Luke Littler and his fellow darts professionals will have the chance to win $200,000 (£149,000) if they can hit a nine-dart finish followed by a ‘golden bullseye’ in Riyadh next week. The World Series of Darts visits Saudi Arabia for the first time, with eight PDC Tour representatives facing eight Asian Tour representatives in the two-day tournament starting Monday.
If a player hits a nine-darter, they will receive $100,000 (£74,700) and then have the unique opportunity to double that prize by throwing one ‘golden’ dart at the bullseye. This represents the biggest prize in the history of the sport for a nine-dart finish.
Littler, 18, recently claimed the record £1 million prize for winning the World Championship and later secured a bumper contract worth £20 million over 10 years with his darts supplier. He threw nine perfect darts in the World Series event in Bahrain in 2024 and will be fine-tuning his trebles again.
The new incentive mirrors the one adopted by the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship, which features a golden cue ball that can produce the sport's first-ever 167 break and a $1 million (£760,000) bonus. Former World Championship semi-finalist Mark Webster said on ITV4: “If a player hits a nine-darter they will get $100,000. Not bad, is it? Then one single dart at the bullseye, if they can hit that with their next dart, they will receive an extra $100,000. So 10 perfect darts is $200,000.”
Littler will be joined in Riyadh by Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gian van Veen, Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting, Nathan Aspinall and Danny Noppert. The players are currently competing in the Bahrain Masters, where Littler reeled in a 170 ‘Big Fish’ checkout as he defeated Paul Lim 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.
