# Luke Humphries

Luke Humphries (born 11 February 1995) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number one. He is a former PDC World Champion, having won the 2024 World Championship, defeating Luke Littler in the final.
Nicknamed "Cool Hand Luke" in reference to the 1967 film, Humphries has won six other PDC major singles titles: the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals in 2023, the World Matchplay and Players Championship Finals in 2024, and the 2025 World Masters. He has also won the 2024 World Cup of Darts for England, partnering Michael Smith. He won his first World Series of Darts title at the 2024 New Zealand Darts Masters. Humphries has won a total of twenty-one PDC titles in his professional career.
In his youth career, Humphries won the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship and eleven PDC Development Tours, making him one of the most successful players in the history of the PDC's youth system.

## Early life

Luke Humphries was born on 11 February 1995 in Newbury, Berkshire and grew up there, later moving to Crewe, Cheshire. He is of Irish descent through his maternal grandfather.
His father, a Leeds United FC fan, named him Luke as an acronym for "Leeds United, Kings of Europe". Humphries is also fan of the team. His father also played county darts for Berkshire, which prompted a young Humphries to want to follow in his footsteps.

## Career
### 2017–2018

Humphries won five PDC Development Tour titles in 2017, finishing top of the Development Tour Order of Merit. As a result of this, he qualified for the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship and received a PDC Tour Card for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He also won a PDC Challenge Tour title in Event 12, defeating Andy Smith 5–4 in the final. At the 2018 World Championship, he lost 2–0 to Jeff Smith in the preliminary round. He added another three titles to his name during the 2018 Development Tour, topping the Order of Merit once again.

### 2019: World Youth Champion

At the 2019 World Championship, Humphries had his breakthrough event on television, beating Adam Hunt, Stephen Bunting, Dimitri Van den Bergh, and defending champion Rob Cross, before eventually losing to Michael Smith in the quarter-finals.
Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Humphries was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He played a one-off match against Gerwyn Price on night four in Exeter, which ended in a 6–6 draw.
At the age of 24, Humphries won the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship, where he beat Adam Gawlas 6–0 in the final.

### 2020

In the 2020 World Championship, Humphries once again reached the quarter-finals before losing 5–3 to eventual champion Peter Wright. Humphries was once again selected for the Premier League, this time under the tag of 'challenger'. He faced Gary Anderson in Exeter and became the first challenger to win their game. Humphries was the winner of PDC Home Tour 2 after winning five of his six Championship Group matches, beating Jonny Clayton based on leg difference.

### 2021: First major final

In the 2021 World Championship, Humphries suffered a shock 3–2 first-round defeat to 66-year-old Paul Lim. He made his first major televised final at the 2021 UK Open in March 2021. His run to the final saw him claim wins over Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals and then-reigning champion Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals. He was defeated 11–5 by James Wade in the final.

### 2022: European Tour wins

In the 2022 World Championship, Humphries reached his third quarter-final in four years before losing 5–2 to Gary Anderson. He won his maiden PDC ranking title in the opening Players Championship event of the year, defeating Ryan Searle 8–4 in the final.
Humphries reached his first PDC European Tour final at the German Darts Grand Prix by beating Jeffrey de Zwaan, Michael Smith and Wesley Plaisier before a 7–0 whitewash against Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals. He beat Martin Lukeman 8–2 in the final. He then won back-to-back titles at the Czech Darts Open and the European Darts Grand Prix before adding an 8–7 win against Rowby-John Rodriguez in the final of the 2022 European Darts Matchplay, ending the year with four European Tour titles.
His year culminated with back-to-back major semi-finals at the Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals, being eliminated by Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen respectively.

### 2023: First major titles

In the 2023 World Championship, Humphries reached the fourth round before losing 4–1 to Stephen Bunting. He won a European Tour title and two Players Championship titles on the 2023 PDC Pro Tour. Humphries retained the European Darts Matchplay, surviving four match darts from Dirk van Duijvenbode to prevail 8–7 in a deciding leg. Over a week later, he defeated Dave Chisnall 8–7 to win Players Championship 15. He then defeated Kevin Doets 8–6 in the final of Players Championship 20.
In October, Humphries won his first major title at the 2023 World Grand Prix, defeating tournament favourite Gerwyn Price 5–2 in the final. The £120,000 prize money earned through this victory saw him move into a career-high fourth in the PDC Order of Merit. He won his second major televised title 42 days later at the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, defeating Rob Cross 16–8 in the final with a three-dart average of 104.69. Humphries won his third televised title at the 2023 Players Championship Finals. He came back from 9–5 down to defeat Michael van Gerwen 11–9 in a match where van Gerwen hit a nine-dart finish but missed eight darts at doubles in the 19th leg to set up a deciding leg, before Humphries won the match on double 1.

