Once again, World Champion Luke Littler found himself in the winner’s enclosure – this time claiming what is, rather surprisingly, his first Players Championship title of the season with an emphatic 8–2 win over Dennie Olde Kalter.
Not quite a homecoming for the Warringtonian, but The Nuke’s global tungsten domination tour rolled into neighbouring Wigan to make sure a trip to Minehead was safely on the calendar. Going into the day, Littler sat outside the cut for the Players Championship Finals – but few believed that would last.
Sure enough, after another storming title run, order was restored.Right from the off at Robin Park, the teenager looked in no mood to mess about, blasting his way past Dylan Slevin, Jeffrey de Graaf, Adam Lipscombe and Adam Hunt to reach the quarter-finals. By the time the 18-year-old saw off Rhys Griffin to reach the last four, you could tell he was tuning up the band for a big finish.Stephen Bunting provided the kind of classy resistance you’d expect from the world-class Liverpudlian, firing in a monstrous 107.20 average – yet even that wasn’t enough.
Littler hit top gear and powered through to the final with all the confidence of a man who’d spend the last two years collecting PDC trophies.Waiting for him was the surprise package of the day, Dennie Olde Kalter – who must’ve felt like he’d gone from pub gigs to headlining Glastonbury. Having only won his first Players Championship match of the year at event number 23, the Dutchman suddenly found himself one win away from the title.To be fair, the former WDF Europe Cup gold medalist had taken out some big names – including Dirk van Duijvenbode, Nathan Aspinall, and yesterday’s victor, Jermaine Wattimena – to book his spot in the final.
But once the walk-on music faded (figure of speech), he ran straight into a Littler-shaped wrecking ball. The teenager averaged over 110 in a magnificent display on an afternoon where he rattled in just the odd 33 maximums – 50% more than he nearest challenger.The victory confirms that the newly crowned Grand Prix champion will indeed be heading to Minehead to chase one of only two PDC ranking majors missing from his growing collection.
If he bags the European Championship in Amsterdam at the end of October, he could complete the set as early as next month.
Now honestly – who ever doubted he’d miss the Players Championship Finals cut? Exactly. Rhetorical question.
Players Championship 32
Quarter-Finals
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Wessel Nijman
Luke Littler 6-3 Rhys Griffin
Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Chris Dobey
Dennie Olde-Kalter 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Semi-Finals
Luke Littler 7-4 Stephen Bunting
Dennie Olde-Kalter 7-3 Jermaine Wattimena
Final
Luke Littler 8-2 Dennie Olde-Kalter
—–Ends—–
Images: PDC
