Haupai Puha’s Journey to the PDC: New Zealand’s Darts Star Making Waves on the Pro Tour

In January of this year, Haupai Puha made history when he became the first darts player from New Zealand to earn a two-year PDC Tour Card. ‘Hopes’ acquired his professional status via the European Q-School in Kalkar, a dream he had long wanted to realise.

Having made an impression in World Series events and on the PDC New Zealand Tour prior to booking his spot on the main circuit - with victories over the likes of Dimitri van den Bergh at the New Zealand Darts Masters and Graham Usher at the World Series of Darts Finals before going on to narrowly lose out to Peter Wright - he was no stranger to PDC darts and his potential has been apparent for some time. Now, as he continues to adjust and adapt to this latest challenge, we’re really starting to see how high a ceiling the 39-year-old has and it’s incredibly exciting.

In regard to sealing success at Q-School, it was third time lucky for Hopes and reflecting on his first year as a full-time professional, he spoke openly and candidly about the transition and journey he finds himself on: “I’ve found being on the tour very lonely at times. Firstly, outside of darts, being away from friends and family and then at darts being away from my New Zealand darts friends who I would normally travel and practise with on a weekly basis. I loved the difficulty in competition, it really brought me down to earth very quickly and made me work harder than I ever have previously.”

Over the years we have seen many players uproot their lives with the desire of fulfilling their darting destiny - Damon Heta often speaks about his plan to achieve as much as possible in a relatively short space of time, to allow him to set his family up, with the view of returning to Australia and Haupai has taken inspiration from players like The Heat and of course two-time World Championship runner-up Simon Whitlock: “The decision to move to the UK was an easy one to make - I had to go where the tour is. Our Australian mates have shown us the way and my goal is to move my family over with me in the next two years”

When you look at the calibre of players the Kiwi has beaten on the floor this year, the likes of Dave Chisnall, Josh Rock and Nathan Aspinall as well as some of the numbers he has posted in 2024, with his three highest recorded averages ever being posted over the past 10 months, including a 107.30 in a Players Championship event in Hildesheim, the signs are increasingly positive and we are already keen to see how Puha can build on this progress next year as his confidence continues to grow: “Playing and winning televised games helps you believe you are good enough to be competing with the pros and I’ve certainly learnt that you get out of this game what you put in -work ethic is huge - I've learnt it's not all glitz and glamour on tour, it’s hard work especially with all the travel”

Image courtesy of PDC