We profile the reigning PDC World Darts Champion and world number one 'Cool Hand' Luke Humphries.
Luke Humphries has won six major ranking titles to date.
The 29-year-old claimed his first major televised crown with the 2023 World Grand Prix, beating Gerwyn Price in the final, and then a month later he triumphed in the Grand Slam of Darts.
'Cool Hand' extended his winning run, taking the 2023 Players Championship Finals before being crowned World Darts Championship winner for the first time in January 2024.
He has since added the illustrious World Matchplay crown to his ever-growing list of accolades, whilst he has also gone back-to-back at Butlin's, Minehead, successfully defending his maiden Players Championship Finals crown with victory over Luke littler in the 2024 showpiece.
Humphries also partnered with Michael Smith in the 2024 PDC World Cup of Darts, with the pair reigning supreme for their country - seeing off Austria 10-6 in the Germany-staged final.
Aside from his ranking successes, Luke Humphries is also the winner of nine non-televised PDC titles.
He has reigned supreme in seven European Tour events, including the 2024 German Darts Masters, as well as capturing four Players Championship successes.
Humphries was also crowned New Zealand Darts Master in 2024, whilst earlier in his career he won 11 Development Tour titles and the 2019 World Youth Championship.
Luke Humphries is currently ranked number one on the PDC’s two-year Order of Merit.
It’s been a remarkable rise for 'Cool Hand', who finished the 2018 campaign as the world’s number 57.
Steady progression followed and the Crewe-based arrowsmith man reached the top 20 by the end of the 2021 term.
The following season proved to be the true breakthrough for Humphries, who climbed to a then-career high of number five on the PDC’s Order of Merit, following a series of strong performances, before ascending to number one during the 2024 World Darts Championship.
Luke Humphries is nicknamed 'Cool Hand Luke', a riff on the 1967 prison-drama film of the same name.
But he was very close to changing it a few years back due to the similarity of his nickname and Martin Lukeman's, who was recognised as 'Cool Man Luke'.
Realising they both couldn't go on with the same sort of nickname, Humphries played Lukeman in a Challenger Tour match, where they decided that the winner would get to keep their nickname.
As you might have guessed, Humphries won the match emphatically and Lukeman is now known as 'Smash'.
Luke Humphries has recently changed his walk-on song to 'I Predict a Riot' by the Kaiser Chiefs, having previously taken to the stage to DNCE's 'Cake by the Ocean'.
Luke Humphries is 29-years-old, and will turn 30 on 11th February, 2025.
'Cool Hand' made the quarter-finals of the World Championship aged 24 and that was the same year the Newbury man won the PDC World Youth Championship title.
Luke Humphries was born in Newbury, Berkshire but currently resides in Crewe, Cheshire.
Luke Humphries has collected a colossal £1,804,250 in prize money over a two-year period in ranking tournaments.
That tally has been bolstered enormously by his success over the past 12 months, with his 2024 World Darts Championship triumph alone landing him a bumper £500k.
The 21g Red Dragon Signature darts are the choice of Luke Humphries.
'Cool Hand' has a preference for a torpedo-styled mid-balanced darts and his equipment does differ to the majority of players on tour. His extra-long stems are the longest of any professional on tour.
As of May 2024, it is estimated that Humphries has a net worth of over £4.2m, including sponsorship deals.
Whilst sponsorship payments remain undisclosed we do know that her has pocketed £50,000 for each of his three appearances in the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship and he took home £120,000 for his recent World Grand Prix win, as well as a handsome £150,000 for his Grand Slam of Darts triumph.
Humphries then netted £120,000 for winning the Players Championship Finals before adding £500,000 for his World Championship win with another £200,000 added to his haul for his World Matchplay triumph.