"Kept telling me you'll win one of these soon": Luke Humphries received good luck text from Van Gerwen ahead of maiden major

Luke Humphries sealed his maiden major title on Sunday and he had one player in his corner backing him and a rival at that in Michael van Gerwen.

'The Green Machine' who lost at the World Grand Prix to Chris Dobey sent Humphries a text wishing him luck which Van Gerwen said on Twitter was a 'good text' which proved to be a good omen for 'Cool Hand Luke'.

He said post match that Van Gerwen despite being a rival had always been one of his biggest supporters and a player that told him time and time again that it was coming albeit when he was out of the tournament like he was in Leicester.

But now after achieving his dream, he admitted that the floodgates won't open like they did for MVG, but that if he can leave his mark on the sport in only a quarter of the way the Dutch titan has he will be happy.

"He wished me good luck today. I do like Michael (van Gerwen), we get on really well. He wished me all the best today and was hoping I was going to pick up my first major title because as much as we're competitors, he is a very nice guy

"He said to me every time he beat me and in the back room, you'll win a major soon, you'll win one of these soon. Obviously he wouldn't have wanted me to win one if he was in the competition but he wasn't and he was right."

"At the back of my mind, I knew when Michael won it, he went on to a freefall and went on to win a lot of things but I'm not going to do what Michael van Gerwen has done. I'm not going to dominate the sport as we're in an era where it's too good. He won his first like this and I'd be happy with a quarter of his career. No one can take this away from me."