TERRY Temple will enter next month’s UK Darts Open at Bolton at the second round stage after finishing joint 50th in the order of merit.

The Whitwell-on-the-Hill ace will be joined at that point in the competition by the legendary Phil Taylor, while others like Premier League star James Wade, Vincent van der Voort, Ted Hankey and Colin Osborne will start in the first round.

World Championship finalist Michael van Gerwen finished top of the order of merit after the last qualifying event in Wigan and will enter the competition in the third round, along with the other highest-placed 31 players.

Denis Ovens, a UK Open semi-finalist for the last three years, was the most high-profile player to miss out on qualification for the tournament that will take place at the Reebok Stadium from June 6 to 9.

A pair of 6-4 first-round defeats to Paul Amos and Mark Cox in the last two qualifiers, however, ended Temple’s hopes of making the order of merit’s top 32.

Rawcliffe’s Martyn Turner, meanwhile, missed out on a place in the Sky Sports-televised event.

Having beaten Jonathan Worsley 6-2, Turner lost to Paddy Meaney in the second round of the final qualifier.

In the previous day’s qualifier, former BDO World Championship runner-up Dave Chisnall overcame Turner 6-2 in the second round after the latter had progressed past Atif Hussain 6-0.

Temple has also qualified for a second successive European Tour event, which will take place in Dusseldorf from May 17 to 19. Victories over Craig Pope (6-1) and Nick Fulwell (6-3) booked Temple one of the 20 places up for grabs for the German tournament.