Luke Humphries got his Premier League campaign off to the perfect start, by winning the first night of the competition in Belfast.
The world number one got past Nathan Aspinall and Michael Van Gerwen before defeating Chris Dobey 6-1 in the final.
Speaking to Sky Sports after his night win, he said: “I think this is the hardest Premier League for a long time. Nights like this might not happen as much as you want, the last two years I haven’t got off to a good start, so it’s nice to get off to a good start.”
Cool Hand’s run to the nightly win began with a quarter-final matchup against fellow Englishman Nathan Aspinall. He raced into a 4-0 lead, a notable highlight being a 139 out to break The Asp’s throw in the third leg. Aspinall then managed to record two legs in a row to half the deficit, but Humphries managed to put an end to any potential comeback in the seventh leg, breaking with a 92 out to put him within a leg of a match. He was then able to wrap up in the next leg to seal his spot in the semi-final.
In the other quarter-finals, Chris Dobey defeated Gerwyn Price 6-4, Rob Cross beat Stephen Bunting by the same scoreline, and there was a last leg decider between Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler, with the Dutchman ultimately prevailing 6-5.
In the semi-final, Humphries was to come up against van Gerwen, and it was to be a good encounter. The pair traded legs in the opening stages, with the first break of throw coming from a lovely 140 out from the Englishman to give him a 3-1 lead. He couldn’t hold on to his momentum however, and Mighty Mike rallied back, winning three straight legs to put him in front in the encounter. Cool Hand ended the run with a break in the eighth leg, to make the score 4-4. The game was to go all the way to a last-leg decider, and it was Humphries who would prevail to book his spot in a nightly final at the first attempt.
In the other semi-final, a battle of the Englishman, it was Chris Dobey who came out on top, with the Geordie defeating Rob Cross 6-4 to set up a clash with the world number one.
Humphries set the tone early, with a 128 checkout to take the first leg. This would set him up to storm through the match, and he raced into a 5-0 lead, with two 100 checkouts dotted in, coming in the second and fifth legs. Dobey prevented a whitewash by taking the sixth leg with an impressive 126 out, but this was only delaying the inevitable, as Humphries took the seventh leg, pinning tops in one dart to wrap up the nightly win.
As it is the first week of the new season, the win immediately shoots Humphries up to the top of the table, with five points to his name. Cool Hand is joined in the top four by beaten finalist Chris Dobey, and losing semi-finalists Michael van Gerwen and Rob Cross. The league continues next Thursday, as the road show rolls into Glasgow.