Nearly 14,000 enthusiastic darts fans created a goosebumps atmosphere at the Kiel MERKUR Ostseehalle during the ELTEN Safety Shoes Baltic Sea Darts Open. In front of this impressive backdrop, Luke Woodhouse won his first title on the Winamax PDC European Tour with an 8-4 final victory over fellow countryman Ryan Joyce.
With this success, Woodhouse also continues a remarkable streak: the first eight European Tour events of 2026 have produced eight different winners. Such a feat has only occurred once before in the history of the tournament series: in 2014, eight different professionals also shared the first eight titles of the season, namely Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen, Phil Taylor, Vincent van der Voort, James Wade, Peter Wright, Mervyn King, and Michael Smith.
The final began perfectly for Luke Woodhouse. The Englishman opened with a 13-darter and quickly surged to a 3-0 lead with a brilliant 140 finish. Joyce found his rhythm better as the match progressed and narrowed the gap to 2-3, but whenever “Relentless” crept closer, Woodhouse had the perfect response ready. A 17-dart break for 4-2 was followed by another break for 5-3. Joyce closed the gap once more to 4-6, but he never got back within real striking distance. At 7-4, Woodhouse was just one leg away from victory. He wrapped up the final with a spectacular 160 finish and was subsequently celebrated by the fans in Kiel. With an average of nearly 99 points and a checkout rate of over 61 percent, it was a more than deserved title.
It was a good chance for both of us and I just didn’t want to let it pass me by. I just tried to be ultra-focused.
Woodhouse with title double-pack within twelve days
Just twelve days after claiming his first PDC title at Players Championship 18, Woodhouse immediately followed up with his first title on the European Tour. “Woody” had lost his first final on this stage at the Swiss Darts Trophy 2025 by a score of 3-8 against Stephen Bunting. After Wessel Nijman and Ross Smith, Luke Woodhouse is the third player to win a European Tour title for the first time this year.
For Ryan Joyce, it marked his second lost final on the European Tour. The Englishman had previously lost the final of the European Darts Trophy back in 2025.
Van Schie with strong debut
With Jimmy van Schie and Host Nation Qualifier Jason Riedtke, two players made their European Tour debut in Kiel. While Riedtke crashed out in the very first round, van Schie turned on the style. The Dutchman reached the quarter-finals at the first attempt, where he was eliminated 3-6 by the eventual tournament winner Luke Woodhouse. Alongside Riedtke, Max Hopp, Lukas Wenig, Martin Schindler, and the three other German Host Nation Qualifiers also lost their opening matches. Only Niko Springer reached Finals Day after two victories. However, he was forced to accept a 4-6 defeat against Ryan Joyce there.
Menzies with career best
Cameron Menzies played the highest average of the entire tournament back on Friday: with 108.41 points against Rob Cross, the Scot set a new personal best on the European Tour. As the tournament progressed, Menzies could not quite replicate this performance and lost to tournament winner Woodhouse in the Last 16.
Ricky Evans reached a European Tour semi-final for the first time in over seven years. There, Woodhouse proved to be a mountain too high as well (2-7).
Next stop: Bratislava
Before the European Tour heads to its next destination, a special highlight is coming up first: from June 11 to 14, the best 40 nations in the world will battle it out for the team world championship title at the BetVictor World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt.
Afterwards, the European Tour will make its debut in Slovakia with the Slovak Darts Open from June 12 to 14. Following Krakow, Bratislava is the second new location on the European Tour this year. Tickets for both events are available via the official PDC Europe ticket page.
