PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf assesses the top ten PDC stars - based on their last 200 legs played - following last weekend's Superbet Poland Darts Masters.
#1 Averages - Luke Littler
#1 OChE - Luke Littler
#1 Doubles - Dom Taylor
#1 171-180 - Luke Littler
#1 99, 101+ Checkout - Ritchie Edhouse
Along with his sixth title of 2024, Luke Littler extended his domination of the Form Guide with 92 maxima in his last 100 legs, a near-100 average and a PDC-leading 28 legs won in 12 darts or fewer.
Against the #2 and #3 players - Luke Humphries and Rob Cross - Littler boasts a combined 14-3 record, which now includes an 8-3 demolition of 2018 World Champion Cross in Poland.
Elsewhere, two Scottish stars are among the most improved players during the first half of June.
While only one is now a Players Championship winner, the other is a favourite to soon become one on the basis of his recent performances in European Tour qualifiers.
Alan Soutar not only added his name to the 2024 roll of honour in claiming the Players Championship 11 title, but he did so with a sudden surge of form that overwhelmed PDC veterans Daryl Gurney and Steve Beaton.
His recent exploits equate to winning 55 out of every 100 legs against ProTour opponents, an increase of more than eight in just over a week. This places him 17th in OChE rating amongst Tour Card Holders - in May he ranked 56th.
However, it is neither Soutar nor the indefatigable Gary Anderson who is the #1 Scotsman on form.
That honour belongs to Cameron Menzies, who secured another European Tour qualification while averaging 98.50 over his last 200 legs, with Menzies, Littler and Humphries currently the only players with a 50% win rate of legs in 15 darts or fewer.
After the Players Championship circuit recorded its 12th consecutive new winner of 2024 last week, many multiple-title holders are struggling to keep pace with their upstart rivals.
Michael Smith may have more than two dozen titles to his name and one of the highest rates of scoring in darts, but missed doubles cost him victory against Littler in Gliwice.
That is indicative of the weakness in his game, currently holding him to the 102nd highest doubles percentage in the PDC.
Similarly, reigning World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall, beaten by Boris Krcmar in Poland, saw his averages drop by more than 2 points, leaving him with a lower OChE rating than 23 non-Premier League players.
Dirk van Duijvenbode and Raymond van Barneveld saw similar slides in form at the same time that Jermaine Wattimena reached his highest Form Guide rank on record (#11) and Dom Taylor achieved the highest doubles percentage among Tour Card Holders.
No player has opened up a Form-Guide lead big enough to dominate multiple tournaments, nor has any player been able to sustain long-term improvements (except Littler!), explaining in part why there have been so many different champions this year.
*OChE (Ordinal Checkout Efficiency) explained:
OChE is a metric designed to evaluate the efficiency at which players convert their averages into legs won.
The statistic is the % of legs a player would expect to win on the ProTour, calculated from a weighted average of 4,5, 6 & 7 visit checkout rates.
Follow Christopher on Twitter @ochepedia