LUKE HUMPHRIES is the top darts player in the world and the reigning World Champion.
Cool Hand Luke beat teenage sensation Luke Littler, 17, in the Ally Pally final last year – and he is the pre-tournament favourite to repeat his success at this year’s showpiece.
Luke Humphries, born on February 11, 1995, in Newbury, Berkshire, is currently No 1 in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) world rankings.
Although he’s the current world champion and player to beat, he was born into a football-mad family and his father named him Luke in honour of the club he supports — the letters of his name spelling out “Leeds United Kings of Europe”.
Despite playing as a teenager, Humphries only became a professional darts player after turning 21 — since playing more than 1,000 legs of darts per year on average.
He reached the semi-finals of the World Match Play and the World Series of Darts Finals in 2023, and was the runner-up in the 2021 UK Open.
Luke was the pre-tournament favourite for the World Darts Championship and made good on that promise, ending the Luke Littler fairy tale to win 7-4 after trailing 4-2.
Humphries has spoken openly out about his struggles with mental health in 2020 and how it nearly caused him to quit the sport.
He also lost a significant amount of weight during the 2021 Covid-19 lockdown in a bid to help improve his performances — a move that has paid off both literally and figuratively.
Nicknamed Cool Hand Luke, he won his first major title at the 2023 World Grand Prix, defeating favourite Gerwyn Price and earning himself £120,000 in prize money.
Since then, Humphries has become one of the top players in the sport, winning tournament after tournament.
Here is what Cool Hand has won so far in his career:
Majors
Grand Slam of Darts (1) – 2023
PDC World Championship (1) – 2024
Players Championship Finals (2) – 2023, 2024
World Grand Prix (1) – 2023
World Matchplay (1) – 2024
Other TV
PDC World Cup (1) -2024
World Tour
New Zealand Darts Masters (1) – 2024
Euro Tour
Czech Darts Open (2) – 2022, 2024
European Darts Grand Prix (1) – 2022
European Darts Matchplay (2) – 2022, 2023
German Darts Grand Prix (2) – 2022, 2024
PDC Ranked
PDC Challenge Tour (1) – 2017 CT 12 Milton Keynes
Players Championships (4) – 2022 PC 01 Barnsley, 2023 PC 15 Leicester, 2023 PC 20 Barnsley, 2024 PC 26 Wigan
Annual Ranking Champion
PDC Youth/Development Tour Ranking Champion (2) – 2017, 2018
Rest
Austrian Darts Championship Qualifiers (1) – 2019 UK TCH
Austrian Darts Open Qualifiers (1) – 2018 UK
Belgian Darts Championship Qualifiers (1) – 2020 TCH
European Darts Matchplay Qualifiers (1) – 2018 UK
European Darts Open Qualifiers (1) – 2018 UK
European Darts Trophy Qualifiers (1) – 2018 UK
German Darts Championship Qualifiers (1) – 2019 UK TCH
German Darts Grand Prix Qualifiers (1) – 2018 UK
German Darts Open Qualifiers (2) – 2018 UK, 2019 UK TCH
Gibraltar Darts Trophy Qualifiers (1) – 2021 TCH
Hungarian Darts Trophy Qualifiers (1) – 2021 TCH
Youth Tournaments
PDC Youth/Development Tour (11)
2017 DT 01 Wigan, 2017 DT 04 Wigan, 2017 DT 09 Hildesheim, 2017 DT 16 Barnsley, 2017 DT 20 Wigan, 2018 DT 07 Hildesheim, 2018 DT 13 Peterborough, 2018 DT 17 Wigan, 2019 DT 11 Milton Keynes, 2019 DT 17 Wigan, 2019 DT 20 Wigan
Youth Majors
PDC World Championship Youth Final (1) – 2019
Luke has at least one child with his fiancée Kayley Jones, who was born in 1994.
Some reports say the pair have been together since they were teenagers, but it seems that they are yet to tie the knot at the time of writing.
Kayley has two children — Grace, born in 2013, and Rowan Ellis, born on October 9, 2022.
The family live together in Crewe, Cheshire.
It is unclear whether Luke is the father of Kayley’s firstborn child Grace, with some sources saying he became a father for the first time in 2022.
Kayley stays low-key on social media, but shares pictures of her family with her followers.
She shared a photo of her eldest child Grace on her birthday on Instagram, with the caption: “Happy 10th birthday Gracie” and a heart emoji.
In 2022 Luke shared the news of the couple’s baby with his Facebook followers: “Absolutely overwhelmed to welcome mine and Kayley Marie’s son into the world last night at 10:09pm, weighing 7 pound 9 and a half!
“Absolutely in awe off how amazing Kayley was, going through it all. she’s was incredibly strong throughout labour and am so proud of her.
“We have named him ‘Rowan Ellis Humphries’ both are doing fine and settling in at home now!”
Humphries currently has a net worth of around £2.5m, according to most outlets.
He has now won £1,804,250 of prize money in the last two years.
At 28 years old, his darts career is only just getting started, so it would not be surprising if he goes on to win a vast fortune in the sport.
