LUKE LITTLER is champion of the world and an incredible stat has helped him achieve his success.
The teen beat Michael van Gerwen 7-3 to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy last week, capping off what has been an amazing first year on the Pro Tour.
Littler has won 11 titles including the Grand Slam and the Premier League, and he has been in top form for several weeks.
The world No2 hit the most 180s at the Worlds and pulled off some incredible check-outs, but another part of his game that goes unnoticed has also been key to his success.
Littler’s maths combined with his skill means he has now played 468 consecutive legs of televised darts without leaving a bogey number.
That means he has always been able to present himself with a chance of winning a leg when within the highest checkout score of 170.
The bogey numbers – impossible to finish with three darts – are 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162 and 159 – with Littler avoiding them for an incredibly long time.
His world championship final opponent Van Gerwen, by contrast, left three bogeys in the space of four legs against Brendan Dolan in the third round at Ally Pally.
Despite his quick thinking, Littler has admitted to being “terrible” at maths at school.
He said: “It’s just the longer you practise, the quicker you get to know checkouts, scoring and finishing up and laying up your shots and you know what to go for. So the more you play, the more you get used to it.
Fans were wowed by the stat, with one saying: “That is my new favourite stat ever, fantastic entertainer and a very good counter, especially for his age.”
Another added: “That is an insane stat. It means he scores so heavily, he’s not often confronted with fancy footwork to set up a finish. But when he has to, he doesn’t have a loose dart. Even further, he’s not taking chances with deflection risks. His board management is mind boggling.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Luke Littlers’ brilliant reaction to hearing he won £500k after thrashing Van Gerwen in PDC World Championship final” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6366676699112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”] [boxout headline=”World Darts Championship – top stories” featured-image=”32546192″ intro=”READ MORE on all the fall-out from Luke Littler’s incredible world title win…”]- Littler blows away Van Gerwen to win world title aged 17
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And a third wrote: “He very rarely doesn’t hit the number he wants. In the final I think about three darts went in the five instead of the 20 and that was early on, he’s incredible.”