Luke Littler Claims Australian Darts Masters Title
- Lorenzo Di-Mauro Hayes
- Aug 11
- 3 min read
Reigning PDC Champion of the World Luke Littler continues to pick up titles as he claimed his 3rd World Series of Darts tour title in Wollongong. The 18-year-old had not reached a final in the previous five 2025 World Series events and would not have been a seed had either Rob Cross or Nathan Aspinall been at the event. However, the recently crowned World Matchplay champion overcame a strong field to win the Australian Darts Masters.
Things didn't start well for Littler as he had to battle against New Zealand's only tour card holder Haupai Puha in the first round. He was pushed to a last leg decider on the opening night but pulled through. The opening night saw all PDC representatives win matches. It was the second straight year that none of the eight Oceanic representatives at the Australian Darts Masters won a match. In every previous, Australian World Series event, at least one did. Puha and Tim Pusey were the closest with Pusey only going down 6-4 to Chris Dobey.
Other than that it was fairly straight-forward for the biggest names in darts on the first day of the event. On the second and final day, there were some gripping performances. Stephen Bunting whitewashed Josh Rock, with 'The Bullet' only allowing his opponent one dart at double across six legs. Following this, Littler and Australian number 1 Damon Heta who had looked amazing on night 1 did battle. It was tight early but Littler got over the line 6-3. Dobey held off last year's winner Gerywn Price who was averaging over 100 and in the final quarter-final Mike De Decker whitewashed Luke Humphries. Though the world number 1 was suffering from a high temperature.
Not that the performance of the Belgian should be looked down upon. De Decker who became the first World Grand Prix champion to miss out on Premier League selection the following year looked comfortable in his first World Series event. He had voiced his disappointment at being overlooked so this served as a clear test from the PDC to see if he is up to an environment similar to the Premier League. After averaging only 80.33 in his opening match he improved to 103.66 for his quarter-final. He made the final on debut after beating Dobey 7-4 in the pair's semi-final. Bunting and Littler exchanged holds of throws for most of their semi-final but once Littler found a break of throw he managed to secure a 7-4 win.
De Decker's average dipped throughout the night and so he was no match for 'The Nuke' who won his second title in as many months with a 8-4 victory. “I didn’t play that well last night, but I played very well tonight when it really mattered" Littler said after the final. “Obviously it hadn’t gone to plan on the World Series circuit this year, but there’s plenty of opportunities to win and I’ve finally picked up that trophy tonight." Finally picked up that trophy is quite the choice of words for someone playing in a tournament for the second time. It gets us in the mindset of this young man. He is eager to win everything he can. Better still, if he can do it quickly.
The PDC scene moves to Auckland for the New Zealand Darts Masters with the event being held for the first time in the city. The same eight PDC representatives will compete including Heta. The World Series of Darts Finals will be played in Amsterdam from 12-14 September where Littler is the defending champion. Bunting currently leads the World Series Rankings on 46 points ahead of Price on 38, Littler on 31 and Cross on 27. Beyond that event is the busiest time of the year for darts with five majors set to be held in the rest of the year. That last of which is the big one, the PDC World Darts Championship, newly expanded to 128 players starts on the morning of 12th December Australian time. As per tradition, the defending champion, in this case Littler, is set to play on the opening night.
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