LUKE LITTLER turned on the style on a shocking night when several world darts champions bombed out of Butlin’s.
Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Stephen Bunting all crashed out of the first round of the Players Championship Finals on day one.
He passed £1m in prize money after beating Martin Lukeman 16-3 in the Grand Slam of Darts on Sunday.
But The Nuke – the overwhelming favourite for next month’s World Championship – showed his class with a 6-0 obliteration of Rob Cross in Minehead.
Littler, 17, sensationally averaged 112.73 – the second-highest average in the tournament’s history – and nailed six of his 10 checkouts, five days after his Grand Slam of Darts success.
The Warrington teen said: “It’s always good to start any major or competition well.
“In my first game of the Grand Slam, I sent out a real statement, that I am here to win. I’m very happy to get off the mark again here.
“My performance is good and my confidence is high. My hopes are very high for the Worlds. But I have to focus on Minehead first.
“Recent performances have shown why I should be favourite. On recent form, people might say that I’m the best in the world.”
What Littler is doing this season is making many longstanding players seem old and staid – and his consistency is frightening.
BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS
Where everything he touches finds the right bed, in comparison Wright’s woeful form on TV continues – as he was smashed 6-1 by Daryl Gurney in round one.
The Scotsman, 54, might be a two-time world champion but he heads to Ally Pally with little confidence that he can have a long run in that competition.
Former champion of the world Price was shocked 6-4 by French ace Thibault Tricole.
It is another setback for The Iceman, 39, who failed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts and finished seventh in the Premier League.
Van Gerwen, 35, was extremely poor as he was humbled 6-1 by Ian White in his first match.
Bunting’s status as the No.2 seed mattered little as he lost 6-2 to Belgian outsider Mario Vandenbogaerde.
At least Luke Humphries, the defending champion, did not join the casualty list as he knocked out Giant German Gabriel Clemens 6-2.
Meanwhile, darts rookie Dom Taylor was booted out of the tournament after he failed a drugs test.
The 26-year-old world No. 80 was set to make his debut appearance with a glamour first-round tie against former world champion Michael Smith, 34, last night.
But hours before his contest, the Darts Regulation Authority announced it had suspended Taylor for a suspected doping offence.
Known as The Tower, he was tested at a recent PDC Pro Tour event and returned a positive sample for a banned substance.
The DRA have refused to say if the Bristol thrower had taken a performance-enhancing drug or if it was a result of recreational use.
