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Luke Littler could only watch as Luke Humphries and Rob Cross pocketed £30,000 sets of golden darts, leaving him green-eyed and itching to join the bullion club. On a costly night for Premier League sponsors BetMGM in Brighton, Humphries and Cross became the first to snag the nine-darter bonus, a glittering prize that had Littler, aka “The Nuke,” confessing, “I’d love to get my hands on those gold darts.”
The 18-year-old PDC world champ was stuck backstage when world No. 1 Humphries and Cross nailed their perfect legs. Crafted by jewelers Humphrey and Hawkins, the £30,000 bespoke sets are the ultimate darts trophy. Despite Sky Sports’ global feed flickering out from technical gremlins, Littler still ruled the night, clinching the Night Five title with a 6-3 win over Nathan Aspinall after toppling Chris Dobey and Michael van Gerwen earlier.
“I caught the first nine-darter but missed the second,” Littler said. “My dad pulled it up on his phone—Sky crashed for the first one, and while we were watching, beer went flying everywhere. We figured, ‘That’s no 170, it’s gotta be a nine.’ Replay rolled, and we’d missed it.” Undaunted, he added, “Plenty of weeks left to nab those gold darts. How heavy are they? I might throw them one night—maybe I can!”
Humphries and Littler sit atop the Premier League standings, cementing their status as the world’s best. Littler’s UK Open win got a fierce encore with a 6-2 demolition of a shell-shocked Van Gerwen, the three-time world champ. “I’m on a roll and loving it,” Littler said. “Everything’s clicking. I get a two- or three-leg lead, their heads drop, and that fuels me. When they’re down, I’ve got them.”
He’s reading rivals like an open book: “Are they as hungry as me? If they are, they’ll match my drive. But when I see them chucking darts wide, heads gone, that’s when I turn the screws.”
The final wasn’t all smooth sailing. Aspinall dodged a pint hurled his way during his “Mr. Brightside” walk-on, then paused mid-throw as a spectator bleated farmyard noises. “Crazy,” Littler grimaced. “A pint at Nathan, right as he stepped up. Some crowds are golden, some a bit rough—that’s darts fans for you.”