### 2024: World Champion

Humphries entered the 2024 World Championship with many considering him the favourite to win the tournament. Humphries won his opening match against Lee Evans 3–0. In the third round, Humphries recovered from 3–1 down to beat Ricardo Pietreczko 4–3. He then got through a sudden death leg against Joe Cullen to advance to the quarter-finals. Humphries achieved wins against Dave Chisnall and Scott Williams to reach the final. On 3 January 2024, Humphries won the World Championship, winning five sets in a row to defeat fellow Cheshire talent Luke Littler 7–4 in the final. Following his victory, he was invited to meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Downing Street.
In March, Humphries reached the final of the UK Open for the second time. He missed two match darts to win the title in an 11–10 loss to Dimitri Van den Bergh. He won his first European Tour title of the season at the German Darts Grand Prix, winning 8–1 against Michael van Gerwen in the final with an average of 112.66—the second highest average in a European Tour final. Humphries represented England for the first time in the World Cup of Darts in June, partnering Michael Smith. The pair became the first English team to win the tournament since 2016, defeating Austria 10–6 in the final.
In July, he won the World Matchplay, beating Michael van Gerwen 18–15 in the final. This made him only the second player after Phil Taylor to win the World Championship and the World Matchplay in the same year. In August, Humphries won his first World Series of Darts title, defeating Damon Heta 8–2 to win the New Zealand Darts Masters.
In October, Humphries started his defence of the World Grand Prix after his victory over Gerwyn Price in the 2023 final. After an impressive comeback from 1–0 down in sets and 2–0 down in legs in the second set against Stephen Bunting in the first round, he was able to reach the final for a second consecutive year. However, he lost 6–4 to outsider Mike De Decker. Humphries added two more Pro Tour titles during the month, with an 8–7 win over Stephen Bunting in the final at Players Championship 26 and an 8–1 win over Kim Huybrechts in the final of the Czech Darts Open.
In November, following elimination in the group stage of the Grand Slam, Humphries successfully defended a title for the first time at the Players Championship Finals, defeating Luke Littler 11–7 in the final, becoming only the third player in history to win the title in 2 consecutive years, after Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen.

#### Premier League Darts debut

Humphries lost his full-time debut match of the 2024 Premier League to Luke Littler 6–2. After the match, Humphries wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he felt "gutted" with the constant whistling and heckling at him during the match. On night three, he lost to Michael van Gerwen 6–5 in the night's final. Humphries won his first Premier League night on night six with wins over Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross and Michael Smith. He won a second consecutive night on night seven, beating Nathan Aspinall 6–3 in the final. Humphries equalled the record for most consecutive nightly wins in the Premier League after making it three in a row on night eight, where he achieved another triumph over Michael Smith in a 6–2 victory in the final. Night nine saw Humphries' winning streak come to an end, losing to Luke Littler 6–5 in a deciding leg. Having previously announced that he would be changing his walk-on song from "Cake by the Ocean" by DNCE from night fifteen onwards, Humphries premiered his new walk-on song, "I Predict a Riot" by Kaiser Chiefs, on night fifteen at the Leeds Arena. Humphries defeated Rob Cross and Michael Smith each by a 6–1 margin, before beating Michael van Gerwen 6–5 in the final to win the night. Humphries announced he would raffle off his match-worn shirt from night fifteen and donate the proceeds to the Rob Burrow Foundation, a charity for motor neurone disease. On night sixteen, he lost 6–3 to Michael Smith in the final.
After sixteen nights, Humphries finished second in the Premier League table behind Luke Littler. This drew Humphries against Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final of the playoffs. He won the semi-final 10–5 to advance to the final, which he lost 11–7 to Littler.

### 2025

At the 2025 World Championship, Humphries began his title defence with a 3–0 whitewash win over Thibault Tricole, followed by a 4–0 victory against Nick Kenny, setting up a fourth round tie against Peter Wright. In the lead-up to the match, much attention was brought to what Humphries and Wright had to say about each other in their respective post-match interviews. Wright stated that he was ready to upset tournament favourites Humphries and Luke Littler, claiming that he could compete with and be better than them despite calls for him to retire. Humphries responded after his win against Nick Kenny, accusing Wright of "mind games". Humphries added, "I’m one world title away from almost matching his career, and I’m about 25 years younger, so I think one world title would match everything he’s ever achieved in the game." In their match, Humphries leveled the contest at 1–1 before dropping the next three sets to lose to Wright 4–1, ending his tenure as world champion.
In February, he won the PDC World Masters, defeating Jonny Clayton 6–5 to win his seventh major title. He followed that up by winning the opening night of the 2025 Premier League with a 6–1 victory over Chris Dobey in the night's final. He secured his second nightly win on night four by claiming his first Premier League victory over Luke Littler, defeating him 6–4 in their seventh meeting. He achieved his first televised nine-dart finish in his 6–4 loss to Rob Cross on night five.

