World number one, Luke Humphries clearly has a thing for Prague. Some people go for the beer, others for the architecture, but Cool Hand just keeps turning up and taking trophies. His latest conquest? An 8-5 win over Josh Rock in Sunday’s Czech Darts Open final – his third title in the nation’s capital, which surely means he is entitled to some kind of match ball?
It didn’t start smoothly. Humphries opened like a man who’d spent the afternoon sampling the local lager, gifting Rock a 3-1 lead. The Northern Irishman looked sharp, even pulling out a showboating 153 checkout to keep things interesting. But when the finishing line appeared, Rock unfortunately tripped over his own shoelaces.
Rocky missed three darts to make it 6-6 and those are the chances that a world number one will gleefully gobble up. A 98 finish, a neat double ten, and Prague was his playground yet again.
After the final, Humphries admitted of feeling a little bit emotional, probably understating the fact he’s basically building a trophy cabinet labelled Czech Only.
“You don’t win three events in the same venue for no reason.” Translation: I own this place.
Saturday’s Humphries – the one who barely scraped past Dirk van Duijvenbode – looked like a distant cousin to Sunday’s model.
Finals Day Humphries blitzed Martin Schindler 6-3, survived a wobble against Wessel Nijman (despite letting him smell match darts), then absolutely dismantled James Wade 7-1 in the semis.
At that point, tournament organisers may as well have engraved his name early and saved themselves the stress.It was his first big-stage trophy since the US Darts Masters in June, which for Humphries feels like an eternity.
“Since the Premier League win it’s been tough,” he said. Still, he insists he’s dangerous again – a phrase that will be music to the ears of everyone trying to avoid him at Ally Pally later this year.
Josh Rock, to his credit, didn’t just turn up to hold Humphries’ darts. He beat three Dutchmen on his way to the final – starting with Michael van Gerwen in the afternoon, which is always nice for the CV. The Nirthern Irish youngster then destroyed Jermaine Wattimena despite The Machine Gun averaging 107 (darting logic is weird) and brushed aside Gian van Veen in the semis.
By then, Rock looked like the player he has recently become.
“Luke and I didn’t play to our full potential,” Rock reflected sombrely afterwards.
Still, back-to-back Euro Tour finals isn’t nothing, and the World Cup champ is finally sounding like he believes he belongs at the top table. Clearly he does.
Speaking of Van Veen, the Dutch youngster was electric. He ended Luke Littler’s 19-match winning streak and then casually whitewashed Gerwyn Price, who averaged 104.
For his trouble, Van Veen earned a semi-final spot – and a few raised eyebrows from those still pretending not to take him seriously. At this point, everyone should be.
James Wade, meanwhile, quietly made yet another semi-final – his third in a row on the Euro Tour – proving that The Machine doesn’t need bells and whistles, just relentless efficiency.
Along the way he saw off Nathan Aspinall, Ross Smith and Stephen Bunting, who himself had earlier mugged a slimmed down version of Peter Wright with a comeback victory.So, Humphries takes another Czech crown, Rock adds another runner-up cheque, and Van Veen continues to audition for next big thing.
The Euro Tour now rolls into Budapest, where Michael van Gerwen will try to defend his Hungarian Darts Trophy.
Sunday September 7th
Afternoon Session
Round Three
Luke Humphries 6-3 Martin Schindler
Wessel Nijman 6-3 Rob Cross
Stephen Bunting 6-5 Peter WrightJames Wade 6-4 Ross Smith
Gian van Veen 6-4 Luke Littler
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Jonny Clayton
Josh Rock 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Ryan Searle
Evening Session
Quarter-Finals
Luke Humphries 6-5 Wessel Nijman
James Wade 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Gian van Veen 6-0 Gerwyn Price
Josh Rock 6-1 Jermaine Wattimena
Semi-Finals
Luke Humphries 7-1 James Wade
Josh Rock 7-3 Gian van Veen
Final
Luke Humphries 8-5 Josh Rock
——Ends—–
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