Luke Littler picked up his first PDC Pro Tour title of the year on Wednesday, after a dominant 8-2 victory against Dennie Olde Kalter in the final of Players Championship 32, as the midweek events concluded in Wigan.
Having lifted the World Grand Prix trophy last Sunday, ‘The Nuke’ entered the midweek 'floor event' double-header in Wigan outside the top 64 on the Players Championship Order of Merit and suffered an exit in Round One at Tuesday’s PC31.
The World Champion went all the way 24 hours later. The teenage star reached the final firstly by recording victories against Dylan Slevin, Jeffrey De Graaf, Adam Lipscombe, Adam Hunt, Rhys Griffin and Stephen Bunting, to set up a clash with Olde Kalter.
LUKE LITTLER PROFILE: Read More on The Nuke's career so far
The final began with Olde Kalter taking the opener with a 12-dart break of throw before Littler stormed in front by rattling off four successive legs in a total of 53 darts to move 4-1 ahead and halfway to victory. Olde Kalter then picked up his second leg of the tie in Leg Six with a 16 darter and this resulted in being the final leg won by the Dutchman, as the reigning World Champion again won four straight legs and sealed an 8-2 victory in Leg 10 with a 15 darter to cap an incredible display which saw him fire in a total of 10 180’s and an average just shy of 111.
Victory in the final has all but secured ‘The Nuke’s’ spot at next month’s Players Championship Finals in Minehead, a tournament in which he finished runner-up in 2024 at the expense of World Number One Luke Humphries.
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Olde Kalter, who won his Tour Card for the first time back in January at European Q School, produced a landmark run to a first Pro Tour final, as he recorded a succession of victories against Marvin Van Velzen, Niels Zonneveld, Dirk Van Duijvenbode, Scott Waites, Nathan Aspinall and Tuesday’s PC31 winner Jermaine Wattimena, before being denied by ‘The Nuke’.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Finals runs for Premier League star Chris Dobey and Dutchman Wessel Nijman, who reached the Last Eight for the second time in as many days, whilst the likes of Josh Rock, James Wade and Raymond Van Barneveld were amongst the high profile first round casualties. The day also saw a nine-dart finish hit by Sweden’s Andreas Harrysson during his first-round victory against Radek Szaganski.
The PDC Pro Tour season concludes on 29-30th October in Wigan with Players Championship 33 & 34 taking place and the field for the 2025 Players Championship Finals in Minehead will be confirmed, as 128 players compete for £125,000 in prize money each day. Play will be broadcasted across four streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.
Players Championship 32
Last 16
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Niko Springer
Wessel Nijman 6-2 Cor Dekker
Luke Littler 6-4 Adam Hunt
Rhys Griffin 6-4 Mickey Mansell
Chris Dobey 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Rob Cross
Dennie Olde Kalter 6-1 Scott Waites
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Damon Heta
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
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