GERWYN Price and Nick Kenny will fly the flag for Gwent at the Ladbrokes UK Open.

The three-day festival of darts kicks off at the Butlin’s Minehead Resort in Somerset next Friday.

Markham’s world number three Price, runner-up to Peter Wright in 2017, doesn’t enter the tournament until the fourth-round stage.

As for PDC new boy Kenny, the Cwmbran ace faces the winner of the first-round tie between Cameron Menzies and Bradley Brooks in round two.

If he wins, Kenny, who came through the PDC’s qualifying school last month, will take on South African Devon Petersen in the third round.

The event’s unique open draw format will remain in place, meaning the likes of world number one Michael van Gerwen and world champion Peter Wright could meet early in the tournament.

Players will compete for a £100,000 top prize, with a total prize fund of £450,000 offering prizes down to the last 96.

The first round features tour card holders ranked 97-127 along with the eight Challenge Tour qualifiers, nine Development Tour qualifiers and 16 Rileys qualifiers.

The opening three rounds take place in the afternoon session on March 6, with the world’s top 32 entering at the fourth-round stage in the evening.

History-maker Fallon Sherrock returns to PDC action against Kyle McKinstry in a first-round game on the main stage, after Australia’s Brisbane Darts Masters winner Damon Heta plays two-time BDO champion Scott Waites.

Price is joined in the top 32 by the likes of defending champion Nathan Aspinall, van Gerwen and former UK Open champions Wright, Gary Anderson, James Wade and Adrian Lewis.

The action continues on March 7 with the fifth and sixth rounds, before Sunday’s closing stages are played out on the main stage.

Other Welsh players involved include Bedlinog’s Barrie Bates, who went all the way to the final in 2006 before losing to Raymond van Barneveld.

Bates enters the competition this year in round two where he faces either Adam Hunt or Karel Sedlacek.