Joe Cullen completes comeback to clinch Players Championship 5 title
Joe Cullen ended a three-year wait for a ProTour title as he came from 7-4 down to deny Gian van Veen 8-7 in the final of Players Championship 5 in Leicester.
Cullen completed a spirited fightback by reeling off four consecutive legs to return to the winner’s circle at the Mattioli Arena, punishing six missed match darts from the young Dutchman.
The former Masters champion was runner-up in the season’s opening ProTour event last month and continued his resurgence in the East Midlands to secure his first PDC title since September 2022.
An emotional Cullen, who averaged 104.2 in the final, admitted: “I think this is the best win of my career, because of the adversity I have had to endure over the last year.
“When you’re slipping down the rankings and you’re doubting yourself, there is nothing worse in darts.
“I had all-sorts going on away from darts and I wasn’t practising. There was no motivation there and that’s why I slid down the rankings, but ultimately the buck stops with me.
“I think I’m down to number 22 in the world. There’s not 21 players that are better than me in the world, but the rankings don’t lie.
“I’m there for a reason, but I am doing everything I can to get myself back up those rankings!”
Cullen began his route to glory with a battling 6-3 win over Richard Veenstra, but he soon found his range, registering a ton-plus average in his Second Round win over James Hurrell.
He then reeled off four straight legs from 4-2 down to stun world number one Luke Humphries in the Last 32, before accounting for Dutch duo Christian Kist and Kevin Doets to seal his spot in the semi-finals.
There, he fired in a sensational ten-darter to close out a 7-5 victory over World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker.
The final saw both players contribute to a masterclass of finishing, with Van Veen establishing a slender 5-4 advantage.
The World Youth Champion then won back-to-back legs to move to the brink of victory at 7-4, but Cullen’s third 11-darter of the contest in leg 12 sparked an improbable turnaround.
Cullen survived a staggering six match darts across the last three legs – including four in a dramatic last-leg shoot-out – converting a nerveless two-dart 67 finish to complete the comeback.
Van Veen was left to rue what could have been after squandering his chance of a maiden ProTour title, but he enjoyed wins over Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler en route to the final.
The former European Championship semi-finalist stormed into the Last 16 with a trio of 6-1 routs of Stefan Bellmont, Greg Ritchie and Adam Lipscombe, averaging 106, 101 and 98.
Following his 6-3 win over Dom Taylor in the Last 16, Van Veen also averaged 108 to win through a compelling all-Dutch quarter-final against Van Gerwen, firing in five 180s in the process.
Van Veen later ended Littler’s remarkable 19-match winning run in an epic semi-final, following up 110 and 127 checkouts with a match-winning 121 on the bull in the deciding leg.
Littler had booked his place in the semis with a brutal 6-1 demolition of Damon Heta, reeling off six straight legs in 12, 12, 11, 13, 13 and 11 darts to prevail with an astonishing 122.93 average.
Littler also recorded a hat-trick of 6-5 victories against Niko Springer, Adam Hunt and Dirk van Duijvenbode, overturning 3-0 and 4-0 deficits against Springer and Van Duijvenbode, while landing a nine-darter in his win over Hunt.
The World Champion was joined in Tuesday’s semi-finals by De Decker – his opponent in Sunday’s Belgian Darts Open final in Wieze.
The Belgian averaged 103 in his thumping first round win over Dennie Olde Kalter, before defeating Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Thomas Lovely, Sebastian Bialecki and Rob Owen to reach the Last Four.
Welsh star Owen completed the quarter-final line-up along with Doets, Heta and Van Gerwen – who averaged 108 and 111 respectively to dispatch bitter rival Jelle Klaasen and German stalwart Max Hopp earlier in the day.
UK Open runner-up James Wade also impressed at the Mattioli Arena, averaging 115.92 in his second round victory against two-time Women’s World Matchplay champion Beau Greaves – who had defeated Justin Hood 6-2 in Round One with a 100.4 average and five 180s.
Gary Anderson achieved the day’s other nine-darter, producing perfection in the penultimate leg of his opening round tie against Ryan Joyce.
