Stephen Bunting triumphs in Belfast after Luke Littler suffers another setback
By Jim van Wijk, Press Association
Stephen Bunting beat Gian van Veen 6-2 to claim victory on night four of the Premier League in Belfast, where Josh Rock sparked wild celebrations from his home crowd by hitting a nine-dart finish, and Luke Littler’s struggles rumbled on.
‘The Bullet’ had not won any of his previous matches in this year’s showpiece tournament, but got on the board after seeing off defending champion Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals before sweeping past Jonny Clayton 6-0 to book his spot in the final.
Van Veen – who had reached the previous two nightly finals in his debut campaign – was a comfortable winner over Rock despite the Northern Irishman’s perfect leg and then came through a close semi-final against Gerwyn Price which went the distance.
BUNTING WINS IN BELFAST! ð
What a night!
Stephen Bunting wins his first night of his 2026 Premier League campaign, as The Bullet beats Gian van Veen 6-2 to claim the title in Belfast!
ðº https://t.co/LnNAPX0oQz#PLDarts | Final pic.twitter.com/RLD3DjahT8— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) February 26, 2026
Bunting, though, took control of the final after an early break and then again in the fifth leg to lead 5-1 before closing out an impressive night’s work on double top.
“Losing seven or eight (matches) on the spin last year really helped me to be honest,” Bunting said in his on-stage interview with Sky Sports.
“It gave me a lot of experience in this field. When you are playing in the Premier League, it is against the best of the best.
“I am overjoyed to be honest – this has got to rank up there with one of the best wins of my career.”
Clayton remains top of the table with 11 points, two ahead of Van Veen, while Bunting moves up to fifth above Littler and Humphries with Rock bottom.
In the opening quarter-final at the SSE Arena, world champion Littler had slipped to a 6-3 defeat against Clayton.
Littler had won just one match in the first three weeks of the showpiece tournament and was hammered 6-1 by Clayton in the semi-finals last week in Glasgow, where he was handed a bye.
Clayton landed a monster 156 checkout as he soon opened up a 3-0 lead against the world number one and then kept his composure to move 4-2 ahead with another break when Littler missed three darts at his favoured double 10.
Littler, who won the season’s first European Tour silverware in Krakow on Sunday, turned to gesture to the Belfast crowd to calm down as he took the eighth leg with a 112 finish.
Clayton, though, went on to close out another impressive victory when he landed a 168 checkout and then pinned double four after Littler could not clear up from 124.
Rock had then sparked delirium at the SSE Arena by hitting a nine-dart finish in the seventh leg of a 6-2 defeat to Gian van Veen.
But the Northern Irishman is still left waiting to get a victory on the board.
“I honestly don’t care if I never hit a nine-darter in my life again – to have it in Belfast has just made my life a dream come true,” said Rock, who was presented with a custom-made set of 18-carat gold darts, worth £30,000, by tournament sponsors BetMGM.
In the other quarter-final, Price fought back to beat Michael van Gerwen in a last-leg decider after the Dutchman – who missed out in Glasgow with illness – had looked in control when 5-3 up.
