Luke Humphries returned to winning ways over the weekend, successfully defending his Players Championship Finals crown to pick up yet another major title.
The world champion bounced back from a surprise Grand Slam group stage exit in style to go all the way in Minehead, defeating the teenage sensation Luke Littler 11-7 in the final to keep the trophy in his possession.
Humphries began his campaign on Friday evening, facing German Gabriel Clemens. Despite playing below the level he is capable of, and recording an average of just 95, Humphries was clinical with his finishing during the match, reaching a checkout percentage of 46%, which helped him record a 6-2 victory that moved him into the second round on Saturday afternoon.
There he faced five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, where he produced a better performance. His average rose to 102, and he hit an impressive 60% on his checkouts, which was enough to see him to a 6-3 victory and progression to the third round later that day. He faced Australian Damon Heta, who he would get the better of 10-6, despite his performance dropping from what he had reached earlier in the day. This victory meant that the world champion had made it to yet another finals day in a major tournament.
It began with a quarter-final clash with Ryan Joyce, who he met last month in the Grand Prix semi-final. The outcome was to be the same, as Cool Hand took advantage of a below par performance from Joyce to record a 10-5 win and see him into yet another major semi-final. He faced a Dutchman in the form of Dirk van Duijvenbode, who looked to be finding his form again after a shoulder injury had ruined it. The match was tight, with both players averaging 92 and being somewhat wasteful on the outer ring, but the experience in latter stage of majors seemed to be a help for Humphries as he edged through 11-8 to make the final for the second year running.
He would meet a familiar face there, in 17-year-old Luke Littler, who came into the tournament in fine form, having just won the Grand Slam. The match took a little while to get going, but was a high quality affair when it did. Littler managed to take out a 170 checkout when he was 5-1 down, and this looked to have been a turning point, as he went on to close the gap to just one leg at 6-5. Humphries was not finished however, and after a bit of back and forth left him leading at 8-7, he managed to take 3 legs in a row to seal what was an impressive victory, defeating Littler 11-7 to successfully defend a major title for the first time. The victory extended his lead at the top of the Order of Merit to almost one million pounds, and the world champion will look to cross the two-million-pound barrier when he defends his title at Ally Pally next month.