SCOTT Mitchell is one of six lucky unseeded players to receive a bye in the draw for the first round of the UK Open.

The PDC's first major ranking event of the year, dubbed 'the FA Cup of darts' gets underway on Friday in Milton Keynes and will be staged behind closed doors, but televised via ITV4.

Mitchell booked his spot in the event by winning a tour card at Qualifying School last month.

And the Dorset ace will begin competing from round two having received a bye, after six players withdrew from the event, leaving a field of 154 to compete for their share of the £450,000 prize pot.

The second-round draw has pitted Mitchell against the winner of Dutchman Luc Peters and Welsh youngster Lewis Williams.

Should Mitchell progress on Friday afternoon, he would then take on either Jonathan Worsley or Andrew Gilding for a place in the last 64, with an open draw to be conducted at the conclusion of round three.

It will be the first time Mitchell has competed at the UK Open since coming through as a qualifier in 2007, where he lost to Jelle Klaasen in round two.

Discussing his return to the event, Mitchell told the Daily Echo: "You’ve got to win a couple of games there to get into the prize money, which a lot of people don’t realise. That’s going to be tough."

Reigning UK Open champion Michael van Gerwen is listed as 4/1 favourite with event sponsors Ladbrokes to win the trophy again, ahead of Gerwyn Price (5/1), Peter Wright (9/1) and Jonny Clayton (10/1).

Mitchell is available at 300/1.

Scotty Dog's life as a PDC professional began last week with two wins and four defeats at the Super Series in Bolton.

Played as four events across four days, Mitchell kicked off the season with a 6-5 win over Gary Blades before losing a high-quality contest to multi-major winner James Wade.

Mitchell continued to play well for the majority of the week, but suffered defeats to Andy Boulton, Madars Razma and Dirk van Duijvenbode, with his only other win coming against Belgian Mike De Decker.