Luke Littler blocked from landing painful blow on Luke Humphries due to PDC rule | Other | Sport
Luke Littler has been making ground on Luke Humphries at the top of the world darts rankings since he burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old. ‘The Nuke’ went from an unknown to a household name after making it to the World Darts Championship final in 2024, and the £200,000 he banked for finishing runner-up behind Humphries catapulted him straight into the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit.
A string of further tournament victories followed, and Littler shot up to second place in double-quick time. But there is still a £574,000 chasm between the pair, and Littler’s mission to overtake his darting rival would not be helped by a prospective Premier League Darts win on Thursday evening.
The Premier League is one of the most lucrative events on the darts calendar, with the overall winner taking home £275,000. But under PDC rules, it is not classified as a ranking tournament, so the prize money is not applied to the Order of Merit.
The exclusive nature of the Premier League, and the fact the PDC select four ‘wildcards’ to make up the eight-player roster, are part of the reasons it is not considered a ranking event.
Prize money accumulated over a rolling two-year period is used to determine the darts world rankings. Humphries’ £500,000 jackpot for winning the 2024 world title still counts towards his overall total of just under £1.9million, but that figure could plummet if he does not win a second global crown at the Alexandra Palace early next year.
Littler, who added £500,000 to his own haul by winning at the Ally Pally last time out, has his eye on top spot. “At the worlds Luke Humphries is defending a hell of a lot of money,” he said in March.
“So if he doesn’t defend it, that’s when it could be my chance to shoot up to number one. Obviously, if I do play him in any ranking events I want to try and stop him from adding onto his prize money and defending it. I think number one is in sight now.”
The two Lukes are away and clear of the chasing pack as the two best throwers in the world. Last November, ‘Cool Hand’ admitted that his teenage rival had the edge on him in terms of short-term form.
He told Sky Sports: “With the averages he’s putting in, it’s fair to say he’s hitting a big bit of form like I did in 2023. If you’re at your best and winning, it’s easy. But if you’re not at your best and winning, it’s harder. It’s quite close between us both, to be honest, but with the averages he’s putting in, it’s quite easy to say he is playing the best darts at the moment.”
