Fifteen-year-old darts sensation Mitchell Lawrie has set out a clear two-pronged ambition: win the Lakeside Men’s title and then earn a PDC Tour Card. The 2010-born prodigy, known as “Wee Sox”, recently won the Denmark Open, securing his return to Lakeside after losing to Jimmy van Schie in last year’s final. Speaking on the Love the Darts Podcast, Lawrie said: “I’ve just been spending some time outside of darts and playing golf again. I was in Denmark at the weekend and qualified for Lakeside again, so now I can chill out a bit towards the end of the year.”
Lawrie, who will be eligible to play on the PDC tour from next year, wants to join the likes of Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Gian van Veen at the top table, as well as his hero Gary Anderson. But first he wants to put right his loss at Frimley Green in November. “I want to win Lakeside again before I try to transition over to the PDC. I really want to win it. Obviously, I was 3-0 up in the final last year and then we went into the break. I was thinking, ‘If I win 3-2 in the next session, then I’ve won Lakeside.’ But Jimmy came out and he’s a fantastic player. I think his experience showed,” he added.
Lawrie also revealed that he cannot play the World Masters in Las Vegas due to a pre-booked family holiday, but since he has already qualified for Lakeside, he doesn’t need to go. “The World Masters would probably have been my main priority this year, but moving it to Las Vegas was a bit of a dagger to the heart, to be fair. I’d already booked a holiday with my mates and their parents a year in advance, and it ended up clashing. We looked at my position on the Road to Lakeside rankings and realised I didn’t really need to go, so I could take a bit of time to chill out instead. But Lakeside is definitely my number one priority heading towards the end of the year. Then after Lakeside it’ll probably be Q School again,” he said.
Lawrie is focused on incremental gains rather than lofty ambitions. He aims to first reach the Winmau World Masters, then win Lakeside, gain a Tour Card and join the ProTour ranks. “If I finish in the top four on the Advanced Tour, I’ll get an invite to the PDC World Masters, and I’m currently sitting first in that ranking, so that’s another thing on the hit list. I’d love to go there in January and do well. Getting on stage there would be my first professional tournament. Then I want to win the Lakeside Men’s title, retain my youth title, get my Tour Card and hopefully do well on the ProTour. We’ll just see where it takes me,” he explained.
When asked about comparisons to Luke Littler, Lawrie was clear: “Yeah, obviously he’s done brilliant. He’s doing his own thing now. But I’ve always said I want to do things my own way as Mitchell Lawrie, not as Luke Littler. What he’s done is an absolute freak of nature. I’ve always said that if I can do half the things he’s already done by the time he’s 18, I’d be over the moon with myself. The first step is getting a Tour Card before anything else. We’ll see in January. If I get my Tour Card, then I’ll be looking to push on in the ProTours and stuff.”
