"Van Gerwen for me had the biggest fear factor of all" but newly-fearless Luke Woodhouse ready to an impact after first round victory at World Darts Championship

Luke Woodhouse is into the second round at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. The Englishman comfortably defeated Lourence Ilagan 3-0 on Monday afternoon, setting up a showdown with World Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker.

Woodhouse played a solid match all told, averaging 94 at checking out at a succes rate of 45 percent on the doubles. More than good enough to consign Ilagan to an 8th first round defeat in his 9 appearances at the Alexandra Palace.

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"I think the first two sets I was probably in control. I switched off for a little bit but yeah, my main goal today was to 100% get through the first round," assesses Woodhouse in his post-match press conference.

Woodhouse has been making a steady rise up the rankings over recent years, and now, has the top 32 in his sights. "I think, if you look at my career in general. It's always been slow and steady. I think I can offer a lot more, but yeah, it's good and I'm really happy," he explains. "I've made a semis of the European Championships for my first semi at a TV event. But yeah, I can definitely offer more, it's just finding that consistency. I can be really good for say a couple of months and then I might drop off a little bit."

As mentioned, in the second round, recent World Grand Prix winner Mike de Decker lies in wait for Woodhouse. In truth, Woodhouse, like many on tour have been inspired by the recent success of De Decker and Ritchie Edhouse, showing no matter what your ranking, anyone can win in the PDC nowadays. "Even Martin Lukeman getting to the final of the Grand Slam. If you speak to them, they've taken loads of inspiration from that. Everyone knows that on tour, everyone can play, but being able to go and do it and then take it to the next level is a different thing. So seeing them go on and get to the final, Ritchie win the Europeans, Mike de Decker win the Grand Prix, nobody's got that fear anymore."

That's not to say there's no fear left on Tour though, at least not in Woodhouse's opinion. "Van Gerwen for me had the biggest fear factor of all. But I think, Luke Humphries and Luke Littler are probably, for me, the two best players on the planet at the moment," Woodhouse adds. "So everyone knows they've got that sort of aura."

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