## Personal life

Humphries previously worked as a roofer, retiring in 2018 to pursue darts full-time.
During a match at the 2019 German Darts Open, Humphries suffered an anxiety attack. He considered quitting the sport as a result.
Humphries began a weight loss journey in 2021 in order to improve his fitness and stamina, which led to him losing four stone (56 pounds). He attributes his success in darts to his loss in weight, claiming that it has made him a stronger person and that he no longer runs out of energy during longer days of play.
Humphries and his fiancée, Kayley, live in Crewe and had a son together in October 2022. On 30 May 2024, whilst in New York for the 2024 US Darts Masters, the couple became engaged, with Humphries proposing to her on the top floor of The Edge.

## World Championship results
### PDC

* 2018: Preliminary round (lost to Jeff Smith 0–2)
* 2019: Quarter-finals (lost to Michael Smith 1–5)
* 2020: Quarter-finals (lost to Peter Wright 3–5)
* 2021: First round (lost to Paul Lim 2–3)
* 2022: Quarter-finals (lost to Gary Anderson 2–5)
* 2023: Fourth round (lost to Stephen Bunting 1–4)
* 2024: Winner (beat Luke Littler 7–4)
* 2025: Fourth round (lost to Peter Wright 1–4)

## Career finals
### PDC major finals: 11 (7 titles)

* Legend
* World Championship (1–0)
* World Matchplay (1–0)
* UK Open (0–2)
* Premier League (0–1)
* World Grand Prix (1–1)
* Grand Slam of Darts (1–0)
* Players Championship Finals (2–0)
* World Masters (1–0)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2021 | UK Open | James Wade | 5–11 (l) |
| Winner | 1. | 2023 | World Grand Prix (1) | Gerwyn Price | 5–2 (s) |
| Winner | 2. | 2023 | Grand Slam of Darts (1) | Rob Cross | 16–8 (l) |
| Winner | 3. | 2023 | Players Championship Finals (1) | Michael van Gerwen | 11–9 (l) |
| Winner | 4. | 2024 | World Darts Championship (1) | Luke Littler | 7–4 (s) |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2024 | UK Open | Dimitri Van den Bergh | 10–11 (l) |
| Runner-up | 3. | 2024 | Premier League | Luke Littler | 7–11 (l) |
| Winner | 5. | 2024 | World Matchplay (1) | Michael van Gerwen | 18–15 (l) |
| Runner-up | 4. | 2024 | World Grand Prix | Mike De Decker | 4–6 (s) |
| Winner | 6. | 2024 | Players Championship Finals (2) | Luke Littler | 11–7 (l) |
| Winner | 7. | 2025 | World Masters (1) | Jonny Clayton | 6–5 (s) |

### PDC World Series finals: 1 (1 title)

| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 2024 | New Zealand Darts Masters | Damon Heta | 8–2 (l) |

### PDC team finals: 1 (1 title)

| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Team | Teammate | Opponents in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 2024 | World Cup of Darts | England | Michael Smith | Austria – Mensur Suljović and Rowby-John Rodriguez | 10–6 (l) |
* 1 2 (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

