Joe Cullen has won his first Players Championship event since 2022 with victory in the fifth such tournament of this year.
After a below-par 2024, the 35-year-old has impressed on the floor since the turn of the year, and he was able to come from behind to earn a thrilling 8-7 triumph over Gian van Veen on Tuesday.
Having taken an early 2-0 lead, Cullen lost seven of their following nine legs as Van Veen put himself on the brink of a first-ever PDC title.
However, capitalising on missed tournament darts from the Dutchman, Cullen reeled off legs of 11, 15, 16 and 14 to win the title, taking the match with a 67 checkout.
Earlier in the day, Cullen had disposed of world number one Luke Humphries by a 6-4 scoreline in the last 32, as well as overcoming World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker 7-5 in the semi-finals.
Victory for Cullen takes him up to 22nd place in the PDC Order of Merit, while he also sits in second spot in the Players Championship rankings, only adrift of Chris Dobey.
© Imago
Littler streak comes to an end
Meanwhile, Luke Littler's 19-match winning streak came to an end through defeat to Van Veen, who capitalised on a missed match dart from the recent UK Open champion to deny him a place in the final.
Van Veen also defeated Michael van Gerwen in the quarter-finals, but Littler's average of 122.96 in his last-eight clash with Damon Heta will deservedly make the headlines.
Having dropped the opening leg, the 18-year-old incredibly reeled off six successive legs between 11 and 13 darts to post one of the best averages in the history of the PDC.
Darren Plant
