LITTLER HAS “ZERO PRIORITY” FOR PROTOUR

LUKE LITTLER has “zero priority” for the ProTour as he continues to snub Players Championship events.

The world No1 has not played a single event in 2026 and could continue that stance unless he wins the World Matchplay in Blackpool next month.

Littler, 19, recently suggested he would only return to the floor to qualify for Minehead as part of a wider attempt to complete a historic clean sweep of all the majors.

Former pro Van der Voort believes the mindset highlights Littler’s extraordinary confidence but also creates a wider issue for the PDC.

He told the Darts Draait Door Podcast: “Well, he says: if I win the Matchplay, then I’ll play the ProTour. Because then he wants to win all the TV tournaments in one year.

“I do like that he thinks that way. But he really is playing with it. There aren’t that many ProTours left. There’s every chance he would have to win two of them to qualify.

“He’s basically saying the ProTours have zero priority. That will probably be the case again next year. So the PDC has a small problem again.”

Presenter Damian Vlottes added: “He’s basically saying the ProTours have zero priority. I do like that he thinks that way. But he really is playing with it.”

The Nuke has just 10 Players Championship events remaining to secure his place at the Players Championship Finals after withdrawing from next week’s double-header in Leicester.

Van der Voort is intrigued to see if Littler can achieve the feat and underlined the scale of Littler’s dominance on the main stage.

He said: “You almost start hoping he wins the Matchplay. Then you can see whether he can pull that off as well.

“That this is already your thinking in June... That’s great, isn’t it?

“If he wins the Matchplay, then I’ll just play a few of those floor tournaments and qualify again. That shows how far his confidence goes and how he is approaching everything.

“Niels Zonneveld is the last player to beat him on a ranking stage. That was in February or something.

“Before that, I think it was James Wade at the European Championship in October. No, there is no stopping that man at the moment.

“For everyone, it is a great challenge to see whether they can get close to him or beat him.”

Words: Aaron Nijjar

Image: Taylor Lanning