Stephen Bunting wins Premier League evening as Luke Littler learns Finals Night opponent
Stephen Bunting won the Premier League Night 16 in Sheffield as the league phase of the tournament came to an end ahead of Finals Night at The O2 Arena
Stephen Bunting won Night 16 of the Premier League in Sheffield
Stephen Bunting beat Luke Humphries 6-3 to win Night 16 of the Premier League Darts in Sheffield as Luke Littler learned his opponent in Finals Night in London next week.
The league phase of the tournament came to an end this week as the final table was confirmed. However, the jeopardy of who would make Finals Night was already over after last Thursday saw Humphries book the final spot in the play-offs ahead of Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen.
All that was left to decide for London was who would face who, and Humphries’ form and Gerwyn Price losing to Bunting in the semi-final, meant that ‘Cool Hand’ would finish third ahead of Price in fourth.
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But there was still the small matter of a £10,000 nightly prize up for grabs and an extra cheque of the same sum waiting for Bunting if he secured fifth in the table with a win.
Bunting raced into a 3-0 lead with Humphries lacking the edge that he required to win back-to-back nights before heading to London.
Humphries did stop the rot to reduce the score but ‘The Bullet’ returned to hold his throw to reinstate the three-leg advantage and move two legs away from the finish line. But the reigning Premier League champ showed his brilliance with a superb 132 checkout in reply.
Bunting held off Humphries and almost won the match with a nine-darter after six perfect arrows, but he returned to seal his second nightly win with a 12-darter.
That means the draw for Finals Night is Luke Littler taking on Price and second place Jonny Clayton playing Humphries. Littler and Clayton will have the throw in their respective semi-finals having finished higher in the table.
The remaining bottom four places saw Bunting secure 5th, Van Gerwen finish 6th, ahead of his fellow countryman in 7th on nights won, and Josh Rock bottom in 8th.
While they failed to miss out on the chance to win the Premier League – Bunting’s fifth place finish saw him pocket £95,000 with the following three places in the table also taking home £5,000 less than the player above them.
The money comes from the breakdown of the £1,250,000 prize money. The 2026 Premier League champion will land the £350,000 jackpot, runner-up pocketing £170,000, and each beaten semi-finalist landing £110,000.
