Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler is to make his debut in Australia when he headlines the country’s biggest event in Wollongong in August.
The 17-year-old English phenomenon, who has flourished as the sport’s biggest attraction since becoming the youngest ever world championship finalist at 16 in January, will feature in a star-studded line-up at the Australian Darts Masters in August.
Littler will be joined in the World Series of Darts event by Luke Humphries, who beat him to the title in the world championship final and is the current world No 1 player.
The Professional Darts Corporation’s annual visit to Australia and New Zealand will take in the Wollongong event, before moving on to the New Zealand Darts Masters at Hamilton’s Globox Arena the following weekend on 16 and 17 August.
Both events will feature a 16-player field, competing over two days of action, with eight PDC superstars tussling with eight players from Oceania.
It will be world champion Humphries’ Australian debut following a sensational 12-month spell in which he won the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals titles as well as the big one.
But Littler, despite losing the world final, has since made an astonishing impact in the pro ranks, having quickly tasted World Series success with victory in January’s Bahrain Darts Masters before making a superb start to the Premier League, featuring the eight best players in the world, which he currently leads.
Rob Cross, beaten by Littler in the world semi-final, is aiming for a double title defence, having won in both Hamilton and Wollongong in 2023. Like Cross, former world champions Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and Peter Wright will also be in the field, along with UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh.
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Australian No 1 Damon Heta, currently Australia’s outstanding player, will complete the list of eight PDC representatives, while his World Cup partner Simon Whitlock will compete in both events.
Brenton Lloyd and Rob Modra have confirmed their spots after qualifying through the domestic DartPlayers Australia circuit this year, with a further four Oceanic qualifiers still to be confirmed.