BOUNTY HUNTER Kevin Dowling is out to claim the biggest scalp of his career when he takes on Phil Taylor in the Speedy Services UK Open finals on Thursday night.
World Champion Taylor will enter 'The FA Cup of Darts' in the second round for the first time after finishing 44th in the qualifying stages for this year's four-day event, which is held in the Premier Suite, De Vere Whites at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.
Taylor will take on world number 89 Dowling in Bolton on Thursday night in their best-of-nine leg clash, and needs to take victory to join the likes of Michael van Gerwen and reigning champion Robert Thornton in the third round draw.
However Dowling, a design engineer from Coventry who is nicknamed 'The Bounty Hunter' due to his love of western movies, is preparing himself for the biggest game of his career.
"This is the ultimate bounty!" said Dowling. "It's the sort of chance that any player would love and thousands of darts players from across the world would love to be in my shoes.
"You can't get much bigger than playing Phil Taylor, and he's still the man to beat as far as I'm concerned, so it would be very nice to win on Thursday night.
"I've only played him once, in the US Open in Connecticut about six years ago. I won the first leg and had a chance to win the first set but missed my doubles, and that was it.
"Phil went on to win the whole tournament, but this Thursday is another game.
"I need to get off to a good start and I certainly don't want to miss too many shots early on, but I'm feeling very good at the moment.
"I qualified for the European Tour event in Austria last weekend and reached the second round so my game's in good shape and this couldn't have come at a better time because I'm ready for it and looking forward to it."
Dowling has played in seven previous UK Opens, but admits that being on the main stage of eight boards which will be playing simultaneously will be a great experience.
"I've only played on the main stage in Bolton once before, against John Part in 2007 over the best of 15 legs," he said.
"It's good having that experience there but I was a bit slow out of the blocks and it took me probably three legs to get used to the lighting on stage.
"If that's the case this time, I can't afford three legs, that's for sure!"
Thursday's clash will be the biggest of Dowling's ten-year career on the PDC circuit - but he initially thought he was the victim of a wind-up when he was told he would face 16-time World Champion Taylor in Bolton.
"I was coming home from work and knew the draw was being made, but then I started to get a stream of text messages coming through telling me what the draw was," he said.
"The first guy was a bit of a wind-up merchant so I thought it was a bit of a joke, but as it turned out he was spot on! My first reaction was that it's the sort of draw that everybody wants to get, at least once in their life anyway.
"It's a dream come true, a cracking draw."
Tickets for the Speedy Services UK Open are still available by calling 0844 871 8807 or by visiting www.seetickets.com/go/ukopen.