Luke Humphries is a man on a mission as he returns to Madison Square Gardens determined to defend his US Darts Masters title he won last year. With the World Cup also in town, he is sure to keep an eye on the football as well. 'Cool Hand Luke' was not at his spectacular best last year but managed to save his best darts for last, following wins over Stowe Buntz, Danny Lauby and Gerwyn Price in a comfortable manner, before averaging close to a ton in defeating Nathan Aspinall 8-6 in the final to win a second World Series of Darts title following the New Zealand Darts Masters back in 2024.
He is the only former champion in the field and will return for a fourth time to New York. He has made at least the semi-final stage in his three prior visits and will look to go back-to-back this time round. When speaking to talkSPORT ahead of his opening round match against Leonard Gates, there was a sense of excitement surrounding the world number two. “I mean, this is the fourth year we’ve been here now,” he began. “To still be coming here and increasing ticket sales year on year is incredible. I think we’ve sold out Friday and Saturday with around 10,000 tickets. It just shows how much the game is growing.”
Humphries continued his praise of the passionate support set to engulf New York over the two days of action. A large number of darts fans will closely follow the proceedings in a huge step forward for American darts. However, many will also have their eyes on the World Cup. “I know it could have been a lot tougher with it being a World Cup football year as well, but they’ve done really well to sell it out. It just shows how much darts continues to grow all the time.” This does open the perfect opportunity for English football and darts fans to both get a taste of the footy and darts while in the USA. With England set to play their final group match against Panama on the Saturday, New York is the place to be. “Yeah, probably. If I was in their situation, I’d have done the same. I’d have tied both in together, gone to the darts and then the football afterwards,” Humphries admitted. “But these tickets went on sale ages ago, so who knows how many England fans got in there early? I don’t know what the ticket situation is for the football, but maybe we’ll get some extra support over here. The crowd has been getting better and better over the last few years, and the atmosphere last year was really great.”
The English fans may not make as much of a difference among their North American counterparts. “I don’t think it’s much different, to be fair. They’re very into it,” Humphries said, describing the USA darts fans. “I’ve been to a few sporting events over here as well. I went to ice hockey a couple of years ago and watched the New York Rangers. The atmosphere they create is unbelievable, so maybe it’s even better in some ways. For darts, though, it’s traditionally a more English sport. The English fans have more experience and know what to cheer and when. But I think the American darts fans are getting a lot better.”
Boosted from positive recent form, Humphries has reached the final in four of the last seven PDC major ranking tournaments as well as the Premier League Darts. He did benefit from his rival Luke Littler as they teamed up to win the World Cup of Darts, silencing the doubters. “The confidence comes from the fact that I’m playing well again and playing consistently well,” he commented. “Over the last four or five months it’s been a little bit up and down, but in the last six weeks it’s been much more consistent. I’ve made eight finals on the trot in the last eight competitions I’ve played in. All those things build confidence, and hopefully I can keep that winning feeling going.” On the football banter between nations, Humphries noted: “There’d definitely be some banter. There was a bit between me and Michael van Gerwen when England beat the Netherlands in the Euros semi-final. If they get their own back this time, I’m sure Michael will be straight on the phone to me. There’s always a bit of banter in the darts world when it comes to sport. If England play the Netherlands, there’ll definitely be plenty of that going on.”
