'Cool Hand' Luke Humphries has won his first major trophy at the 2023 PDC World Grand Prix in Leicester, defeating the favourite Gerwyn Price 5-2 with a career-defining performance in the notoriously difficult 'double-in, double-out' format.
Heading into Sunday night's final, Humphries enjoyed straight set victories over Daryl Gurney and Luke Woodhouse, before needing a last leg winner against the no.3 seed Peter Wright to reach the semi-finals, where he swept aside Joe Cullen to make Sunday's showpiece match.
Gerwyn Price did look to be the more formidable player based off tournament form: comfortable victories over Danny Noppert, Krzysztof Ratajski and Martin Schindler preceded a commanding victory over the reigning World Champion Michael Smith. As a former winner and multi-time finalist, many believed Price would finally win his first major since late 2021.
And it certainly looked that way at the beginning of Sunday's final, as the Welshman stormed into an early 1-0 lead, continuing his clinical form that had carried him that far. Rattling off three legs without reply, it looked like Price would leave Humphries in the dust, and success looked still to far for the 28-year-old from Berkshire.
After the brief intermission however, it was all Humphries: winning nine of the next eleven legs to open up a surprise 3-1 lead. Even though Price showed signs of a comeback by winning the fifth set, a clean 170 and a particularly stunning game-winning 138 checkout in the follow up sets were enough to keep Price at bay, and gift Humphries his biggest career win yet.
HUMPHRIES HAS FINALLY DONE IT 🏆🚨
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 8, 2023
It's stunning. It's staggering. WHAT A WAY TO WIN IT! 🤯
An absolutely ridiculous 138 checkout from Luke Humphries to lift his very first TV title 😱
What a moment to win the 2023 @BoyleSports World Grand Prix! pic.twitter.com/tuYfu43WuE
Humphries had only reached one major final prior to his success this week, having fallen at the final hurdle against James Wade at the 2021 UK Open. Since then, the former World Youth Champion has rapidly ascended the PDC rankings, and cemented himself as arguably the best and most consistent player on the Pro Tour circuit.
With his World Grand Prix success, Humphries has now overtaken Price in the PDC rankings, becoming the new no.4 seed in the world. Price meanwhile has dropped to 5th, and his long wait for another singles major continues, having only tasted major success at the World Cup as part of the Wales team with duo partner Jonny Clayton.
Parallels could be drawn between Humphries' win and Michael Smith's Grand Slam triumph last year, where after coming so close to major glory, Bully Boy finally won a major final against Nathan Aspinall, which proved to be the catalyst for Smith's success at the Alexandra Palace not too long after.
With the World Championships a little over two months away, is Luke Humphries now a firm favourite to go on and win the entire tournament?
By Jaspar Shepherdson
(@jasparshepmedia on X/Twitter and Instagram)
Image Credit-PDC
"I think I played BETTER than him overall" 👀💬
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) October 8, 2023
2023 World Grand Prix runner-up Gerwyn Price reflects on defeat in the final🎙️ pic.twitter.com/5RBxLZrQlm
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