rounds of Friday's first qualifier, before he opened his campaign with a 6-0 whitewash of Jeff Smith.

Mark's run came to an end at the last-64 stage when he was edged out 6-5 by Matthew Edgar.

World number one Michael van Gerwen clinched the first PDC ProTour title of 2018 with a brutal display of dominance at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan, culminating in a 6-3 win over Michael Smith in the final.

Fast forward 24 hours and Webster again joined the action in the last-128.

Yet again, Mark whitewashed his opponent to progress and on the receiving end this time was Ryan Meikle.

He was unable to go further than the last-64, though, on the back of a 6-2 reverse at the hands of Richard North.

Van Gerwen made it 100 career PDC singles titles by defeating Darren Webster 6-3 in the final.

Sunday completed the full weekend of qualifiers and Webster's tilt at the title ended when he was beaten 6-4 by George Killington at the last-128 stage.

Breaking van Gerwen's monopoly, Michael Smith whitewashed Zoran Lerchbacher 6-0 in the final.

The final three Coral UK Open qualifiers will be held in Wigan this weekend.