Luke Humphries sends classy message to rival after epic World Masters showdown

Luke Humphries backed Luke Woodhouse to be a top-16 player after their epic World Masters clash.

World No.2 Humphries edged past Woodhouse 4-3 in a thrilling last-16 match in Arena MK on Saturday night.

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‘Cool Hand’ hit a nine-darter to go 2-0 up, but Woodhouse battled back to 3-3 and took it into a deciding set.

The 2024 World Champion held his nerve to win the seventh set and subsequently the match.

Humphries revealed his classy message to Woodhouse after the match.

He told his press conference: “I said to him after, you’ve got to be disappointed, but I think you showed one thing and you’ve shown you’ve got the bottle now. 

“He’s always had a good game, he’s always been a good scorer in so many instances. I’m a big fan of his because I get on really well with him as well. 

“He just misses that crucial leg or that big score, that big double at the wrong time that he misses and it costs him the game.

“You can’t look back on that game and go, ‘I messed up there’ because I put a lot of pressure on him all the time and he’s put a lot of pressure on me. 

“I think the one thing you could take away from tonight was he’s shown that next level now. He’s got the bottle, he’s got that determination, he’s got the scoring power and the finishing to match anybody. 

“Obviously it’s disappointing to lose, but if he could take one thing away from me, he’s going to feel like he’s got that talent now to kick on and challenge himself and get maybe top 16. 

“He’s definitely got the game for it, that’s for sure.”

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Humphries’ verdict

Humphries averaged 105 and smashed in ten 180s on the way to victory and now faces Danny Noppert in the quarter-finals.

He said: “I’d assess it as a great game of darts. The nine darter was obviously fantastic and I was in that flow state the first two sets and I was quite happy there was a break after it because your adrenaline’s so high, you just need five minutes to calm yourself down a little bit.

“I don’t think I was calm, to be honest, in that third set. I was trying my best to relax myself, but you feel a little bit uptight, you’ve kind of just done something great. 

“It probably relaxed me losing that third set, probably relaxed me a little bit and I went in fourth.

“It’s a good situation to be in, but I don’t think the next two sets I lost were because I dwindled too much. 

“It was more that he showed a bottle to come back and play really good. To me, it was just a great game of darts. 

“I don’t know what the end statistics were, but it doesn’t always make great statistics to make it a good game.

“I just thought it was a great one to be a part of and obviously happy I won it.”