Luke Humphries chucked his water over fans. (Image: ITV)
Luke Humphries celebrated his impressive Players Championship final victory against Luke Littler by taking a swig of his water bottle before chucking some of the contents over crowd members. The world No. 1 beat Littler 11-7 in an epic final marred by whistling from some fans in attendance.
Humphries threw down the gauntlet with the World Darts Championship looming large, producing a controlled display to outclass the newly-crowned Grand Slam of Darts champion.
The 29-year-old overcame disappointing whistling from the Minehead crowd to lift his seventh major title and retain his Players Championship crown.
Humphries was fending off an inspired run of momentum from Littler, with both players throwing high-quality legs as the score reached 7-6 in favour of the former.
The reigning world champion – an honour earned by bettering Littler at Ally Pally in January – won the next leg before looking visibly frustrated by the distraction attempts.
Humphries had to step away from the oche to recompose himself, wearing an annoyed expression on his focused face.
With a stern voice, the match referee announced: “Stop whistling, thank you.” But Humphries momentarily paid the price, missing his doubles as Littler took advantage to make it 8-7 before the final break.
Yet, he proved why he is atop the PDC rankings after re-emerging from the back, winning three legs on the spin to triumph on the Butlins stage.
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