MARK Cox and Johnny Haines picked up £500 apiece on a largely difficult day for local throwers at the UK Open Qualifier Three yesterday.

The Swindon pair both made the fourth round and last 32 at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan, where Cox was trounced 6-1 by former BDO world champion Mark Webster, while Haines lost out 6-4 to Dave Pallett.

Jack Tweddell was the next-best performer but he was unfortunate to come up against 16-time world champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in round two, with the youngster suffering a 6-2 defeat.

There were first-round exits for Dennis Smith, who was sunk 6-2 by Ronny Huybrechts, and John Newland and Chris Aubrey, who lost 6-5 to Andy Pearce and Scott Rand respectively.

On Saturday, Swindon’s six players missed out on prize money altogether.

Having both picked up £250 on day one, Smith exited in the first round while Newland made it to the second round before losing 6-3 to Dave Place.

Haines lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode in round two while brothers Aubrey and Tweddell both won their first games of the day, before exiting at the hands of Justin Pipe and Wes Newton.

Cox was drawn to play in the preliminary round but lost out 6-2 to Mareno Michels.

Yesterday’s action was the third of six UK Open qualifiers being played, with throwers aiming to win places in March's televised finals in Minehead.

Each qualifier is worth £50,000 in prize money, which counts towards the PDC Order of Merit and ProTour Order of Merit as well as the UK Open Order of Merit.