Luke Littler has notched his first nine-darter of the year, but only his opponent and the referee got to witness it.
Littler ousted world No. 85 Adam Hunt 6-5 in their round of 64 clash at the PDC Players Championship 05 in Leicester.
It was Hunt who claimed the first leg before Littler answered back in the second with a blistering three-dart average of 125.25.
The defending world champion rattled off two more legs, only for Hunt to take the fifth to cut Littler’s lead to 3-2.
Unfortunately for Hunt, there was little he could to to prevent Littler’s brilliance in the next leg.
Littler hit back-to-back 180’s before finishing on 141, completing the nine-dart feat.
The teenager’s nine-darter was his first of the year and the fifth of his professional career.
However, fans were not able to catch so much as a glimpse of Littler’s darting brilliance as the match was not streamed.
Safe to say, some were left devastated at not being able to witness the moment.
One fan wrote on X: “Littler’s just hit a 9 on board 5 and it’s not on stream, I am distraught.”
Another said: “Luke Littler first 9 darter in nearly a year and he’s not on stream.”
Despite Littler’s brilliance, Hunt eventually took him to a deciding 11th leg.
But Littler’s average of 115.62 in the final leg sealed victory.
At the time of writing, Littler has booked a semi-final clash with Dutchman Gian van Veen having thrashed Aussie Damon Heta 6-1 in the quarters.
Remarkably, Littler’s nine-darter was not the first to take place on Tuesday at the Players Championship.
Two-time world champion Gary Anderson threw his eighth nine-darter at a PDC event as he came from behind to beat Ryan Joyce 6-5 in the round of 128.
Joyce was one leg away from beating ‘The Flying Scotsman’ as he held a 5-4 lead.
However, Anderson went the same route as Littler with 180, 180 and 141 to force a deciding leg.
Anderson’s cool head prevailed as he survived a bright start from Joyce in the deciding leg to win on double-20.
Luckily for Littler and Anderson, they were not struck by the unfortunate nine-dart curse which befell Luke Humphries and Rob Cross.
Humphries and Cross sent the crowd in Brighton wild on night five of the Premier League when they hit nine-darters, only to lose their respective matches.
