Luke Humphries facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Luke Humphries
Humphries in January 2024
Personal information
Nickname	"Cool Hand Luke"
Born	(1995-02-11) 11 February 1995 (age 29) 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	31 (8 July 2021)
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Winner (1): 2024
World Matchplay	Winner (1): 2024
World Grand Prix	Winner (1): 2023
Grand Slam	Winner (1): 2023
Premier League	Runner Up: 2024
European Ch'ship	Quarter Final: 2022, 2023, 2024
UK Open	Runner Up: 2021, 2024
Players Ch'ship 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 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 18 senior PDC titles and is the reigning World Matchplay champion and back-to-back Players Championship Finals champion. Humphries has also won premier events at the 2023 World Grand Prix, the 2023 Grand Slam and the 2024 World Cup of Darts for England, partnering Michael Smith. He also won the 2024 New Zealand Darts Masters on the World Series of Darts. He was the runner-up in the UK Open, Premier League and World Grand Prix in 2024 as well as at the 2021 UK Open.

In his youth career, Humphries won eleven titles on the PDC Development Tour and was the 2019 World Youth Champion, 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. 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. He then won back-to-back titles at the 2022 Czech Darts Open and the 2022 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.

2023: First major titles

In the 2023 World Championship, Humphries reached the fourth round before losing 4–1 to Stephen Bunting.

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 playing darts with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

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 then achieved wins against Dave Chisnall, 5–1, and Scott Williams, 6–0, 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. 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. He won his first European Tour title of the season at the 2024 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.

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 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 2024 Czech Darts Open.

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, becoming only the third player in history to win the title in 2 consecutive years, after Taylor and van Gerwen.

Premier League Darts debut

Humphries lost his debut match at the 2024 Premier League Darts 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, Humphries beat Nathan Aspinall 6–3 and then defeated Gerwyn Price 6–3 in his semi-final match. Humphries lost to Michael van Gerwen 6–5 in the night's final.

Humphries won his first Premier League night on night six. Humphries began the night with a 6–2 victory over Gerwyn Price, followed by a 6–3 win over Rob Cross before a 6–3 defeat of Michael Smith in the final. Humphries won a second consecutive night on night seven, defeating 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 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. By being number 1 on the Order of Merit, Humphries was selected as one of the 8 participants of the 2025 Premier League.

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)

PDC career finals

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

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2021	UK Open	Wade, JamesJames Wade	5–11 (l)
Winner	1.	2023	World Grand Prix	Price, GerwynGerwyn Price	5–2 (s)
Winner	2.	2023	Grand Slam of Darts	Cross, RobRob Cross	16–8 (l)
Winner	3.	2023	Players Championship Finals	Gerwen, Michael vanMichael van Gerwen	11–9 (l)
Winner	4.	2024	World Darts Championship	Luke Littler	7–4 (s)
Runner-up	2.	2024	UK Open (2)	Van den Bergh, DimitriDimitri 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

PDC Premier League Darts

PDC European Tour

PDC World Series of Darts

PDC Players Championships

See also

In Spanish: Luke Humphries para niños