Luke Humphries will no longer lead a unique challenge on Wednesday to solve the riddle of sporting perfection.
Fans, players and pundits alike have long argued whether it’s harder to hit a nine-darter on the oche, a 147 maximum break in snooker or a hole-in-one on the golf course.
Now bookies Paddy Power – who sponsor the PDC Darts World Championship – have set up a special challenge to try and settle all arguments. In a two-hour window, Humphries and three-times world champion Michael van Gerwen will go up against the clock to hit a perfect leg behind closed doors in Manchester.
Simultaneously, snooker world champions Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy will bid to sink a 147 maximum, while golf stars Matt Wallace and Ross Fisher will tackle a 141-yard par three at Hertsmere to try and hit an ace. The Paddy Power Perfect Challenge will be live-streamed on the bookmaker and PDC’s social media channels form 12 noon on Wednesday.
Humphries, who begins the defence of his world title at Alexandra Palace on December 15, said: “Nine-darters in competition are pretty rare – if they were easy, everyone would be doing it. It’s an intriguing challenge and I’m looking forward to it.”
Statistically, standards on the PDC Pro tour have improved markedly over the last 10 years – driven by a rise in the frequency of perfect legs.
In the 2014 season, there were just 20 nine-dart finishes on the PDC circuit, compared with 55 in 2024 to date. But the mathematical probability of a player throwing a nine-dart leg remains extremely low, with odds of approximately 5,000-1 per attempt.
Murphy, who made the first and only 147 in the Snooker Shootout last year against the shot clock, and Williams have made a combined 11 career maximum breaks between them. On average, professional golfers will make a hole-in-one with a strike rate of one in 2,500 Shots.
The Perfect Challenge rules are simple: Each time a player misses the target, fails, the respective leg or frame will restart and they will attempts will continue until they make one – or time runs out.