The 41-year-old is still in his competitive prime and his career high came less than 18 months ago, when he made the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts final and lost to Luke Littler. He had to leave the island on Sunday morning to prepare for upcoming PDC action.
But in coming over for the Western Individual League’s presentation and a series of short, sharp matches at the West Legion, he made his mark on Guernsey darts.
Thankfully, Guernsey’s scenery and darts community also made an impression on him.
‘Beautiful island, absolutely stunning,’ he said.
‘Perfect weather for it as well – I normally wear trousers but I thought “Nah, I think I’m going to have to put some shorts on today”.
‘They’ve picked me up, they’ve looked after me, great hotel. Everyone’s been brilliant.’
As with prior editions of the annual ‘meet a pro’ event, it had been organised by Western and Guernsey darts stalwart Caroline La Touche, who had shown the Londoner around the island. One thing that caught his eye was the filter-in-turn system.
‘She showed me the little views and a few of the local driving differences compared to where I come from – it was good,’ he added.
In professional darts, Lukeman is currently No 39 on the PDC order of merit.
Before his runner-up finish at the 2024 Grand Slam, he also made a PDC European Tour final at the 2022 German Grand Prix, but it was another case of being unable to tame one of England’s professional Lukes.
‘It’s got to be losing to Luke Littler in the Grand Slam final, innit?’ he said when asked of his all-time career highlight.
‘I’ve had two finals in the PDC and both of them have been against a Luke – Luke Humphries and Luke Littler. I can’t really grumble about that.’
Despite having only recently returned from dartitis, and the lack of room for error in single-leg showdowns, he did beat the vast majority of the 31 Sarnian players he faced at the West Legion on Saturday.
Regardless of the outcome, La Touche knows that the home players – which included several in their teenage years – had plenty to gain from Lukeman’s presence.
‘Our new players are really inspired and they couldn’t wait to play him,’ she said.
‘All the players are so happy when you get a pro over.
‘It’s well supported, they can’t wait, and they don’t mind they’re going to lose.
‘It just gives them that bit of encouragement. We’ve got so many up-and-coming players here – we’re very lucky.’
