Haupai Puha (born 12 February 1985) is a New Zealand professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won a PDC Tour Card on 14 January 2024, making him the first New Zealand player to gain a card.[3]
He has won titles on both the affiliated Darts Players Australia and Darts Players New Zealand tours.
He has represented New Zealand at both the PDC World Cup of Darts and the WDF World Cup.
Darts career
In 2018, Puha qualified for two World Series events as the number two ranked player in the DPNZ rankings. He would lose in the first round of both events; to Kyle Anderson in Auckland and to Rob Cross in Melbourne.
In 2019, he made his first appearance at the World Cup of Darts, partnering Cody Harris. They beat Lithuania and South Africa to reach the quarter-finals, eventually losing to Japan.
Puha also qualified for all three World Series events in Australia and New Zealand in 2019. He lost to Raymond van Barneveld in the first round of both the Brisbane Masters and the Melbourne Masters, and to Gary Anderson in the first round of the New Zealand Masters.
Puha has played once in the WDF World Championship and twice in the PDC World Championship, losing in the first round on all three occasions.
Having won his PDC Tour Card in January 2024,, Puha competed at the 2024 UK Open. He beat Jelle Klaasen in the first round before losing to Wesley Plaisier in the second round.[4] On 8 May 2024, Puha qualified for a European Tour event for the first time.[5] He lost to Niels Zonneveld in the opening round of the 2024 Dutch Darts Championship.[6]
Puha credits his experience with golf in making the transition to darts.[7]
World Championship results
PDC
- 2021: First round (lost to Mickey Mansell 0–3) (sets)
- 2024: First round (lost to Martin Lukeman 1–3)
WDF
- 2022: First round (lost to Ben Hazel 1–2)
Performance timeline
WDF
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDF Ranked televised events | |||||||||
| World Championship | 1R | PDC | |||||||
| Australian Open | F | QF | |||||||
PDC
| Tournament | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||
| World Championship | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | |||||||
| World Masters | DNQ | Prel. | ||||||||||
| UK Open | DNQ | 2R | 4R | |||||||||
| PDC Non-ranked televised events | ||||||||||||
| World Series Finals | DNQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | ||||||||
| World Cup | 1R | 1R | DNQ | RR | ||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||
| Season-end ranking (PDC) | NR | 125 | NR | 149 | 133 | |||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | DNQ | BSD 1R |
DDC 1R |
Did not qualify | |||||||||
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | WIG 1R |
WIG 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 3R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
HIL 2R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 4R |
MIL 1R |
MIL 2R |
DNP | WIG 3R |
WIG 3R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 1R |
DNP | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | WIG 2R |
WIG 3R |
ROS 1R |
ROS 1R |
LEI 1R |
LEI 2R |
HIL 1R |
HIL 1R |
LEI 4R |
LEI |
LEI |
LEI |
ROS |
ROS |
HIL |
HIL |
LEI |
LEI |
LEI |
HIL |
HIL |
MIL |
MIL |
MIL |
HIL |
HIL |
LEI |
LEI |
LEI |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
WIG |
| Performance Table Legend | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. |
Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round |
DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | NYF | Not yet founded | ||
References
- ^ "Haupai Puha player profile". Mastercaller.
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 1 April 2025. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- ^ "Haupai Puha becomes first ever New Zealander to win PDC Tour Card at Q-School". Darts News. 14 January 2024.
- ^ "Darts results: Dimitri van den Bergh survives last-leg decider to beat Luke Humphries in the UK Open final". Sporting Life.
- ^ "De Graaf, Taylor & Bates complete ET7-8 qualification double". 8 May 2024.
- ^ "Magnificent Menzies breezes past Barney in Rosmalen". 24 May 2024.
- ^ "Darts: Fearless Haupai Puha ready to face world's best at Auckland Masters". Newshub. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019.
External links
- Player profile for Haupai Puha from Dartsdatabase