THE proud grandfather of a Scottish teenage darts sensation who has just smashed Luke Littler’s record has said: “I’ve taught him everything he knows”.
Darts prodigy Mitchell Lawrie, from Renfrew, has become the youngest ever player to win three senior men’s titles after he claimed the WDF Irish Classic in Killarney on Saturday night – just four days after his 15th birthday.
Scottish teen darting sensation Mitchell Lawrie has become the youngest player to win three senior men’s titles
Mitchell’s granddad Dougie taught him to play from a young age
And the talented teen celebrated his latest big win with his proud father Fraser and granddad Dougie, who were in the crowd at the INEC Arena in Kerry, Ireland, to cheer him on.
Mitchell’s victory in the final of the men’s Irish Classic came just half an hour after he had also won the youths competition.
It means he has now overtaken reigning PDC world champion Littler (18) as the youngest ever male player to win three senior men’s WDF titles, having already won the British Open and Welsh Open earlier this year.
Littler was just 15 years, five months and four days old when he achieved that feat, but Mitchell has now beaten that by five months.
His amazing feats had his emotional dad Fraser in tears, while his grandfather Dougie (68) said: “Mitchell is a great kid and we are so proud of him. But we don’t want him to be the next Luke Littler, we just want him to be our Mitchell.
“Him and Luke are great friends and have played each other a lot over the years. Luke is now a superstar but we just want Mitchell to be happy playing darts.”
Dougie revealed how Mitchell learned to play darts from him.
He added: “I’ve played darts all my life and I’ve had Mitchell playing from when he was a very young boy.
“I always taught him to play with aggression, even from when he was little. I make no apologies for that as it has turned him into a great player.”
And Dougie revealed how Mitchell’s win in Killarney was also an early birthday present for him.
“It’s my birthday on Sunday and this is a great way to celebrate it.”
The young Scot claimed victory in the men’s Irish Classic by defeating Ireland’s Ronan McDonagh with a sensational performance in the final, hitting four 180s and averaging 98.60 in a 5-1 win.
It came less than an hour after he had also claimed the Irish Classic Youths title with a 4-1 win over England’s Kaya Basal, averaging 90.95 in that final.
Mitchell will now compete at the mens and youths WDF world championships in Lakeside later this month.
However, like Littler before him, he will have to wait until he turns 16 this time next year before he is old enough to compete in the Professional Darts Circuit (PDC) competitions.
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