Luke Humphries

Luke Humphries
Humphries in January 2024
Personal information
Nickname	"Cool Hand Luke"
Born	(1995-02-11) 11 February 1995 Newbury, Berkshire, England
Home town	Crewe, Cheshire, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	2010
Darts	22g Red Dragon
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	“I Predict a Riot” by Kaiser Chiefs
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2011– (Tour Card: 2018–)
Current world ranking	1 (24 November 2024)
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner (1): 2024
World Matchplay	Winner (1): 2024
World Grand Prix	Winner (1): 2023
UK Open	Runner Up: 2021, 2024
Grand Slam	Winner (1): 2023
European Ch'ship	Quarter Final: 2022, 2023, 2024
Premier League	Runner Up: 2024
PC Finals	Winner (2): 2023, 2024
Masters	Last 16: 2022, 2023, 2024
World Series Finals	Semi Final: 2023
Other tournament wins
PDC World Cup of Darts (team event) 2024 PDC Home Tour Event 2 2020 European Tour Events Czech Darts Open 2022, 2024 European Darts Grand Prix 2022 European Darts Matchplay 2022, 2023 German Darts Grand Prix 2022, 2024 Players Championships Players Championship (BAR) 2022, 2023 Players Championship (LEI) 2023 Players Championship (WIG) 2024 World Series of Darts New Zealand Darts Masters 2024 Youth Events World Youth Championship 2019 Development Tour 2017 (x5), 2018 (x3), 2019 (x3) Challenge Tour Challenge Tour 2017

Luke Humphries (born 11 February 1995) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently the World No. 1 and the reigning World Champion. Nicknamed "Cool Hand Luke" in reference to the 1967 film, Humphries has won 18 senior PDC titles and is currently the reigning back-to back Players Championship Finals champion and the 2024 World Matchplay champion. Humphries also won the 2023 World Grand Prix, the 2023 Grand Slam, the 2024 World Cup of Darts, and the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship.

Early life

Luke Humphries was born on 11 February 1995 in Newbury, Berkshire and grew up there, later moving to Crewe, Cheshire.

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. He is of Irish descent through his maternal grandfather.

Humphries started playing darts in his teens, playing for Berkshire county darts, then moving onto Wiltshire county darts before leaving to join the PDC.

He previously worked as a roofer, retiring in 2018 to pursue darts full-time.

Career

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 where he lost to Jeff Smith, and received a PDC Tour Card for the 2018 and 2019 season.

2019

Humphries won the Development Tour Order of Merit in 2019, a year which culminated in a fantastic run at the 2019 World Championship for Humphries. He beat Adam Hunt, Stephen Bunting, Dimitri Van den Bergh, and defending champion Rob Cross, before eventually losing 1–5 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.

At the age of 24 Humphries won the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship, where he beat Adam Gawlas 6–0.

2020

In the 2020 World Championship, Humphries once again reached the quarter-finals before losing 3–5 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.

2021

In the 2021 World Championship, Humphries suffered a shock 2–3 first-round defeat to veteran Paul Lim. Luke Humphries 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-final and then-reigning champion Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final. He was defeated 5–11 by James Wade in the final.

2022

In the 2022 World Championship, Humphries reached his third quarter-final in four years before losing 2–5 to Gary Anderson. Humphries reached his first PDC European Tour final at the 2022 German Darts Grand Prix by beating Jeffrey de Zwaan, Michael Smith, Wesley Plaisier and Michael van Gerwen. He beat Martin Lukeman in the final, hitting double 4 to win 8–2.

2023

In the 2023 World Championship, Humphries reached the fourth round before losing 1–4 to Stephen Bunting. In October 2023, 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 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, averaging an impressive 104.69. Humphries won his third televised title at the 2023 Players Championship Finals, defeating Michael van Gerwen (who hit a nine-dart finish) 11–9 (Van Gerwen also missed eight darts at doubles in the 19th leg, to set up a deciding leg), before Humphries won the match on double 1.

2024

On 3 January, Humphries won the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, defeating fellow Cheshire talent Luke Littler 7–4 in the final. For that, 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.

Humphries partnered with Michael Smith to win the World Cup of Darts for England, defeating Austria 10–6 in the final.

Humphries (right) with Michael Smith after their win in the 2024 PDC World Cup of Darts

In July he won the 2024 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 October, Humphries started his defence of the World Grand Prix title after his victory over Price in the 2023 final. After an impressive comeback against Stephen Bunting, he was able to reach the final for a consecutive second year. However, he lost 4-6 to Mike De Decker in this final.

In November, following elimination in the group stage of the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts, Humphries successfully defended a title for the first time at the 2024 Players Championship Finals, defeating Luke Littler 11–7 in the final.

Premier League Darts

Nights 1–5: Starting off in the bottom-half of the table

Humphries started his 2024 Premier League Darts campaign at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales. He went on to lose his debut match to Luke Littler 6–2 in legs. After the match, Humphries wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he felt "gutted" with the constant whistling and heckling at him during the match.

Humphries started night two at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin by winning his quarter-final match against Rob Cross 6–5. However, he then suffered another loss to Littler, losing 6–5 in the semi-finals. On night three at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Humphries beat Nathan Aspinall 6–3 with a 105.53 average in the quarter-finals, and defeated Gerwyn Price 6–3 in his semi-final match. Humphries lost to Michael van Gerwen 6–5 in the night's final. On night four at the Newcastle Arena, Humphries lost 6–5 in the quarter-finals to Rob Cross.

