Back in December 2024, Luke Littler found himself apologising to a World Darts Championship fan after coming agonisingly close to delivering one of the biggest moments of the tournament.
The teenager was competing against Ryan Meikle at Alexandra Palace, with the pressure already enormous as he attempted to go one step further than his runner-up finish from the previous year’s World Championship.
But there was another incentive hanging over every potential nine-darter.
The tournament had introduced a huge £60,000 prize for a lucky fan whenever a player completed the perfect nine-dart leg. Christian Kist had already triggered the payout earlier in the tournament, meaning Littler knew exactly what was at stake when he found himself on the verge of perfection.
And then came the moment that darts fans remember.
Littler gets agonisingly close
Littler was flying during the match against Meikle and had put himself in position to complete a nine-darter.
After opening with six perfect darts, he continued the attempt and eventually reached the crucial final dart.
Double 12 stood between him and a perfect leg.
For a player who had already established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in the sport, this was a huge opportunity.
But the dart missed.
The nine-darter disappeared, and with it went the chance for a fan inside Alexandra Palace to collect £60,000.
Littler knew exactly what had happened.
He had heard the excitement around the arena and realised that the cameras had already started focusing on the potential winner in the crowd.
That was when he delivered the line that became one of the memorable quotes from the tournament.
“I heard the camera pan around to the winner, so I’m sorry whoever you are! I’ll try again.”
It was classic Littler: disappointed, frustrated, but still able to see the funny side of the situation.
The frustration behind the apology
The missed nine-darter wasn’t simply an isolated moment for Littler.
By that stage, he had already come extremely close to perfection several times during his breakthrough season.
The 2024 campaign had seen him produce multiple nine-dart legs, including at the Bahrain Darts Masters, Players Championship 1, Belgian Darts Open and Premier League final.
That meant another near-miss at Alexandra Palace was understandably frustrating.
Littler admitted at the time that the pursuit of another perfect leg was becoming a “frustration in a good way.”
There was a particularly interesting detail behind his explanation.
“As soon as you make the switch to the treble 19, your eyes light up,” he said.
That perfectly captured what was going through his mind.
Once a player gets deep into a nine-dart attempt, the possibility of perfection becomes impossible to ignore.
One more treble.
One more big visit.
Then the finishing double.
For Littler, however, Double 12 refused to cooperate.
It wasn’t just the missed nine-darter
What made the night even more memorable was the emotional rollercoaster Littler experienced during the match.
Despite the disappointment of missing the perfect leg, he still had to concentrate on beating Meikle.
And it was far from straightforward.
Littler eventually came through 3-1, but afterwards described the contest as probably the toughest game he had played.
“I had to fight until the end,” he said after the match.
The teenager also admitted that he struggled to find his rhythm once the game began, despite feeling fine beforehand.
That made his eventual victory even more significant.
He hadn’t simply cruised through the second round.
He had been forced to dig deep and find a way to survive.
The £60,000 moment fans missed
From a spectator’s perspective, the missed Double 12 was frustrating enough.
But for the fan who had been positioned to receive the £60,000 prize, it must have been an entirely different feeling.
One dart separated them from an extraordinary payday.
Littler understood that immediately.
His “I’m sorry, whoever you are” comment wasn’t a formal apology in the traditional sense. It was more of a light-hearted acknowledgement that his missed dart had just denied somebody a life-changing amount of money.
That was part of what made the moment so relatable.
Littler wanted the nine-darter for himself and his growing list of achievements, but he also knew someone in the crowd had been watching the same dart with £60,000 potentially riding on it.
A tournament filled with emotion
The missed nine-darter wasn’t even the only emotional moment Littler experienced around that match.
After eventually getting past Meikle, he became visibly emotional during his post-match media duties.
The pressure surrounding his World Championship campaign was enormous.
He had already reached the final on his Alexandra Palace debut the previous year, losing to Luke Humphries, and expectations were even greater this time.
At just 17, Littler was already being discussed among the leading names in professional darts.
Yet moments like this showed the human side of the player behind the nickname “The Nuke.”
He could be frustrated by a missed double, overwhelmed after a difficult victory and still find enough humour to apologise to a stranger whose £60,000 dream had disappeared with one dart.
Looking back at Littler’s 2024 moment
Looking back, the incident became a small but memorable part of Littler’s extraordinary rise.
The nine-darter never happened that night.
The fan never collected the £60,000 from Littler’s attempt.
But the moment still produced one of those quotes that perfectly captured the personality of a young player dealing with enormous expectations.
“I’m sorry whoever you are! I’ll try again.”
And perhaps that was the most fitting response possible.
Littler didn’t dwell on the missed opportunity. He moved on, won the match and continued his pursuit of another nine-darter.
For darts fans, that’s why the moment remains fun to revisit.
It wasn’t a championship-winning finish or a legendary final.
It was simply one missed double, one disappointed fan, and a young Luke Littler showing exactly how much emotion can be packed into a single dart.
Years later, it’s another reminder of just how entertaining Littler’s breakthrough years were — and how quickly even the smallest moments could become part of darts folklore.