Archie Self, 16, breaks Luke Littler's record for the youngest televised nine-dart finish
Sixteen-year-old Archie Self hit a nine-darter at the MODUS Super Series, taking Luke Littler's record as the youngest to do it on TV.
Luke Littler no longer holds the record for the youngest televised nine-dart finish. Sixteen-year-old Archie Self hit a perfect leg in the first leg of his match against Danny Ayres during Champions Week of the MODUS Super Series. DartsNews dated the finish to Wednesday, 28 October. Self is from Thatcham in Berkshire and plays under the nickname "The Archer". He went on to win the match.
The perfect leg
A nine-dart finish is the fewest darts a player can use to check out from 501. Self scored back-to-back maximums of 180, then took out the remaining 141 with treble 20, treble 19 and double 12, according to SportBible.
He did it in the very first leg of the match. The MODUS Super Series is broadcast on Pluto TV, which is why the leg counts as a televised nine-darter.
Commentator Paul Nicholson reacted on air with "He's doing things that even Littler didn't." The comparison with Littler will follow Self for some time.
Littler's record, and how it fell
Littler set the record in January 2024 when he hit a nine-darter at the Bahrain Darts Masters, two days before his 17th birthday. It came in the same month as his run to the PDC World Championship final.
Self is a few weeks short of 17, so he took the record by a margin of several weeks. SportBible noted he was still weeks away from his birthday when he hit the nine-darter.
A busy year for a teenager
Self plays on several circuits, including the Junior Darts Corporation (JDC), the PDC Development Tour and MODUS. Brit Brief reports he won the WDF World Youth title at 15. He also won his first PDC Development Tour title this season, beating Sam Jackson 5-2 in the final with a 91.64 average.
His Champions Week was going well before the nine-darter too. Brit Brief reported a 13-2 record and a 99.77 average, which put him top of Group A after 15 matches.
The new generation
Self is one of several young English players coming through after Littler's breakthrough. On Wednesday, 21-year-old Charlie Manby won his first PDC ranking title at Players Championship 31 in Den Bosch. Dutch star Gian van Veen, another young player, has already qualified for this year's Players Championship Finals.
For now, MODUS and the youth and development tours are where Self is getting most of his matches. Those events give young players regular play in front of cameras, and a televised nine-darter at 16 shows how quickly he is improving. He looks like a name to watch when the next Q-School season comes around.
Key takeaways
- Archie Self, 16, hit a nine-dart finish against Danny Ayres in the opening leg of a MODUS Super Series match.
- He scored 180, 180 and a 141 checkout of treble 20, treble 19 and double 12.
- The leg breaks Luke Littler's record for the youngest televised nine-darter, set at the 2024 Bahrain Darts Masters.
- Self went on to win the match and led his Champions Week group.
- He has already won a WDF World Youth title and a PDC Development Tour event.
FAQ
Q: Who is Archie Self? He is a 16-year-old English darts player from Thatcham, nicknamed "The Archer", who plays on the MODUS Super Series and the PDC's youth and development circuits.
Q: Whose record did Archie Self break? He broke Luke Littler's record. Littler hit his nine-darter at the Bahrain Darts Masters in January 2024, two days before his 17th birthday.
Q: What is a nine-dart finish? It is a leg of 501 won with the minimum nine darts, usually two 180s and a 141 checkout. It is the darts equivalent of a perfect game.
Sources: DartsNews, SportBible, Brit Brief, Oche180