Luke Littler charges into Premier League Darts final with win over Michael Smith after epic 144 checkout
LUKE LITTLER will attempt to become the youngest Premier League Darts champion in history – and bank a mega £315,000 jackpot.
Luke The Nuke topped the eight-player table after 16 weeks in seven countries and banked a bonus of £40,000 for four nightly victories.
ReutersLuke Littler has waltzed into the Premier League Darts final[/caption]
PAThe youngster got the better of Michael Smith to earn his spot in the final pairing[/caption]
And he will try to scoop the £275,000 first prize later this evening – the second-richest cheque in the sport.
The 17-year-old booked his spot in the final with a thumping 10-5 victory over Michael Smith in front of 14,000 people at the O2 Arena in London.
This is the biggest crowd ever assembled for a UK event in the 30-year history of the PDC.
Only Luke Humphries can now stop Littler from an incredible achievement on his debut after he booked his spot in tonight’s final too after a 10-5 win of his own against Michael van Gerwen.
It is 141 days since the World Darts Championship final when Littler was defeated by Humphries to the Sid Waddell Trophy but, due to his epic run, brought a whole new audience to the oche.
Now he will face a nerve-racking repeat of that final – hoping this time to go one step further and win the lot.
Incredibly, Littler was not even born when the first Premier League competition took place in 2005 in towns such as Widnes and Kidderminster.
And he was barely out of nappies when the legendary Phil Taylor famously hit those two nine-darters on a magical night at Wembley Arena in 2010.
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Inside Littler’s massive rise
LUKE LITTLER has taken the darts world by storm since exploding onto the scene at the PDC World Championship.
The Nuke reached the final on his Ally Pally debut at just 16 years of age – smashing records along the way.
He has since joined Jude Bellingham on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.
And the teenage titan even had to snub an invite from the WWE.
The Sun exclusively revealed that Littler is plotting to create a fitness empire.
He is also cashing in away from the Oche thanks to an Instagram side hustle.
And he’s even the face of a brand new cereal.
Check out all of our Luke Littler stories here.
On his first visit to this domed arena – he had never been before to see a music concert – Littler was in a relaxed mood backstage, fist-pumping with journalists and smiling and joking around.
His mum and dad were in the audience and he gave his girlfriend Eloise a huge kiss when he walked on first for the second biggest night of his sporting life.
The crowd soon broke out into a rendition of “Walking in a Littler Wonderland” – it was clear who they were all rooting for.
Anyone wondering how Littler might cope with the pressure of playing in such an enormous venue had their answers in leg three when he took out a magnificent 144 checkout.
The following leg he hit seven perfect darts and had the crowd up on their feet but there was no nine-darter as he missed treble 17.
Leg eight was one of those mad legs you sometimes get in professional combat when both players experienced double trouble.
Smith had chances to close the gap to 5-3 but he fluffed those opportunities and when Littler took out double two to move 6-2 ahead, it felt like game over.
At the break, Littler led 7-3 and he did not look back at the resumption, sealing his passage with double four.
Littler said: “I am pleased with all of it. All of it was very good.
“Coming into tonight, I knew I had the darts. I wanted to go into the break, get a decent lead, which I did and then become back out and win it.
“You have to take out the big shots, especially when someone is on a finish.
“I am glad I took my chances. I am enjoying it. I came here a few hours ago and the practice has paid off.”
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