John Part on Luke Littler
LUKE Littler came into the PDC with “almost no fear of performance” which has only continued as he has proved himself one of the best in the world, according to three-times world champion John Part.
Littler was a dominant force at JDC and Development Tour level going into the World Championship at Alexandra Palace, in which he famously reached the final aged 16, before going on to win a host of titles including this year’s Premier League and World Series of Darts Finals. Part, who has watched Littler’s game closely for years, feels he is able to cope with setbacks within matches as he has enough of a body of work at all levels of the game to know he can respond positively to any adversity. Not that there has been much of that, with Sunday’s World Series Finals triumph offering another glimpse of his vast potential and confidence. Who on earth, for example, beats Michael van Gerwen in Amsterdam with a 107 average? “What is positive as I see it is that fear factor-wise, Luke has almost no fear of performance,” Part told DartAsylum.
“He just knows he’ll play at a certain level. He’s not worried about ‘can I hit a 180 or a nine-dart game?’ He’s thrown so much and he’s won so much.
“Winning really is a help, and being as successful as he was in the junior and lower levels is where he’s developed this base of positivity from winning. He’s very confident in that sense, he knows how to win a match – he’s won enough of them.
“If he started to lose too many in relation to how many he wins, maybe that’s when some doubt could creep in. But I don’t think I’ve seen anything near that with him.”
After winning the Premier League, two European Tour events, two Players Championships and three World Series of Darts tournaments including the Finals, Littler is now routinely among the favourites to win the biggest tournaments.
But because the expectation on him has come from his own performances, Part feels he will be able to control and cope with it.
“All the expectation that’s on him, he’s built through his own performances,” he said. “He learned how to win almost by default, because he’s better than everyone from the massive amount of time he put in.
“But now, as he’s got older, and at the top level of the JDC and the Development Tour, he’s learned how to compete and win against the best players.
“He’s had an amazing amount of wins, nine-darters and big moments for 17. He played a long time as a child and had an opportunity to compete in organised competitions through the JDC.”
But despite his success causing a spike of interest in darts in England in particular, Part does not feel Littler is the only show in town where professional darts is concerned. He cites the recent World Matchplay final, in which Luke Humphries beat Van Gerwen 18-15, as how darts is healthy whether or not Littler goes deep in the big tournaments.
“The Matchplay final, when Luke went out in the first round, was still the best viewed final of the Matchplay,” said Part.
“It’s not just about Luke Littler – but it’s exciting and he’s certainly sparked that new tier of interest from his age group. I guess it’s glamorous now, like being a football player in England!”