More than ever before, youth is beginning to dominate the darting headlines. In recent years, Luke Littler’s oche genius has filled more national tabloid inches than certain members of the British royal family. And from a tungsten perspective, he’s about as regal as it gets.
But there’s a jetstream of young talent following in his slipstream – and one of the brightest is flying high north of the border. He’s not just making waves; he’s creating tsunamis. His name? Mitchell Lawrie.
If the young Scot can make his upcoming GCSEs look as effortless as his 180 hitting, his report card will be a sea of A grades. Lawrie has been hoovering up titles like a man possessed – and not just in youth events, but among the seniors too.
So, it should surprise absolutely no one that yesterday, during a Vault tournament at The County Bar in Cambuslang, the teenager produced perfection – a nine-darter. The feat came in his semi-final victory over Brendon Clark, who, to be fair, can at least say he was part of history. Personally, I’d be fine being the goalkeeper when Lionel Messi slaloms past my team and sticks one in the top corner from 35 yards – same sort of thing.
What’s truly frightening is that Mitchell isn’t even 15 years old yet. Fifteen! Target Darts must be positively grinning when they look at the unbelievable talent lining their Elite 1 programme. They’re stacked on the girls’ side too – Paige Pauling is collecting trophies at the rate my Mum does with Tesco clubcard points, while the aforementioned Luke Littler (still only 18) continues to fly the flag as PDC World Champion.
At this point, the only thing that would actually be surprising is if Mitchell Lawrie didn’t hit another nine-darter before the year’s out. When I was 14, my biggest achievement was making it through a day without eating mud or storing worms in a jam jar. How times have changed.
—–ENDS—–
Images: ADC
