Luke Humphries celebrated his impressive Players Championship final victory against Luke Littler by taking a swig of his water bottle before chucking some of the contents over crowd members. The world No. 1 beat Littler 11-7 in an epic final marred by whistling from some fans in attendance.
Humphries threw down the gauntlet with the World Darts Championship looming large, producing a controlled display to outclass the newly-crowned Grand Slam of Darts champion.
The 29-year-old overcame disappointing whistling from the Minehead crowd to lift his seventh major title and retain his Players Championship crown.
Humphries was fending off an inspired run of momentum from Littler, with both players throwing high-quality legs as the score reached 7-6 in favour of the former.
The reigning world champion – an honour earned by bettering Littler at Ally Pally in January – won the next leg before looking visibly frustrated by the distraction attempts.
Humphries had to step away from the oche to recompose himself, wearing an annoyed expression on his focused face.
With a stern voice, the match referee announced: “Stop whistling, thank you.” But Humphries momentarily paid the price, missing his doubles as Littler took advantage to make it 8-7 before the final break.
Yet, he proved why he is atop the PDC rankings after re-emerging from the back, winning three legs on the spin to triumph on the Butlins stage.
A joyous Humphries celebrated his latest success with multiple muscle flexes, fist pumps and many a friendly embrace with his rival and good friend, Littler.
He then got his own back on the crowd after having a gulp of water, first pretending to throw his drink over those at the front of the masses in attendance.
Humphries followed up by actually lobbing some of his refreshment towards the crowd, which also seemed to soak at least one camera operator below.
It was all in jest, though, after a pleasant, good-spirited showdown, which the whistling incident didn’t marr completely.
After picking up his latest piece of silverware and a £120,000 pay day, Humphries expressed his delight at being able to put the Players Championship trophy back on display at his home.
He told ITV: “This trophy was in my living room a couple of months ago, and now I’ve got it back! I’m really, really proud of that one, to be honest.
“I didn’t feel myself this week, playing-wise. I felt like I was a dart behind in a lot of the scenarios. There’s something that Luke does to you. He really drives me. He makes me want to be a better player.
“I enjoy playing him. He let me in really early in that first session to go 4-1 up but I never looked back. I’m proud of the way I didn’t take my foot off the gas like I have this whole weekend.
“A lot of the games, I’ve taken my foot off the gas and allowed people to come back at me. I was very fortunate against Dirk, I rode my luck, but I got into the final and was in my comfort zone.
“These big games are what I live for and what I dream of, being a major champion, this is what I do it all for. I travel the world for these moments. Really, really pleased.”