Luke Littler’s stunning Players Championship run ended in final thriller as Luke Humphries sets major Ally Pally marker

LUKE HUMPHRIES showed Luke Littler that he will not surrender his world crown so easily this Christmas.

Littler heads to Ally Pally next month as the bookies’ favourite to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy – and become, aged 17, the youngest darts world champion in history.

But Cool Hand Luke – the man who lifted the sport’s biggest prize in January – has bragging rights after he bagged the Players Championship Finals tonight with a 11-7 victory over The Nuke.

This was the contest everybody in Somerset had hoped they would see and it happened after Littler overcame Ross Smith 11-9 in the semi-finals.

And within the next hour, the world No.1 advanced to the final with a 11-8 success over big Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode.

This was the first defeat Littler had experienced following a 12-game unbeaten streak.

That superb run included lifting the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton and surpassing the £1million for yearly prize money.

It was a year ago this weekend that Littler won the World Youth final on the Butlin’s Minehead stage and put himself on most people’s radar.

In his debut tournament, he raced into the final off the back of five consecutive ton-plus averages.

And though he did take out checkouts of 170, 164, 136 and 105, it was Humphries, 29, who celebrated a fifth TV title of 2024 and banked the £120,000 winners’ cheque.

This was a good-natured, well-spirited showdown between two rivals that respect each other but the referee had to get involved in leg 14 as someone was whistling while Humphries faced the board.

Meanwhile, oche legend Steve Beaton will try today to get one final TV farewell before hanging up his darts as a professional.

Beaton – the 1996 Lakeside champion – is retiring at the end of the year at the age of 60.

He has appeared in every world darts championship since 1992 – BDO and PDC – but that sequence is under threat.

The Bronzed Adonis is not part of the field for this winter’s PDC event but gets one more chance to qualify via a tour card holder event in Wigan.

Humphries said after his win: “This was in my living room a couple of months ago and now I have it back.

“I didn’t feel myself this weekend. I was a dart behind.

“Luke drives me on, he makes me want to be a better player. I enjoy playing him.

“I am proud that I didn’t take my foot off the gas. It was a fantastic game again with Luke, he’s a special talent.

“Luke is probably the best player in the world right now.

“I told him I have to win these trophies before he starts to do so.

“These big games are what I live for, dream of, and to be a champion is why I do this, why I travel the world.

“I never give up. I know I can beat Luke. This is the best way to go into the worlds.”

Littler, who earned £60,000, added: “It was tough, I missed a few doubles.

“If you don’t take chances early on, it’s a lot to come back. I didn’t have enough in the end.

“It has been a good past two weeks. I cannot wait to go home, chill and practise for the worlds. We leads up to the big one.

“We always produce our best against each other. That first session, I didn’t have enough to get it back.”