Luke Woodhouse goes to the second round in 2025 PDC World Darts Championships. The Englishman confidently defeated him Lawrence Ilagan 3-0 on Monday afternoon as he prepares to face World Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker.
Overall, Woodhouse played a solid match, averaging 94 points per call and had a 45% success rate in doubles. This was more than good enough for Ilagan to suffer an eighth round first round defeat in 9 appearances for Alexandra Palace.
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“I think I probably controlled the game for the first two sets. I switched off for a moment, but yes, my main goal for today was to complete the first round 100%,” Woodhouse says in his post. press conference after the match.
Woodhouse has steadily climbed up the rankings in recent years and is currently targeting a top-32 finish. “I think if you look at my career overall. It was always slow and steady. I think I can offer a lot more, but yes, it’s good and I’m really happy,” he explains. “In my first semi-final during a televised event, I reached the semi-final of the European Championships. But yes, I can definitely offer more, you just need to find regularity. I can be really good for, say, a few months and then maybe drop down a little bit.”
As mentioned, Woodhouse will face recent World Grand Prix winner Mike de Decker in the second round. In fact, Woodhouse, like many others on the tour, was inspired by the recent successes of De Decker and Ritchie Edhouse, which shows that regardless of ranking, anyone can win in the PDC these days. “Even Martin Lukeman reaches the final of a Grand Slam. If you talk to them, they got a lot of inspiration from it. Everyone knows that on tour anyone can play, but being able to go and do that and then be a part of taking it to the next level is another thing, so when I see them advance and get to the final, Ritchie wins the European Championship and Mike de Decker wins the Grand Prix, no one is afraid of it anymore.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no more fear on the course, at least not according to Woodhouse. “Van Gerwen was my greatest fear. But I think so Luke Humphries AND Łukasz Małyr they are probably, in my opinion, the two best players in the world right now,” adds Woodhouse. “So everyone knows they have this kind of aura around them.”
