盧克•利特勒

Early career

In 2019, Littler won the England Youth Grand Prix and the Isle of Man Masters youth competition, where he was able to defend his title in 2020. The 2020 JDC tour featured two titles from Littler, who is also signed to partners program "Elite1" organised by Target. Littler won the youth title at the England Open in September 2021 and finished second in the British Pentathlon.

In November 2021, Littler won his first seniors title at the Irish Open defeating Barry Copeland 6–2 in legs. This qualified Littler for the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, at the age of 14. At the end of November, during the JDC MVG Masters tournament, he hit a nine-dart finish.

2022

Littler won the JDC Super 16 in Milton Keynes at the end of January 2022, beating Eleanor Cairns in the final. In March 2022, he won the youth competition at the Isle Of Man Open and advanced to the finals of the Isle of Man Classic. At the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, Littler started as a seeded player from second round and won his first match against Ben Hazel 3–2 in sets. He was then beaten 3–0 in sets by Richard Veenstra, who set a record average for a World Championship match at Lakeside.

During the Welsh Open warm-up tournament, Littler hit a 121.86 average in one of his matches. A day later, he won the final for another senior tournament win in his career. In June 2022, he also won the Romanian Classic, beating Jelle Klaasen in the final by 5–1 in legs. At the 2022 WDF Europe Cup Youth, he won the gold medal in three men's competitions (singles, team and overall). His best achievement was defeating Archie Self in the finals of the singles competition, 6–1 in legs. In the pair competition, together with Archie Self, he lost in the semi-finals, 4–1 in legs to Thomas Banks, and Charlie Manby.

At the end of September 2022, Littler was selected by the national federation to participate in the 2022 WDF Europe Cup. On the second day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the pairs competition where he played alongside James Hurrell. They lost to Sam Canket and Nick Kenny from Wales, 4–1 in legs. On the third day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles competition, where he lost to Andy Baetens 5–4 in legs. In the team competition, he won the gold medal. In the points classification, as a representative of England, he contributed to winning a gold medal.

Littler won the JDC World Darts Championship in London at the end of December 2022, beating Harry Gregory 5–0 in legs.

2023

Littler made his debut at a PDC major event at the 2023 UK Open, after qualifying to the tournament via an amateur qualifying event organized by Rileys Sports Bars. A first round 6–0 whitewash defeat of Nick Fullwell was followed by a 6–2 victory against Rusty-Jake Rodriguez in the second round and a 6–5 victory over Ritchie Edhouse in the third round. This meant that Littler had reached the fourth round at the tournament, the best showing of a Rileys qualifier alongside Thomas Banks. Littler lost his fourth round match to eventual semi-finalist Adam Gawlas 10–8. For his showing Littler acquired £2,500 in prize money, which ranked him on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time.

In May 2023, Littler won the third series of the MODUS Super Series, defeating Jacob Taylor 4–1 in the final. In August 2023, he won the title for the second time by defeating Colin Osborne by 4 legs to 2 in the final.

In November 2023, Littler beat Gian van Veen in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final. The game ended 6–4.

In December 2023, Littler retained his JDC World Darts Championship title, defeating Álmos Kovács 5–3 in the final.

2024

Littler made his debut at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship qualifying as a result of his placement in the PDC Development Tour, where he whitewashed former world champion Christian Kist in the first round. He also broke two records, one for the highest average for a debutant at the World Darts Championship with a 106.12 and the other for being the youngest winner. In the second round, he defeated 2023 UK Open champion Andrew Gilding 3–1; in the third round, he defeated Matt Campbell 4–1. In the fourth round, he beat five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld 4–1 to enter his first PDC major quarter-final. Littler went on to beat Brendan Dolan 5–1 in the quarter-final before beating former world champion and 8th seed Rob Cross 6–2 in the semi-final. Littler lost 7–4 in the final against newly crowned world number one Luke Humphries. He is the youngest player to reach the PDC World Darts Championship final, aged 16 years and 347 days. Following the tournament, Littler was announced to be part of the 2024 Premier League Darts as one of the four chosen wildcards by the PDC.

Littler made his World Series of Darts debut at the second staging of the Bahrain Darts Masters, where he defeated Man Lok Leung 6–3 in the first round. In the quarter-finals of the event, he beat Nathan Aspinall 6–3, hitting his first televised nine-dart finish en route, becoming the youngest player to ever do so. In the semi-finals, Littler defeated Gerwyn Price 7–3 to be in his first World Series of Darts final on debut, which he won 8–5 against Michael van Gerwen.

Littler made a consecutive world series final at the Dutch Darts Masters by defeating Dirk van Duijvenbode 6–2, Luke Humphries 6–5, and Gerwyn Price 7–4 before losing in a world series final rematch to Michael van Gerwen 8–6.

