Damon Heta, the ninth seed, hit a nine-darter but was knocked out by Englishman Luke Woodhouse in the third round of the PDC World Championship.
The Australian celebrated enthusiastically after landing double 12 to complete the perfect leg, with Woodhouse raising his arm as the crowd cheered. This secured Heta the second set. It was the second nine-darter of this year’s tournament, following Dutchman Christian Kist’s achievement in the second round.
However, Kist also lost his match, and out of the 16 players who have hit a nine-darter at Alexandra Palace, nine have gone on to lose. Heta earned £60,000 for the nine-darter, with the same amount being donated by sponsors to a charity and a spectator at the venue in London.
Despite Heta’s perfect leg, it was Woodhouse who advanced to the last 16. He made a strong comeback, winning the final three sets in a row without dropping a leg, after being 3-1 down.
Woodhouse said, “I’ve got no words at all—the crowd has been fantastic. I don’t think it was the greatest game, but I managed to come through it. I’m over the moon. I just kept putting pressure on him and stayed on top.”
He added, “Me and Damo are good friends. We play golf together and practise a lot. I know he was disappointed after missing a nine-darter in the previous round, so it was brilliant to see him hit it. The crowd went wild, and we couldn’t help but celebrate.”
Heta is the 15th seed to be eliminated from the tournament, and the fourth of the top 10 seeds to be knocked out.
