PDC European Tour Order of Merit Update: Luke Humphries dethrones Wessel Nijman as leader after Belgian Darts Open title; Luke Littler completes top 3

Luke Humphries is the new leader of the PDC European Tour Order of Merit. ‘Cool Hand Luke’ won the Belgian Darts Open in Wieze last weekend, replacing Wessel Nijman and taking over top spot in the rankings.

Luke Humphries has made a strong start to the European Tour this season. At the very first event, the Poland Darts Open, the former world champion reached the semi-finals. He opted to skip the European Darts Trophy last week, but Humphries returned in Belgium this weekend. And he made it count. With a string of phenomenal averages he swept aside one top name after another to claim the title, and with it the number 1 position on the Order of Merit.

His winning run began in the last 32, where he eliminated Dirk van Duijvenbode, the first of a total of three Dutchmen he beat this weekend. Averaging 100.25, Humphries proved too strong for ‘Aubergenius’ with a 6-4 victory. One round later he met another Dutchman: Jermaine Wattimena. In that match he posted an even better average of 102.91 and cruised to a 6-1 win. His tightest match of the weekend came in the quarter-finals. Against Chris Dobey it went to a deciding last leg, in which ‘Cool Hand Luke’ was on a double after 12 darts and eventually sealed it on double 3.

An absolute blockbuster awaited in the semi-finals: none other than Michael van Gerwen. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, Humphries recorded his best average of the weekend in exactly this match: 105.96. Helped by three 12-darters and a spectacular 129 checkout in the final leg, the Englishman swept ‘MVG’ aside 7-2. That put him into the final, where Jonny Clayton awaited. It looked like a one-sided final when Humphries led 6-2, but ‘The Ferret’ fought back to 6-7. In leg 14, however, the 2024 world champion clinched the title with a 13-darter.

His total on the European Tour Order of Merit now stands at £45,000, just £2,000 ahead of number 2 Wessel Nijman on £43,000. The Dutchman won his first Euro Tour title only last week, but suffered a disappointing opening defeat this weekend to Sebastian Bialecki, meaning he now has to surrender top spot to Humphries. Close behind Nijman is Luke Littler in third on £40,000. ‘The Nuke’ lost in Wieze to perhaps the surprise package of the European Tour so far: Niels Zonneveld, who features below.

After these three men there is a sizable gap to the names below. In fourth is the aforementioned Niels Zonneveld, who has blasted out of the blocks on the 2026 Euro Tour. ‘Triple Z’ reached the semi-finals at the European Darts Trophy last week, and repeated the trick this weekend. Zonneveld even had four match darts against Clayton in his semi-final to reach the final, but the Dutchman could not take them. Thanks to his two semi-finals he now sits on £23,500, which is good for fourth place in the rankings.

Besides Zonneveld and Nijman there are two more Dutchmen in the top 10. Gian van Veen could not make it to Wieze this weekend for medical reasons, but despite his absence he still sits seventh on £20,000. The fourth Dutchman is Jermaine Wattimena, who is tied for tenth with £15,000, alongside Ross Smith. The other three players in the top 10 are Chris Dobey in fifth on £23,000, Jonny Clayton in sixth on £20,000, and Josh Rock in eighth on £16,000.

Two Belgians also impressed in front of their home crowd in Wieze this weekend. Kim Huybrechts made the last 16 by knocking out both German revelation Niko Springer and world-class operator Josh Rock. In the third round, however, he had to bow to Chris Dobey. Even so, Huybrechts currently sits 30th in the rankings on £7,000.

Andy Baetens went one better than his compatriot and reached the quarter-finals. ‘The Beast from the East’ beat Joe Cullen, Stephen Bunting, and Martin Schindler to make the last 8, where he then went down 6-1 with little chance against eventual finalist Jonny Clayton. He did, however, pocket £8,000 in one go, which moved him to 23rd in the rankings over the course of a single weekend.