WARRINGTON’S Luke Littler’s bid to make darts history remains alive – but the teenage sensation has given himself a mountain to climb after his first two Players Championship appearances of 2026.
The world No.1 arrived in Leicester needing to make serious progress in the Players Championship Order of Merit after deliberately sitting out the opening 26 events of the series.
Littler’s decision to prioritise the major televised tournaments has paid spectacular dividends. The 19-year-old has won every major PDC title staged so far in 2026, including the World Championship, Masters, UK Open, Premier League, World Cup of Darts and World Matchplay.
But there was one major problem – he had earned no Players Championship prize money and therefore faced a desperate battle to qualify for November’s Players Championship Finals at Minehead.
His first outing, Players Championship 27, saw Littler reach the quarter-finals before suffering a dramatic 6-5 defeat to Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena.
Littler had beaten Archie Self 6-2, Arno Merk 6-3, William O’Connor 6-3 and Chris Dobey 6-0 to reach the last eight, but Wattimena held his nerve in a deciding leg before going on to win the title, beating Kevin Doets 8-6 in the final.
That £4,000 quarter-final prize was important – but it was not enough to solve Littler’s qualification problem.
He returned for Players Championship 28 the following day and went even further, reaching the semi-finals.
After beating Stephen Rosney 6-4, Littler survived six match darts against Benjamin Pratnemer before winning a deciding leg. He then produced a string of impressive victories over Martin Schindler, Andy Boulton and Krzysztof Ratajski to reach the last four.
His run finally ended against Brendan Dolan, who subsequently lost 8-6 to Luke Humphries in the final.
The two runs have lifted Littler to 125th in the Players Championship Order of Merit, but he remains £16,750 behind the player currently occupying 64th place – the crucial cut-off for qualification for the Players Championship Finals.
And that is where Littler’s dream of an unprecedented clean sweep becomes particularly difficult.
The Players Championship Finals field is determined by the top 64 players on the Players Championship Order of Merit.
Littler therefore needs to accumulate enough prize money from the remaining ProTour events to break into those 64 places.
There are now six Players Championship events remaining, with tournaments scheduled in Den Bosch and Leicester before the qualification period ends.
Simply reaching the latter stages may not be enough. Littler needs to continue making deep runs – and a tournament victory would provide a major boost, with the winner of a Players Championship event receiving £15,000.
It is a remarkable situation for a player who is comfortably the world’s No.1 and has already swept aside virtually every challenge placed in front of him this year.
The Players Championship Finals are particularly important because Littler must win the Minehead title if he is to claim every major PDC title available to him during the 2026 season.
He also has the World Series of Darts Finals, World Grand Prix, European Championship and Grand Slam of Darts still to conquer.
No player has ever achieved such a clean sweep of the PDC’s major titles in a single season – not even the legendary Phil Taylor.
Littler’s remarkable year has therefore reached an intriguing stage.
The 19-year-old has already conquered the biggest stages in the sport.
Now he must prove he can navigate the very different challenge of the ProTour – and collect enough prize money to earn his ticket to Minehead.
The dream is still alive. But for Littler, every dart between now and November could prove crucial.
#PC28 – Selected R3 Results:
Luke Littler (107) 6-1 Martin Schindler
Luke Humphries 6-5 Bradley Brooks
Karel Sedlacek (101) 6-4 Ricardo Pietreczko (101)
Mike De Decker 6-3 Michael van Gerwen
Owen Bates 6-5 Wessel Nijman
Danny Noppert 6-3 Cristo Reyes📋 https://t.co/Xz0jU5apRJ pic.twitter.com/T5vMuVYrFP
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) August 26, 2026