As he had gained a PDC Tour Card for 2024, Littler played at his debut 2024 PDC Players Championship series. In Players Championship 1, he defeated Jim Williams 6–1 in legs in the first round, winning the match with an 11-darter to finish. In the second round, he defeated Luke Woodhouse 6–3. In the third round, Littler won 6–1 against Michele Turetta, hitting a nine-darter in the final leg. In the fourth round, Littler beat Cameron Menzies 6–2 to enter his first pro-tour quarter-final. In the quarter-finals, Littler defeated James Hurrell 6–3. In the semi-finals, Littler won 7–6 in his match against Alan Soutar. Having reached the final of a Players Championship event the first time, Littler averaged 109.64 to defeat Ryan Searle 8–7, who averaged 111.71 in the process, to win his first Players Championship on his debut. Before the second event, Littler was awarded a silver pin for his nine-darter against Michele Turetta; he was also awarded a gold pin for his televised nine-darter against Nathan Aspinall at the Bahrain Darts Masters. In Players Championship 2, Littler continued his winning streak with a 6–4 win over Danny Noppert before losing to Radek Szagański 6–5. In Players Championship 3, Littler defeated Keane Barry 6–5, Cameron Menzies 6–3, Kevin Doets 6–2 and Dirk van Duijvenbode 6–4 before losing to Callan Rydz 6–4 in the quarter-finals. In Players Championship 4, Littler lost 6–5 to James Wade in the first round.

In the fourth round of the 2024 UK Open, Littler was drawn against three-time UK Open champion James Wade. Littler defeated Wade 10–7, hitting a 170 checkout en route. Littler was drawn against Martin Schindler in the fifth round, where he won 10–8, beating his personal best result at the event to reach the sixth round for the first time. In the sixth round, Littler was drawn to play Dave Chisnall. Littler won the match 10–5 to reach his second PDC major quarter-final. He lost there 10–8 to Damon Heta.

European Tour

Littler qualified for the 2024 Belgian Darts Open at the PDC ET01 Tour Card Holder qualifiers, which was thus his first European Tour event, surpassing Radek Szagański 6–0, Mervyn King 6–3, and Maik Kuivenhoven 6–5. Littler was drawn against José de Sousa in the event’s first round. Littler defeated de Sousa 6–5. Littler beat Krzysztof Ratajski in the second round 6–3. After the match, he accused Ratajski of sly gamesmanship after he sipped from his drink twice. In a rematch from the UK Open, Littler defeated Damon Heta 6–3 to reach the quarter-finals. Littler averaged 110.06 to defeat Jermaine Wattimena 6–2. Littler beat Ricardo Pietreczko to reach his first final on the European Tour, 7–3. After the match, Pietreczko lashed out against Littler on the stage and on social media, posting, "Hope his arrogance is punished". Littler defeated Rob Cross 8–7 in the final, to win his first PDC European Tour event on debut. Littler hit his second televised nine-dart finish of the year en-route to his victory.

Littler failed to qualify for the 2024 German Darts Grand Prix after he defeated Christian Perez 6–4 but lost to Jim Williams 6–5 in the PDC ET02 Tour Card Holder qualifiers. Littler qualified for the 2024 European Darts Grand Prix at the PDC ET04 Tour Card Holder qualifiers, defeating George Killington 6–1 in the first round before beating Simon Whitlock, despite Whitlock hitting a nine-dart finish, Danny van Trijp and Ian White with 6–5 victories.

Premier League Darts

Littler started his 2024 Premier League Darts campaign at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Wales. He went on to win his debut match, beating Luke Humphries 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. Littler lost his semi-final match narrowly against Michael Smith, 6–5. Littler reached the final in week two at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany. He defeated Rob Cross 6–5 and Luke Humphries 6–5 before losing to Michael van Gerwen 6–5. During night three, Littler lost in the quarter-final stages at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland, to Gerwyn Price 6–5. Littler showed his first burst of frustration since becoming a professional, where fans speculated he swore at himself after the defeat. On night four at the Newcastle Arena, Littler hit a 170 checkout en route to a 6–5 victory over Peter Wright in the quarter-finals, before losing to Michael van Gerwen 6–5 in the semi-finals.

Just before the UK Open weekend, Littler played at Premier League event five at the Westpoint Arena in Exeter. In the quarter-finals he defeated Michael Smith 6–2, before losing 6–3 to Rob Cross in the semi-finals. On night six at Brighton Centre, Littler won 6–3 against Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals, but lost to Michael Smith 6–3 in the semi-final. On night seven at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, Littler averaged 114.00 to defeat Michael van Gerwen, who averaged 110.94, 6–2. In the next round, Littler lost 6–3 to Nathan Aspinall. On night eight at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, Littler lost to Michael Smith 6–4.