Mitchell Lawrie, 15, is one of 24 amateur players taking part in the live TV special Beat Luke Littler, and has his sights set on a £501,000 bullseye should he beat the world darts champion.
Lawrie admits there will be nerves. "There's a bundle of good players in there and you're just hoping you get a chance before they get a chance. There's a few big names I want to go before," he said. "Being live on Netflix at 15 years of age is just something else."
He acknowledges that Luke Littler is the best player in the world, but notes that it is only one leg of darts and a very hard leg to win. "Everybody there has a chance at the end of the day," he said.
Lawrie already has a victory over Littler to his name. At the World Cup junior darts in Gibraltar in 2023, Scotland beat England 4-3 in a deciding leg, a team that included Littler. The win was part of a tournament Scotland went on to claim, the first time the country had ever won the World Cup. Lawrie was crowned WDF Open Youth World Champion last year and was described as "the future of darts" by Jimmy van Schie after the Dutchman beat him in the WDF World Championship final in December. Lawrie, who idolises former world number one Gary Anderson, has been playing since his grandfather mounted a board on a chair when he was two, but only took it seriously about three and a half years ago.
Source: BBC Sport · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing