Haupai Puha (born 12 February 1985) is a New Zealand professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Hopes", Puha is the first player from New Zealand to have won a PDC Tour Card, having won one in 2024.
He has won titles on both the affiliated Darts Players Australia and Darts Players New Zealand tours, and has represented New Zealand at both the PDC World Cup of Darts and the WDF World Cup.
Early and personal life Born on 12 February 1985 in Gisborne, Puha is Māori, of Ngāti Porou. He grew up in Wellington and started playing golf at age 15, going on to play for Wellington's men's team and winning the New Zealand Māori Golf Match Play Championship in 2010 and 2012. He started playing darts in 2015 and has credited his experience with golf in making the transition to darts.
Prior to going professional as a darts player, Puha worked as a roofer. He and his wife Kawhena have three children.
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. On 8 May 2024, Puha qualified for a European Tour event for the first time. He lost to Niels Zonneveld in the opening round of the 2024 Dutch Darts Championship.
World Championship results PDC 2021: First round (lost to Mickey Mansell 0–3) (sets) 2024: First round (lost to Martin Lukeman 1–3) 2026: First round (lost to Niels Zonneveld 0–3)
WDF 2022: First round (lost to Ben Hazel 1–2)
Performance timeline Puha's performance timeline is as follows:
WDF Tournament 2022 2023WDF Ranked televised events 1RPDC Australian OpenFQF
PDC Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026PDC Ranked televised events World ChampionshipDNQ 1RDNQ 1RDNQ 1R World MastersDid not qualify Prel. UK OpenDid not qualify2R4RPDC Non-ranked televised events World Series FinalsDNQ 1R 2R 1R 1R World Cup 1R 1RDNQ RR RRCareer statisticsNR125NR14913389
European Tour Tournament 2024Baltic Sea Open1RDutch Championship1R
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 2024WIG1RWIG1RLEI1RLEI3RHIL1RHIL1RLEI1RLEI1RHIL2RHIL1RHIL1RHIL4RMIL1RMIL2RMILDid not participateWIG3RWIG3RLEI1RLEI1RDid not participate 2025WIG2RWIG3RROS1RROS1RLEI1RLEI2RHIL1RHIL1RLEI4RLEI2RLEI1RLEI2RROS1RROS2RHILDNPLEI1RLEI1RLEI2RLEI3RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RMILDNPHIL1RHIL2RLEI2RLEI2RLEI1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1R
World Series of Darts Tournament 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025 Auckland Masters1RNot held Melbourne Masters1R1RNot held Brisbane MastersDNP1RNot held New Zealand MastersNH1RDNPQF1R1R Queensland MastersNHQFNH New South Wales MastersNH1RDNPNH Australian MastersNot held1R1R
References
External links