Woodhouse Nine-Darter Ignites European Championship
Thursday night in Dortmund belonged to Luke Woodhouse. The Woodhouse nine-darter European Championship story wrote itself before most of the field had even thrown a dart in anger: back-to-back 180s, a 141 checkout of treble 20, treble 19 and double 12, and the first perfect leg of the European Championship 2026 was complete — inside just the fourth leg of the very first match of the tournament.
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Woodhouse beat Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 in the night’s opening game. With Woodhouse 2-1 up, the nine broke the Dutchman’s throw — the only break of the entire match, with van Duijvenbode never getting it back. Woodhouse sealed it with 89 on the bull.
It was his first televised nine-darter. “It’s my first one on a big stage,” he said. “It felt really comfortable doing it, and after the treble 19 I felt like it was going to be the double 12. I tried to keep myself nice and calm. It was more about not letting him back into the game.”
He knew the job was only half done once the crowd had finished celebrating. “I had a chance at the Worlds, and that didn’t go very well,” he told ITV Sport. “I know it is a cliché, but the important thing is the win. I didn’t want to be one of those people who hit a nine-darter then lost the game.” He was not — the nine-darter became a match-winner rather than a footnote.
Woodhouse Nine-Darter Ignites European Championship 2026
The nine itself was a classic of the genre. Woodhouse pinned the treble 20, followed it with the treble 19, then planted the double 12 after a visible moment of calm at the oche. Nine-darters on the big stage remain one of darts’ rarest sights, and to strike one in the very first match of the event set a tone the rest of the night had to live up to.
The Woodhouse nine-darter is already being talked about as one of the great European Championship moments — the perfect start to a tournament our European Championship 2026 preview had flagged as wide open.
For van Duijvenbode it was cruel: he kept pace leg for leg afterwards, which only underlined how costly that single break was in a first-to-six format.
Woodhouse’s reward is a Saturday tie against defending champion Gian van Veen.
Opening Night Results
The other seven first-round ties needed no perfect leg to produce drama, once play began at 1900 CEST.
Stephen Bunting 6-5 Danny Noppert. A deciding-leg classic: Noppert missed four darts at a double in the opening leg, and it came down to a shootout in the eleventh. With Noppert sitting on 100 for the match — hitting double 20 with his first dart and agonisingly missing it with his second — Bunting stepped in and pinned a magnificent 160 checkout to win it.
Cameron Menzies 6-3 Niels Zonneveld. Fresh from his first PDC title in Maastricht, Menzies survived an early break — Zonneveld took the opener with 109 on tops — then won six of the next eight legs, finishing on the bull from 87 to set up a Saturday tie with Gerwyn Price.
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Rob Cross. A meeting of two former world champions that turned into the Price show: a 127 checkout on the bull to break in the opener, a 99.3 average, and a 135 checkout to seal it. Cross had a dart bounce out and missed two darts at 32 at 3-1 down. Price meets Menzies next.
Damon Heta 6-5 James Wade. Wade squandered four match darts and Heta, 5-3 down, stormed back to snatch the deciding leg — the evening’s second last-leg thriller. He meets top seed Ross Smith on Saturday.
Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Ryan Searle. The stand-in made himself at home, averaging a superb 103.8 in a demolition of Searle — his first win at the European Championship since 2015. His Saturday date with Bunting is now one of the ties of the round.
Gian van Veen 6-4 Andrew Gilding. The defending champion safely through, never quite hitting top gear but always holding enough in reserve against Gilding. He faces Woodhouse — and his nine-darter — on Saturday.
Ross Smith 6-4 Karel Sedlacek. The top seed and 2022 champion avoided an early scare; Sedlacek pushed him hard, but Smith’s big-match experience told in the closing legs. He faces Damon Heta next.
Humphries Withdraws, Huybrechts Seizes His Chance
The night was overshadowed before a dart was thrown by the withdrawal of Luke Humphries, diagnosed with gastroenteritis ahead of his scheduled match against Ryan Searle. Under PDC rules he was directly replaced in the draw by Kim Huybrechts, the highest-ranked non-qualified player in the 2026 European Tour rankings — and Huybrechts responded with that 103.8-average win.
Humphries’ withdrawal could also boost Luke Littler’s attempt to complete the set of major tournament wins — after a prolific two years, the European Championship is the one major missing from his collection. The path just got clearer, starting with Friday night’s tie against William O’Connor in front of a hostile German crowd.
What Comes Next
Friday night brings the second half of the first round, headlined by Littler against O’Connor, with the full first-round draw to be whittled down to a last 16.
Then comes Saturday, and the four ties already confirmed are mouth-watering:
• Luke Woodhouse vs Gian van Veen
• Ross Smith vs Damon Heta
• Gerwyn Price vs Cameron Menzies
• Stephen Bunting vs Kim Huybrechts
The Woodhouse nine-darter against the defending champion is the pick of them: if he repeats Thursday’s scoring power, van Veen is in for a long night.
FAQ
What is a nine-darter?
A nine-darter is a perfect leg of 501, the minimum number of darts needed to check out — most commonly two 180s followed by a 141 checkout, exactly as Luke Woodhouse threw in Dortmund.
Who hit the nine-darter at the European Championship 2026?
Luke Woodhouse, in leg four of his 6-3 first-round win over Dirk van Duijvenbode. The Woodhouse nine-darter — back-to-back 180s and a 141 finish of treble 20, treble 19 and double 12 — came against the throw, the only break of the match. See how it happened on Sky Sports.
Why did Luke Humphries withdraw from the European Championship 2026?
Humphries withdrew before the event after being diagnosed with gastroenteritis, and was replaced directly by Kim Huybrechts, the highest-ranked non-qualified player in the 2026 European Tour rankings. Huybrechts then beat Ryan Searle 6-1, averaging 103.8.
When does the European Championship 2026 finish?
The tournament runs from October 22 to 25 in Dortmund, Germany, with the second round on Saturday and the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on Sunday.
Conclusion
Opening night delivered everything the sport promises: the Woodhouse nine-darter in the very first match, two deciding-leg thrillers, a 160 checkout to win a shootout, a 99.3 average from Gerwyn Price, and a last-minute replacement averaging 103.8. Woodhouse struck the perfect leg on Thursday, but the perfect weekend is still up for grabs — and with Littler chasing the one major missing from his collection, the drama is only just getting started.
