LITTLER ‘RUNNING OUT OF TIME’ TO COMPLETE HISTORIC CLEAN SWEEP

LUKE LITTLER is “running out of time” if he is to complete an unprecedented clean sweep of every PDC major title this year.

The World No. 1 has already added the World Championship, UK Open, World Masters, Premier League and World Cup of Darts to his glittering CV in 2026.

The teenage sensation still has the World Matchplay, World Series Finals, World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals left to conquer if he is to complete the set.

But The Nuke’s hopes of qualifying for Minehead are hanging by a thread after withdrawing from the first 22 Players Championship events of the season.

Littler now has just 11 floor events remaining to earn enough prize money to book his place at the Premier event, where he is the defending champion.

Despite his dominance on the biggest stages, Littler has shown he is far from unbeatable on the ProTour.

The Warrington wonderkid has won just four of the 29 Players Championship events he has entered during his career.

Former pro Matt Edgar warned that Littler can still be vulnerable in the shorter format without a crowd.

He told the Love the Darts Podcast: “I’d like to see him absolutely do the clean sweep, but you make a great point in regard to the fact that you can get caught out, especially on things like the ProTour.

“If we think about the people who have beaten Luke in ranking competitive games this year, Niels Zonneveld, that’s pretty much it.

“You wouldn’t predict that at the start of the year, and you wouldn’t predict it now.”

Edgar pointed to Littler’s meeting with Beau Greaves in the World Youth Championship semi-finals, where the women’s world No. 1 produced a superb display to progress.

He added: “So absolutely, you can get caught out. He does get caught out on the ProTours, he’s been caught out many times. The Youth Championship is a great example.

“All 128 players are there for a reason. They’ve all qualified, they’ve all earned that right, coming through very, very tough fields. We are looking at the best players in the world.

“Of course, someone can put in a big performance for 15 minutes, because that’s all it is.

“We’re talking about 15 minutes of darts. Now, when you look over someone’s career and you go, well, they’ve hit a 108 average, why aren’t they going to do it in this game?

“The likelihood is they don’t, but it can happen, and it does happen. It happens on a regular basis where the best player really doesn’t win.

“Ultimately, anyone in that room, like you say, Mervyn King, just picking a player out of the air, can pop in a 105 average and beat you in 15 minutes, no problem.

“It sounds easy, doesn’t it? Just turn up and win that, or just turn up and win that. Especially with the seeding, that would help him as well. But it’s not as simple.

“He’s running out of time if he’s going to be there.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.