Darts star’s ‘purple patch must be studied’ after nine-darter and Luke Littler win

Ian White’s purple patch has continued and just days after dumping Luke Littler out of the Players Championship, Diamond has hit perfection

Darts fans have joked that Ian White’s purple patch needs to be studied after he struck perfection on Wednesday.

Diamond became the latest star to nail a nine-darter when he hit perfection during his 6-1 win over Dennie Olde Kalter in the Euro Tour qualification event.

However, the Stoke-on-Trent thrower would come unstuck in the following round when he was dumped out by Connor Scutt 6-1.

“This Ian White purple patch needs to be studied,” one fan joked. While a second said: “Must be in double figures for 9s this year already. Absolute madness!”

“What a couple of days to be a Diamond fan,” a third shared. And another added: “Phenomenal from Diamond in Leicester!”

It’s been quite the couple of days for White, who made it all the way to the final of the Players Championship 10 final on Monday (March 31). He was only stopped by Gerwyn Price in the final.

However, en route to the final, Diamond had claimed the scalp of Littler – and with the tie at 5-5, the door was opened for White when Littler failed to close out 102.

White took full advantage as nailed 46 to dump The Nuke out.

The veteran was beaten by Littler at the World Darts Championship over the winter – and ahead of the game, White revealed he had played Littler’s grandad.

“When I first started in darts, I played against his grandad, Phil Littler,” he said.

“That was in Runcorn. I used to beat him all the time! We played for local teams. I played against him loads of times. We had banter. I wouldn’t have seen Luke in those days in the pub – he wasn’t even born then. That was in the 90s.

“I saw Phil not that long ago. It was a bad time, though. It was at a funeral. When I spoke to his grandad, he went: ‘Watch out, Luke’s playing well’.”