## Performance timeline

PDC
| Tournament | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| PDC Ranked televised events |||||||||||
| World Championship | DNQ | DNQ | Prel. | QF | QF | 1R | QF | 4R | W | 4R |
| World Masters | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | 2R | 2R | W |
| UK Open | DNQ | DNQ | 3R | 3R | 4R | F | 4R | 6R | F | QF |
| World Matchplay | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | 1R | SF | W | |
| World Grand Prix | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | 1R | W | F | |
| European Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | QF | QF | QF | |
| Grand Slam | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | RR | RR | SF | W | RR | |
| Players Championship Finals | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 1R | 3R | 3R | SF | W | W | |
| PDC Non-ranked televised events |||||||||||
| Premier League | DNP | DNP | DNP | C | C | DNP | DNP | DNP | F | |
| World Cup | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | W | |
| World Series Finals | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | SF | QF | |
| World Youth Championship | 2R | SF | 2R | W | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| Career statistics |||||||||||
| Season-end ranking | NR | NR | 57 | 35 | 42 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |
* ↑ Before 2025 this was a non ranked event.
PDC Premier League Darts
| Contender | Week 4 |
| 2019 | EXE D |
| Contender | Week 5 |
| 2020 | EXE W |
| Legend: | W | Win | D | Draw |
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 2024 | CAR QF | BER SF | GLA F | NEW QF | EXE SF | BRI W | NOT W | DUB W | BEL QF | MAN QF | BIR SF | ROT SF | LIV QF | ABD SF | LEE W | SHF F | LON F |
| 2025 | BEL W | GLA F | DUB SF | EXE W | BRI QF |
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 2018 | EDO 1R | GDG 3R | GDO 2R | ADO 2R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | EDM 2R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | EDT 2R |
| 2019 | EDO DNQ | GDC 2R | GDG DNQ | GDO 2R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | ADC 2R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2020 | BDC 1R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2021 | HDT SF | GDT 1R |
| 2022 | IDO DNQ | GDC 2R | GDG W | ADO 2R | EDO SF | CDO W | EDG W | DDC WD | EDM W | HDT 2R | GDO QF | BDO WD | GDT QF |
| 2023 | BSD F | EDO WD | IDO WD | GDG QF | ADO 2R | DDC F | BDO F | CDO QF | EDG F | EDM W | GDO 3R | HDT F | GDC SF |
| 2024 | BDO 3R | GDG W | IDO 3R | EDG QF | ADO WD | BSD F | DDC DNP | EDO 2R | GDC DNP | FDT SF | HDT 2R | SDT QF | CDO W |
PDC World Series of Darts
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 2023 | BAH QF | NOR QF | USA SF | POL QF | NSW DNP | NZE DNP |
| 2024 | BAH QF | DUT QF | USA SF | NOR SF | POL QF | AUS QF | NZE W |
| 2025 | BAH SF | DUT 1R | NOR | USA | POL | AUS | NZE |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| 2018 | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | DUB 1R | DUB 1R | BAR 2R | BAR SF |
| 2019 | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | WIG QF | WIG 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | HIL 4R | HIL 2R | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 4R | BAR DNP | DUB 2R | DUB 3R | BAR 3R | BAR 2R |
| 2020 | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 3R | WIG 3R | WIG 2R | BAR 4R | BAR 3R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL DNP | NIE 2R | NIE 1R | NIE QF | NIE 3R | NIE 2R | COV 3R | COV 1R | COV 1R | COV 1R | COV 1R |
| 2021 | BOL 1R | BOL 1R | BOL 3R | BOL 2R | MIL 2R | MIL F | MIL 3R | MIL 3R | NIE F | NIE 2R | NIE 1R | NIE 3R | MIL 2R | MIL 3R | MIL 2R | MIL F | COV 2R | COV 2R | COV 4R | COV 1R | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR QF | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 4R |
| 2022 | BAR W | BAR 4R | WIG 1R | WIG QF | BAR 4R | BAR 3R | NIE 4R | NIE SF | BAR 3R | BAR QF | BAR 2R | BAR 4R | BAR 2R | WIG 1R | WIG DNP | NIE QF | NIE 3R | BAR QF | BAR SF | BAR 4R | BAR 2R | BAR QF | BAR 1R | BAR F | BAR QF | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR F | BAR 1R | BAR DNP |
| 2023 | BAR 4R | BAR SF | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR SF | HIL 4R | HIL 3R | WIG 3R | WIG 4R | LEI 3R | LEI 3R | HIL DNP | HIL DNP | LEI W | LEI 1R | HIL DNP | HIL DNP | BAR 1R | BAR W | BAR QF | BAR DNP | BAR F | BAR 1R | BAR DNP | BAR SF | BAR 3R | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| 2024 | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | LEI 3R | LEI F | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | MIL 4R | MIL 4R | MIL SF | DNP | DNP | DNP | WIG QF | WIG 1R | LEI 3R | LEI 4R | WIG 4R | WIG 1R | WIG W | WIG 4R | WIG 2R | LEI DNP | LEI DNP |
| 2025 | WIG SF | DNP | DNP | DNP | LEI 3R | LEI F | DNP | DNP | LEI | LEI | LEI | LEI | ROS | ROS | HIL | HIL | LEI | LEI | LEI | HIL | HIL | MIL | MIL | MIL | HIL | HIL | LEI | LEI | LEI | WIG | WIG | WIG | WIG | WIG |
Performance Table Legend :
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | NYF | Not yet founded |

## Nine-dart finishes

Luke Humphries's televised nine-dart finishes :
| Date | Opponent | Tournament | Method | Ref. |
| 6 March 2025 | Rob Cross | 2025 Premier League Darts | 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 | |