It’s a second consecutive Betfred World Matchplay crown for the phenomenal Luke Littler, who is breaking records at a rate of Wile E. Coyote chasing Road Runner through an antique vinyl shop.
And this wasn’t any ordinary win – then again, what is with this lad? Nope. The Nuke smashed the previous highest tournament average (110.04) and even the previous highest one in a final, ending his emphatic 18-9 win over Gerwyn Price with a colossal 111.53.
Now, just for a bit more context here, The Iceman – one of the best players on the planet and of the modern generation – played superbly. But even Gezzy’s average of a tad under the 105 mark and ten maximums got him closer to the Warringtonian than we are to the Moon.
It’s a case of, “What the hell do I have to do?” to beat this teenage sensation when he’s on. During this tournament, from start to finish, Littler played like he had a cab with the meter running outside.
That said, with over £3m now racked up in prize money, taxi fares are of little consequence to the youngster. Even if he hired minibuses to ferry every fan in the Winter Gardens to deepest, darkest Peru and paid Paddington Bear and his mates to drive, it wouldn’t put a dent in his bank balance.
The only negative swing Luke’s victory means is that, if he wants to go for the full PDC sweep this year and ensure he’s in Minehead come November for the Players Championship Finals, he will have to spend a few days in Leicester.
It seems ages ago since The Nuke overcame Niko Springer in his opener with a mere 109.53 average. And to think, at one point during that match, folk thought he was in trouble against the German.
Round after round, the stupendous numbers continued as world-class arrow-smiths in Aspinall, Rock and Van Duijvenbode were all put to the sword by a kid who seems to be playing a computer game with cheat mode switched on.
Then in the final… well! Few gave Price a chance. That’s Gerwyn Price – the highly decorated Welshman and former World Champion, by the way. Not Gaz down the local. A genuinely elite performer with a highly impressive darting résumé.
Yet not even The Iceman could keep up as Littler beat his own previous record of sixty-four tournament maximums by two. It was good twelve months ago. This time, he even made himself look mediocre!
Even us writers are scrambling around desperately for new superlatives and, for me, comical ways to describe the 19-year-old’s achievements. Most think he landed here from Mars a few years ago, popped into the St Helens darts emporium and bought a board off Karl Holden, who must have questioned the little green fella walking in. But a sale is a sale, right Karl?!
Right now, if the world stopped revolving and the entire population was sent hurtling into space, Luke Littler would still be there, stood at the oche banging in 180s. Even if a massive meteor landed and flooded Earth, he would simply walk on water to get to the nearest kebab shop, which, knowing his luck, would have survived the tsunamis.
It’s just freakish what Luke is doing. And I don’t purely mean winning silvery things on a regular basis. I mean the way he is doing it.
Once in a generation, this kind of thing happens. If we’re around in another few decades, perhaps another Littler-esque player will pop along.
We jest, but until there is an alien invasion on this planet or Japan builds some super cyborg to challenge the kid, I can’t see his title streak stopping.
It all depends, really, on how long Littler fancies tormenting the rest of the competition. But for now, he’s going nowhere.
