When Luke Littler stood on the Lakeside stage in December 2022 as a wide-eyed 15-year-old, making his WDF World Championship debut, few could have imagined the sport would produce a comparable prodigy quite so quickly. But darts has done exactly that — and the young Scotsman who has spent the past year hoovering up his records is now the one sitting at the top of the rankings.
Mitchell Lawrie, born 4 November 2010, has climbed to WDF World No. 1 in the senior men’s rankings at just 15 years and 110 days old, making him one of the youngest players to reach that position in any circuit’s history. The achievement follows a dominant run of form that has continued into 2026, most recently culminating in victory at the Scottish Classic, where the teenager from Renfrewshire — known on the circuit as ‘Wee Sox’ — dismantled Englishman James Beeton 5-1 in the final. He averaged 95.36 in the title match, included seven perfect darts in the contest, and made it look straightforward. It was his fourth senior WDF ranking title, each one collected before his 16th birthday.
The comparisons to Littler have been unavoidable, and for good reason. Lawrie has made a habit of specifically targeting the records Littler set at a similar age, stripping them away one by one. He surpassed Littler’s youngest WDF World Championship debut. He became the youngest player to win three senior WDF titles, doing so at 15 years and four days old — a full five months younger than Littler managed the same feat. He became the first teenager to reach a WDF World Championship final, at Lakeside in December 2025, going on to win the World Youth title and then running eventual champion Jimmy van Schie close in the men’s final before losing 6-3 from a 3-0 lead. He also won the JDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace the same month, defeating fellow teenage sensation Kaya Baysal 5-2.
Van Schie, speaking after the Lakeside final, said of Lawrie: “He is such a phenomenal player. He’s a power scorer, so mature for his age and the sky is the limit for him. He’s the future of darts.” ESPN
Littler himself has watched Lawrie’s rise with a mixture of mild competitive irritation and evident respect. Speaking about his fellow teenager, the back-to-back PDC world champion said: “He’s a very, very good player at such a young age like myself. Obviously, I think about my record for winning a WDF Open. It is crazy. He’s got to wait years for the Development Tour. But for now, he’s just got to keep at it because he’s got to wait.” Sky Sports
That wait is the one obstacle on the horizon. Lawrie cannot join the PDC Development Tour until he turns 16 — meaning that however dominant he becomes on the WDF circuit, the route to the professional stage where Littler has made his name remains a year away at minimum. It is the same frustration Littler described living through at the same age, and Lawrie will have to channel it the same way — by winning everything he is eligible for in the meantime.
On that front, he is doing just fine. He now sits at the summit of the WDF senior men’s rankings having overtaken American Leonard Gates, who had briefly reclaimed top spot following the mass departure of leading WDF players — including van Schie — to the PDC after Q-School in January. That exodus reshuffled the WDF landscape dramatically and opened the door for a younger generation to step forward. Lawrie has walked through it.
He is already under contract with Target Darts, the same manufacturer who backed Littler from the age of 12. He already has four senior titles, a world youth crown, a JDC world title and a WDF World Championship final to his name before he is old enough to drive. He has Gary Anderson, Scotland’s only PDC world champion, as his inspiration, and the darts world as his audience.
The question of whether Mitchell Lawrie can follow the trajectory that Littler mapped out has been asked since he was 14. Right now, at 15 years and 110 days old and sitting at the top of the world rankings, it is becoming harder and harder to make a case that he cannot.
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