‘Cool Hand Luke’ keeps improving even if it seems like nothing is going effortlessly for Luke Humphries at the World Darts Championship.
Humphries advanced to the quarterfinals at the Alexandra Palace for the fourth time in his career on Saturday night, overcoming Joe Cullen’s missed match darts in what was perhaps the match of the tournament thus far. The score was 4-3. “There are no words to express that. “After the game, I think that was one of the best games I’ve ever played,” he said. “Joe was incredible, and I am really sad for his situation. In sports, there are moments when a loser doesn’t deserve to lose, and Joe didn’t deserve to lose that match, but I never gave up and managed to come out on top.
Humphries has now come back from the edge twice in a row after defeating Lee Evans 3-0. But I can’t keep doing that,” Humphries knowingly concedes. “You know that if I don’t start obtaining leads and other things, it will only go me so far. I keep letting myself fall behind; someone will discover me.”
Humphries has advanced to the quarterfinals, though. Dave Chisnall is waiting for the three-time major winner in the final eight. “Chizzy and I are very good friends. He’s gotten the best of me a lot this year, and we get along extremely well. However, I had not yet won a major title when we faced each other, so this time around I had three, so it may help me a little bit.”
Luke Littler, a 16-year-old star, is continuing to light up the competition on the other side of the draw. Luke is a very remarkable skill, truly extraordinary. I think it’s amazing that he could perform for ten hours straight,” Humphries remarks, yet like Gary Anderson, he strongly advises being wary of the media hype. “Gary is right, the media need to let him play.”
