Mardle's absence was sorely felt during the World Championship over the Christmas period, with darts fans having become accustomed to hearing the former player's musings.

Hawaii 501, which is what Mardle went by during his playing career, was responsible for one of dart's most iconic commentary lines when he reacted with "I can't speak, I can't speak" after Michael Smith hit a nine-darter in the 2023 World Championship final.

Speaking at the time, Sky Sports presenter Emma Paton addressed viewers, saying: "If you are a regular viewer of Sky Sports Darts, you will notice that Wayne is not here with us this evening.

"Wayne is the heart and soul of everything we do here at Sky Sports Darts. But the heart of his world, his wonderful wife Donna, sadly passed away earlier this week after a short illness."

"We will be remembering Donna throughout this tournament. Wayne, you are in our thoughts, you are in our hearts, we love you very much. And we will see you very soon."

Mardle didn't reference the passing of his wife during his return to commentary, instead saying: "Good evening - evening all, didn't take him long [in response to Van Gerwen's 180-hitting start]!"

It came on a pulsating opening night of action in Belfast, with Van Gerwen dumping out Littler during the teen's first match as the defending champion.

In the night's opening match, Chris Dobey and Gerwyn Price needed 10 of the allotted 11 legs to separate them, with the former edging proceedings 6-4.

It was a similar situation during Stephen Bunting's clash against Rob Cross - the latter triumphing 6-4 as well. Whereas Luke Humphries breezed beyond Nathan Aspinall in his last eight clash.

In the semi-finals, Dobey despatched Cross, with Van Gerwen throwing away an advantage to allow Humphries back into the contest. Humphries took night one with a comfortable final victory over Dobey.