PDC World Darts Championship 2026: Alan Soutar wins epic with Teemu Harju after missing 15 match darts

In the day’s opening match, Scotland’s Alan Soutar missed 15 match darts before finally defeating Finnish debutant Teemu Harju in a sudden-death leg.

In an epic that lasted almost an hour and a half, 33-year-old Harju missed four match darts of his own in the sixth leg of the deciding set.

Soutar, 47, had flown into a two-set lead without losing a leg, averaging 107.36 at that stage and hitting six of his first eight attempts at doubles.

But while Harju maintained a steady level, Soutar’s overall three-dart average dropped closer to 90 and when opportunities arose, he was unable to put the match away.

Harju had the advantage of throwing first in the 11th and deciding leg of the fifth set at Alexandra Palace, but Soutar broke to win – landing his first dart at double 16 to complete a 45 checkout.

The record number of missed match darts in a major match is 18, by three-time world champion John Part.

Part was wearing glasses on stage for the first time and missed a succession of doubles in a defeat by Andy Hamilton in their Players Championship Finals contest in Minehead in 2013.

Soutar will face European Championship winner and 10th seed Gian van Veen of the Netherlands in round two.

England’s Scott Williams, a semi-finalist at Alexandra Palace in 2024, hit nine of his 14 attempts at doubles in a fine display of finishing as he beat Paolo Nebrida of the Philippines 3-0.

There were mixed fortunes for two German players – Ricardo Pietreczko defeated Portugal’s former Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa 3-1, but Niko Springer was on the wrong end of the 3-1 scoreline against Australia’s Joe Comito.