Gerwyn Price reigns supreme in Wollongong at the Australian Darts Masters.

The night kicked off with a magnificent tie between former World Champion Michael Smith and reigning Premier League champion Luke Littler, Bullyboy having the better head-to-head record going into the match.

Smith took the opening leg against the throw and backed that up with a hold with a brilliant 130 finish to take an early 2-0 lead.  Leg 4 saw Michael Smith regain a two leg cushion with a brilliant 11 darter before Littler reeled off three legs on the spin to take the lead for the first time.

The 8th leg saw the Premier League champion go 7 perfect darts into the coveted 9 dart leg but he wasn’t allowed back to the board for another visit as Smith took out a magnificent 161 checkout to level at 4-4.

The 180s didn’t stop as Michael Smith gave himself an opportunity to take out 144 for a perfect leg however, he failed to convert and eventually lost the leg and the match in the leg after that.

The 2nd Quarter Final saw a rematch from the World Matchplay at the same stage between Luke Humphries and Dimitri Van Den Bergh. It was a lacklustre performance from the World Champion as he only averaged 90 in a 6-2 loss. Cool Hand was looking to win his maiden World Series in Wollongong this weekend but will have to wait a bit longer for glory.

Peter Wright booked his spot in the Last 8 with a resounding 6-1 win over the much-loved Aussie Simon Whitlock and was looking to build on this performance when he took on reigning Australian Darts Masters Champion Rob Cross.

The match was an even contest with Cross one leg ahead at 4-3 after the first 7 legs. Wright will be looking to get it right again on the World Series as he reached the Semi-Finals in Wollongong after winning the last 3 legs to be victorious with a 6-4 win.

The final Quarter-Final between Gerwyn Price and Damon Heta got off to a sluggish start with both players averaging around 84 after the first couple of legs, contributed by the opening leg being taken in 24 legs by Price.

It was the first ever game between Luke Littler and Dimitri Van den Bergh and it was the Belgian who started quickest, hitting 3 180s in the first 2 legs and a high average reaching the 115 mark early doors. The game was at a stalemate at 3-3 at the first break.

With Van den Bergh on 124 to take a 6-4 lead, Littler hit a stunning 146 checkout to level the game up once more at 5-5 before solidifying that hold with a brilliant break to throw for the match and a 7-5 win.

It wasn’t as easy as that for The Nuke who surrendered his advantage to set up a last leg decider to see who would reach the 2024 Australian Darts Masters Final.

A magnificent encounter consisting of 14 180s was won eventually by the 17 year old after Van den Bergh missed 2 match darts to reach the final.

Peter Wright raced into a 3-0 lead against the Nordic Masters champion Gerwyn Price, that didn’t last long however as Price clawed it back to 3-3 at the first break. The game remained tight as once again it went to a 13th and final leg with The Iceman pinning a magnificent 106 checkout to set up a final with Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler.

The 2024 Australian Darts Masters Final was set and it was Gerwyn Price who started in a ruthless manner, the 2021 World Champion surged into a 5-0 lead with a massive roar of emotion shown once he took the 5th leg.

A sarcastic reaction came from Littler in the last leg before the break as he picked up his first leg of the final to make it 5-1 at the interval.

Luke Littler’s woes on the doubles continued as he missed two darts to pick up his second leg, Price punished and went one away from the title.

For the 3rd consecutive year it was an 8-1 thrashing in the final as Gerwyn Price was crowned as the 2024 Australian Darts Masters champion, his 3rd World Series title.

2024 Australian Darts Masters

Saturday August 10

Quarter Finals

Luke Littler 6-4 Michael Smith

Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-2 Luke Humphries

Peter Wright 6-4 Rob Cross

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Damon Heta

Semi-Finals

Luke Littler 7-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Gerwyn Price 7-6 Peter Wright

Final

Gerwyn Price 8-1 Luke Littler