Just before the 2024 UK Open weekend, Humphries played at Premier League event five at the Westpoint Arena in Exeter. In the quarter-finals he defeated Michael van Gerwen 6–3, before losing 5–6 to Nathan Aspinall in the semi-finals.

Nights 6–8: Three consecutive night wins

Luke Humphries won his first Premier League night at Brighton Centre on night six. Humphries achieved a three-dart average of over 100 in all three of his wins on the night, with a 6–2 victory over Gerwyn Price, followed by a 6–3 win over Rob Cross, where Humphries averaged 113.71, and a 6–3 defeat of Michael Smith in the final. Humphries won a second consecutive night on night seven, at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham. Humphries recorded his fifth and sixth consecutive ton+ (100+) Premier League averages in wins over Michael Smith, 6–4, and Peter Wright, 6–1, before beating Nathan Aspinall 6–3 in the final. Humphries equalled the record for most consecutive nightly wins in the Premier League, making it three in a row on night eight at the 3Arena in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Humphries continued to record averages over 100, doing it in all 3 of his wins en route to victory in the night's final. Humphries was the number one seed as the league leader so was up against number 8 seed Peter Wright in the quarter-finals, he defeated Wright 6–1. In the semi-finals Humphries faced Nathan Aspinall, winning 6–4, and in the final Humphries achieved another triumph over Michael Smith, 6–2.

Nights 9–16: Making three semi-finals, victory in Leeds

Night nine at the SSE Arena, Belfast saw Humphries' winning streak come to an end, losing to Luke Littler 6–5 in a deciding leg. On night ten at the Manchester Arena, Humphries lost in the quarter-finals for a second consecutive week, with Michael Smith beating him 6–3. On night eleven at Arena Birmingham and night twelve at Rotterdam Ahoy, Humphries made the semi-finals, with a 6–4 over Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen in the respective quarter-finals being followed by another deciding leg loss to Luke Littler on night eleven and a 6–4 loss to Nathan Aspinall on night twelve in the respective semi-finals.

Night thirteen at the Liverpool Arena saw Humphries again defeated by Nathan Aspinall, losing 6–2 in their quarter-final match. On night fourteen at P&J Live, Aberdeen, Humphries was given a bye due to his quarter-final opponent Gerwyn Price withdrawing from the night. Humphries lost 6–5 to Rob Cross in the semi-final. 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 the Kaiser Chiefs on Night 15 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. Night sixteen at the Utilita Sheffield Arena saw Humphries win 6–4 over Gerwyn Price in the quarter-final. He defeated Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final and lost 3–6 to Michael Smith in the final.

Play Offs: Premier League final in his debut year

After sixteen nights, Luke 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, held in The O2 Arena, London. Luke won the semi-final 10–5 to advance to the final against Luke Littler. Humphries lost 7–11 to Littler.

Personal life

During a 2019 PDC tournament Humphries suffered an anxiety attack. He considered quitting the sport as a result.

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: Ongoing

PDC career finals

PDC major finals: 10 (6 titles, 4 runner-up)

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)

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	Gerwyn Price	5–2 (s)
Winner	2.	2023	Grand Slam of Darts	Rob Cross	16–8 (l)
Winner	3.	2023	Players Championship Finals	Michael van Gerwen	11–9 (l)
Winner	4.	2024	World Darts Championship	Luke Littler	7–4 (s)
Runner-up	2.	2024	UK Open (2)	Dimitri Van den Bergh	10–11 (l)
Runner-up	3.	2024	Premier League Darts	Luke Littler	7–11 (l)
Winner	5.	2024	World Matchplay	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	Luke Littler	11–7 (l)

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 titles)

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)

Performance timeline

PDC

Tournament	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
PDC World Championship	DNQ		PR	QF	QF	1R	QF	4R	W
Winmau World Masters	NH
UK Open	DNQ		3R	3R	4R	F	4R	6R	F
World Matchplay	DNQ					2R	1R	SF	W
World Grand Prix	DNQ					2R	1R	W	F
European Championship	DNQ					2R	QF	QF	QF
Grand Slam of Darts	DNQ				RR	RR	SF	W	RR
Players Championship Finals	DNQ			1R	3R	3R	SF	W	W
Non-ranked televised events
Masters	DNQ						2R	2R	2R	NH
Premier League Darts	DNP			C	C	DNP			F
World Cup of Darts	DNQ								W
World Series of Darts Finals	DNQ							SF	QF
PDC World Youth Championship	2R	SF	2R	W	DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	NR	NR	57	35	42	19	5	1	1

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

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	EDG DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDT DNQ	DDO DNQ	EDM 2R	GDC DNQ	DDC DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT 2R
2019	EDO DNQ	GDC 2R	GDG DNQ	GDO 2R	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM DNQ	DDO DNQ	CDO DNQ	ADC 2R	EDM DNQ	IDO DNQ	GDT DNQ
2020	BDC 1R	GDC DNQ	EDG DNQ	IDO DNQ
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 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
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	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	LEI DNP	LEI DNP	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	LEI 3R	LEI F	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL 4R	MIL 4R	MIL SF	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	WIG QF	WIG 1R	LEI 3R	LEI 4R	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	WIG W	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	LEI DNP	LEI DNP

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			NYF	Not yet founded

External links

• Media related to Luke Humphries at Wikimedia Commons
• Luke Humphries player profile at Darts Orakel