If you weren’t taking Luke Humphries’ Paddy Power World Darts Championship credentials seriously before, you are now. Since the start of October, he’s won 18 of his matches in PDC majors, claiming the Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals titles.
Only two other players have achieved that particular hat-trick in the build up to the World Champs (they’re also the only other two to have managed 2 or more) – Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen.
Not bad company for Cool Hand Luke to be keeping, then, and his chances are previewed below by our darts trader Alex Dormor.
Luke Humphries
Humphries’ scintillating form means he comes into this as World #3 and bags himself what looks like a very winnable quarter. That could set up a tasty clash with Van Gerwen in the semi-final, pitting the two joint-favourites against each other.
However, MvG might have a slightly bigger challenge keeping his side of the bargain. On paper, Danny Noppert (#7 seed) is Van Gerwen’s biggest challenger, but Damon Heta, Stephen Bunting and Josh Rock will all quietly fancy their chances of upsetting the odds.
Stephen Bunting
No-one’s hit more 180s since the start of October than Bunting, while he’s had good runs in recent Grand Slam and PC Finals campaigns. The price could shorten up a bit for The Bullet, but it’s hard to bet against MvG when he’s playing this well.
The second quarter is another stacked lineup with Peter Wright (#4) and Gerwyn Price (#5) set to meet in that quarter-final. However, it’s Gary Anderson (#21) who is in the best form coming into the Worlds, including dumping Price out of the Grand Slam with a 105 average.
James Wade
James Wade is capable of beating anyone on his day, and with Gilding, van Barneveld and Wright the seeds in his way, he’ll fancy his chances getting to the quarter-finals. With a decent route to the latter stages, James Wade certainly looks appealing.
Wade might face an interesting challenge in the form of Luke Littler. At the ripe old age of 16, Littler is making throwing darts (and growing facial hair) look remarkably easy. At the price, he’s not really worthy of outsider status, but he’ll certainly be one to watch this year.
Ross Smith
As reigning Champion and World Number One, Michael Smith will be disappointed to be coming into this as a fourth-favourite, but his form of late doesn’t deserve much better. Rob Cross and Jonny Clayton are on a collision course for the Last 16, making Ross Smith a good prospect in this first quarter. He’ll have to beat his out-of-sorts namesake to reach the quarter-finals, but only Humphries has a higher average since the start of October, making “Smudger” look very appealing.
Jim Williams
For a bit of a longer shot, Jim Williams has some appeal at a huge price. Having been drawn against debutant Norman Madhoo, he’ll fancy his chances of setting up a Second Round tie with Peter Wright. Williams has had some success recently, reaching the final of PC30 earlier this month and with a better average (95.30) than Peter Wright (93.71) this year, could have more than a fighting chance over five sets.
Before the start of the Grand Prix in October, Luke Humphries was 16/1 to lift the Sid Waddell trophy. He might be many people’s favourite to win it now, but there’s still plenty of darts to be played before then. And the best part? There’s still plenty of darts to be played before then!
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