Luke Littler stuns fans after rocking up to local tournament and winning days after World Matchplay first-round exit
LUKE LITTLER has left fans stunned after he went back to basics.
Littler, 17, has taken the darts world by storm since bursting onto the scene at the World Championships in December before losing out in the final to Luke Humphries.
Since then he has gone on to win the Bahrain and Poland Darts masters and claim Premier League glory, putting him all the way up to rank No24 in the world.
However, Littler was outclassed by Dutch ace Michael van Gerwen when they met in the first round at the World Matchplay of Darts.
But that did not stop him from achieving some success this weekend.
The Nuke made a surprise trip back home to compete in the Cheshire Open in Crewe, some 24 miles away from his home town of Warrington.
The competition has a £20 entry fee and cool £1,000 cash prize, with a £250 bonus for a nine darter.
Littler, who as early as May had an estimated net worth of £600,000, took to social media to share a picture of him posing with the trophy.
But Littler had also turned out at the Coppenhall Club venue the day before as well to win the men’s single’s warm-up, which had a £15 entry.
Littler received a bye into the second round for the warm up.
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He then came up against an opponent called Kiko D, who must have wondered what odd twist of fate had put him up against one of darts biggest players.
He said on Instagram: “Some weekendwinning the warm up men’s event and the Cheshire open men’s singles, good to see all my fellow team-mates from Cheshire”.
Reacting to the strange but wholesome homecoming victory, one fan said: “Love that’s you’ve still got time to play Grass roots stuff.”
A second said: “Man can’t stop winning.”
Another said: “Luke littler turning up around you local darts tournament, you’d go home.”
A fourth added: “Top lad.”
The win comes after Littler announced his breakup with ex-girlfriend Eloise Milburn after ten months together.
His split from the 22-year-old came completely out of the blue, with Eloise said to have been left heartbroken as a result.
Inside Littler's massive rise
LUKE LITTLER has taken the darts world by storm since exploding onto the scene at the PDC World Championship.
The Nuke reached the final on his Ally Pally debut at just 16 years of age – smashing records along the way.
He has since joined Jude Bellingham on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.
And the teenage titan even had to snub an invite from the WWE.
The Sun exclusively revealed that Littler is plotting to create a fitness empire.
He is also cashing in away from the Oche thanks to an Instagram side hustle.
And he’s even the face of a brand new cereal.
The wonderkid has now cemented his place among the tungsten elite by winning the Premier League Darts final – and the £275k top prize.
Check out all of our latest Luke Littler stories.
It is understood Littler and Eloise’s relationship came under strain as they struggled to spend time together, with a source revealing to The Sun that Littler ended it by text.
But Littler jumped to her defence after she received vile abuse from trolls online.
He said: “Everyone needs to stop sending hate towards Eloise saying it’s her fault, this and that.
“I myself split up with Eloise and everyone just needs to give us some time, no need for everyone to message her and give her grief.”
The next darts event Littler may appear at is the Players Championship 15, which is being held at the Marshall Arena near Milton Keynes.
Littler won the opening round of the competition.
However, he has struggled to repeat that form as he has failed to make it past the quarter final stage in any of the other seven events he has competed in since.