SOME of the world's best darts players descend on the Reebok Stadium tonight but three local hopefuls are out to spoil the party.

Phil Taylor, Wayne Mardle and Raymond van Barneveld will be among the elite darts stars to toe the Reebok oche this weekend, but Bolton's own Paul Williams, Steve Coote and Dave Johnson are also dreaming of success in the Budweiser UK Open.

The sell-out competition will be competed over three days, and kicks-off with the preliminary, first and second round games this evening, which will be screened live by Sky from 6pm.

All three local hopefuls should be in action at least once tonight, with world number 42 Williams in action against Gary Noonan.

"I don't want to tempt fate, but I should hopefully have enough to get past him," said Wiliams, who reached the final of the inaugural UK Open four years ago.

"I haven't come across him before, but I'm pretty confident of getting through to Saturday."

Fireman Steve Coote, ranked number 62 in the world, has the shortest bookmaker's odds of the Bolton trio at 200/1. But first he must get past Kevin Dalwood in round one.

"He has played at county level, but I haven't played him before," said Coote. "I'm taking down quite a bit of support, so hopefully they will help spur me on."

UK Open debutant Dave Johnson honed his skills playing in Farnworth, and is hoping to take a large contingent of fans down to the Reebok Stadium, where he starts off against Londoner Johnny Haines.

"Getting through to Saturday is important," he said. "Then you have got a chance to draw on of the really big names and that would be amazing."