While most eyes are on the Professional Darts Corporation’s main events, the PDC Challenge Tour provides an opportunity for those without pro status to tackle high-quality opponents and, perhaps, secure promotion to the top tier come the end of the season.
The 2026 edition got underway in January, with a number of Warwickshire dartists toeing the oche.
And while they experienced a mixed set of results, those were not without plenty of signs of positivity of what’s to come in the campaign ahead.
Super Ted
Ted Evetts reiterated his status as a player with a high performance ceiling when taking a set off world number two Luke Humphries in their World Championship clash in December.
That was very much an odds-against World Darts bet, with Humphries – one of the premier operators in the sport – expected by the market to win 3-0.
As a result of that fine effort, ‘Super Ted’ has been added to the darts betting odds for the 2026/27 World Championships, although a price of 800/1 is indicative of the work the Southam thrower still has to do to compete with the sport’s elite.
Luke Humphries began his Paddy Power World Darts Championship title bid with a 3-1 victory over Ted Evetts on Saturday, as Paul Lim and Gary Anderson also advanced to round two.
Read the report from Day Three 📝 https://t.co/cjmn3sgUUu pic.twitter.com/rfujlPaxAT
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 14, 2025
Evetts, who balances his darts career with work in the catering industry, missed out on securing a PDC Tour Card after losing out in stage two of the ever-competitive Q School event in January.
But he was soon back on the oche as part of the Challenge Tour, where he racked up a series of wins across the five individual events.
The 28-year-old’s best effort was a run to the last 32 in Challenge Tour 1, where he lost 2-6 despite averaging 92.80.
However, you sense there’s more to come from Evetts, whose third-place finish on the 2025 Challenge Tour order of merit was enough to secure him a place at the World Championships – where he made national headlines for appearing to ‘despatch’ the infamous Alexandra Palace wasp while playing Humphries – and March’s UK Open.
The Muffin Man
Another Warwickshire dartist with ties to the catering sector is Steve Hine.
The 56-year-old is known as the ‘Muffin Man’, thanks to a career as a baker, and has delighted audiences wherever he’s played by throwing cakes into the crowd before his games.
Minimal spectators watch the action in the confined set-up of the Challenge Tour, but Hine nevertheless has made sweet and steady progress so far – reaching the quarter-final of the fifth event of the series.
Some impressive victories, including a 5-2 defeat of former World Cup of Darts finalist Rowby-John Rodriguez, swept the Muffin Man into the last eight.
But there he ran into Jack Tweddell, who defeated Hine before going on to clinch the title, defeating recent PDC Tour pro Steve Lennon 5-1 in the final.
It’s a big year for Warwickshire thrower Jamie Hughes, who turns 40 in February.
He would love to cap his milestone year with a return to the top tier of PDC darts, but he’ll have to do so the even harder way after missing out on a card at Q School.
Only the winner of the Challenge Tour secures automatic promotion to the main PDC circuit, so there’s plenty of work for Hughes and his peers to do in 2026.
He reached the last 16 of Challenge Tour 1, however ran into the impressive Tommy Lishman – a player who has thrown a nine-dart leg in a televised event previously. Lishman went onto win the title, averaging 99 in the final.
In Challenge Tour 3, Hughes was beaten by another nine-dart star in Willie Borland, who achieved the feat on the biggest stage of them all at the Alexandra Palace.
So, tough draws and some stellar performances were the order of the day for Warwickshire’s leading dartists in January… what will the rest of 2026 hold for them?
Article written by Ben Spencer
