I lost to Luke Littler and watched Leeds collapse in play-off final but I still won £165k – I’ve had worse weeks

LUKE HUMPHRIES reckons his oche matches with Luke Littler are the Talk of the Town.

The Lukes of Hazard will have top billing in New York this week as darts goes Stateside.

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The two-day US Darts Masters start on Friday at The Theater inside the iconic Madison Square Garden.

Littler, 17, is the newly-crowned Premier League champion thanks to his 11-7 victory over Cool Hand Luke a week ago in London.

And world No.1 Humphries reckons their rivalry, which includes a meeting in the last world final, is taking the sport to a new level.

Humphries – who shared an open-top bus with Littler and Peter Wright around Lower and Central Manhattan – said: “The sport’s in a boom.

“The other Luke has grown the sport as well. I’m doing my part as well and trying to grow the sport for the younger generation.

“I do feel that us Lukes represent the best game in darts. When we play it gets the fans excited.

“You could see us battling for the next 10 or 15 years. There will be players that come along and test us. There might be even better than us.

“We have played each other quite a lot already. That’s the only unfortunate thing. We’ve already played seven times since January 3.”

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Humphries, 29, is still smarting from the Prem final defeat and then watching his beloved Leeds United lose the Championship Playoff final at Wembley.

The Berkshire thrower, who is in the Big Apple with girlfriend Kayley, said: “A lot of people were tagging and messaging me saying I’ve had the worst week possible.

“But I won £165,000 on Thursday. It’s not much of a bad week. I’ve had worse I can assure you of that!

“Obviously I know I lost the final on Thursday and Leeds lost on Sunday.

“Thursday was a great game to be a part of. I didn’t walk away from that disappointed or thinking ‘what if?’

“I did the best I could and that wasn’t good enough. Luke played fantastic, he deserved the win.

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“It was the same in the World final. He played fantastic as well and he didn’t get the win and I did.

“It’s two fantastic major finals we have shared together and it’s one-each.

“I thought going into Sunday Leeds would give me a glimmer that I’d get some enjoyment out of the week.

“I also felt that might not happen because sometimes when it rains, it pours.

“I’m really disappointed Leeds didn’t go up but it’s football, it’s sport. You bounce back.

“Just small things can change things and sadly for Leeds it was that crossbar.”

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