In the final of the 2026 darts World Matchplay, Welsh ace Gerwyn Price averaged just under 105 and made almost 40% of his checkouts. And yet he lost 18-9 to a man who has only just left boyhood behind. That man was, of course, Luke Littler. The 19-year-old has become just the fourth player to defend the World Matchplay, having produced perhaps the best darts of his career along the way.
The world number one, who now has a mammoth lead at the top of the PDC Order of Merit (he has won three times as much money as his nearest rival), has already produced a number of amazing performances in his short career. But for sustained brilliance over the course of a whole tournament, this may just be the best.
The Numbers
LITTLER GOES BACK-TO-BACK 🏆
Luke Littler completes the greatest World Matchplay campaign in history, averaging 111.04 across the tournament… 🤯
Littler defeats Gerwyn Price 18-9 in the final to claim his second Phil Taylor Trophy 🙌
📺 https://t.co/xXnQhVoUPy#MatchplayDarts pic.twitter.com/mRk9dYbuhj
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) July 26, 2026
His level of play during this tournament is best illustrated with one number: his three-dart average over the event. In winning the tournament last year, he averaged just over 105. That put him in the mix with Phil Taylor for the best average over the Matchplay. The Power had averaged between 105.50 and 106.31 four times at this tournament, peaking in 2010.
This year the Nuke bombed those stats out of the water, setting an incredible new mark of 111.04. To maintain that standard of darts over a whole tournament is truly incredible. What’s more, the Warrington-born phenom also proved – as if it needed proving – his ability to produce his best darts when it mattered most.
As well as obliterating Taylor’s tournament average, Luke also beat his record for the highest three-dart aggregate in the final. The Power won this event an insane 16 times, making the final 17 times in 24 appearances. When he claimed his 14th title, in 2013, he averaged 111.23, seeing off Adrian Lewis 18-13.
Littler pipped the sport’s GOAT with an average of 111.53, and it could have been better too. One record that Taylor does still hold, for another 12 months at least, is for the highest average during any match at this tournament. That is 114.99, truly incredible darts, achieved against Welshman Barrie Bates in the last 32 in 2010. It seemed that the game’s new star could challenge that, with his three-dart tally standing at 114.74 as he raced into an 8-2 lead.
It wasn’t to be, but he did go on to join the Power in averaging over 100 in every game at the tournament. Taylor managed that in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and it seems almost certain that Littler will do so again. In 2026 he averaged over 110 in the last 16, the semi and the final. That means at the age of just 19 he is responsible for three of the 10 best averages at the World Matchplay. Taylor boasts four, but it is surely only a matter of time before Littler matches, then surpasses him.
The same is true of yet another feat achieved by the Nuke. In his second-round match, he landed a nine-dart finish, meaning he now boasts two at this event after gaining his first in the semis in 2025. Phil Taylor is the only other player with more than one (with two), so few would bet against the game’s current dominant force, Littler, moving ahead of Taylor in 2027.
The Bigger Picture
For all his records and incredible accomplishments in Blackpool, the bigger picture is even more impressive. As well as his aforementioned lead at the top of the world rankings, the Warrington lad, who completed a whopping 60% of his checkouts en route to World Matchplay title number two, has now won the first four ranking events of 2026.
This trophy will go alongside his success in the World Championship, the World Masters and the UK Open. The World Grand Prix is up next, in September/October, before the European Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts. There is a lot of darts to be played before then, but Littler is already thinking about achieving the clean sweep.
The last event of the eight PDC ranking tournaments is the Players Championship Finals, at the end of November. The top 64 in the Players Championship Order of Merit qualify for this, but Littler, like some of the other top stars, does not prioritise the 34 events that make up the series.
These non-televised tournaments offer £15,000 to the winner and £10,000 to the losing finalist. They run from February to October, and although Littler is the 2025 champion, he has opted not to play in 2026. Until now. After claiming victory in Blackpool, he said:
I don’t think my dad’s too happy because we were going to go to Spain and I think we’ve got to go to Leicester now and play some Pro Tours.
There are eight qualifying events left, but it seems the youngster is now determined to try and make the finals. On this sort of form it is hard to see anyone stopping him, and if he does manage to win all eight, he will have achieved something that not even the Power managed.