Players Championship 5 Results
Tuesday March 11
Last 128
Dave Chisnall 6-4 Michele Turetta
Dom Taylor 6-1 Carl Sneyd
Keane Barry 6-1 Ricardo Pietreczko
Niels Zonneveld 6-2 Madars Razma
Gian van Veen 6-1 Stefan Bellmont
Greg Ritchie 6-4 Jitse Van der Wal
Adam Lipscombe 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Owen Bates 6-3 Jeffrey De Graaf
Ross Smith 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Nathan Rafferty 6-2 Ricky Evans
Michael Smith 6-2 Adam Paxton
Lukas Wenig 6-4 Karel Sedlacek
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Jelle Klaasen
Max Hopp 6-2 Brett Claydon
Ritchie Edhouse 6-2 Adam Warner
Maik Kuivenhoven 6-5 Tavis Dudeney
Luke Littler 6-5 Niko Springer
Adam Hunt 6-3 Joshua Richardson
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-1 Ryan Meikle
Andy Boulton 6-4 Matt Campbell
Jonny Clayton 6-2 Nick Kenny
Wesley Plaisier 6-0 Benjamin Reus
Wessel Nijman 6-3 Jose De Sousa
Scott Williams 6-1 George Killington
Chris Dobey 6-2 Darren Beveridge
Martin Lukeman 6-2 Darryl Pilgrim
Cam Crabtree 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Martijn Dragt 6-5 Jim Williams
Damon Heta 6-3 Cor Dekker
Bradley Brooks 6-2 Rhys Griffin
Matthew Dennant 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Florian Hempel 6-5 Leon Weber
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-1 Gabriel Clemens
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Kai Gotthardt
Sebastian Bialecki 6-0 Danny Lauby
Dominik Gruellich 6-4 Rob Cross
Thomas Lovely 6-5 Oskar Lukasiak
Mike De Decker 6-1 Dennie Olde Kalter
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 6-4 Haupai Puha
Josh Rock 6-3 Mickey Mansell
William O’Connor 6-3 Thibault Tricole
Steve Lennon 6-5 Peter Wright
Rob Owen 6-5 Connor Scutt
Ryan Searle 6-4 Alan Soutar
Berry van Peer 6-5 Maximilian Czerwinski
Gary Anderson 6-5 Ryan Joyce – *Anderson hits a nine-darter*
Marvin van Velzen 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Luke Humphries 6-1 Stefaan Henderyck
Chris Landman 6-3 Tytus Kanik
Joe Cullen 6-3 Richard Veenstra
James Hurrell 6-5 Robert Grundy
Callan Rydz 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Christian Kist 6-4 Ian White
Cameron Menzies 6-1 William Borland
Brendan Dolan 6-4 Radek Szaganski
Martin Schindler 6-5 Viktor Tingstrom
Kevin Doets 6-3 Patrick Geeraets
Kim Huybrechts 6-2 Luke Woodhouse
Andy Baetens 6-3 Jim Long
Dylan Slevin 6-5 Danny Noppert
Tom Bissell 6-3 Stephen Burton
James Wade 6-3 Pero Ljubic
Beau Greaves 6-2 Justin Hood
Second Round
Dom Taylor 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Niels Zonneveld 6-2 Keane Barry
Gian van Veen 6-1 Greg Ritchie
Adam Lipscombe 6-2 Owen Bates
Ross Smith 6-4 Nathan Rafferty
Lukas Wenig 6-3 Michael Smith
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Max Hopp
Maik Kuivenhoven 6-5 Ritchie Edhouse
Luke Littler 6-5 Adam Hunt – *Littler hits a nine-darter*
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Andy Boulton
Jonny Clayton 6-5 Wesley Plaisier
Scott Williams 6-2 Wessel Nijman
Martin Lukeman 6-4 Chris Dobey
Martijn Dragt 6-1 Cam Crabtree
Damon Heta 6-2 Bradley Brooks
Matthew Dennant 6-1 Florian Hempel
Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-3 Stephen Bunting
Sebastian Bialecki 6-3 Andrew Gilding
Thomas Lovely 6-3 Dominik Gruellich
Mike De Decker 6-3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
William O’Connor 6-4 Josh Rock
Rob Owen 6-5 Steve Lennon
Ryan Searle 6-2 Berry van Peer
Gary Anderson 6-3 Marvin van Velzen
Luke Humphries 6-2 Chris Landman
Joe Cullen 6-2 James Hurrell
Christian Kist 6-1 Callan Rydz
Brendan Dolan 6-4 Cameron Menzies
Kevin Doets 6-3 Martin Schindler
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Andy Baetens
Dylan Slevin 6-2 Tom Bissell
James Wade 6-2 Beau Greaves
Last 32
Dom Taylor 6-5 Niels Zonneveld
Gian van Veen 6-1 Adam Lipscombe
Lukas Wenig 6-4 Ross Smith
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Maik Kuivenhoven
Luke Littler 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Scott Williams 6-4 Jonny Clayton
Martin Lukeman 6-1 Martijn Dragt
Damon Heta 6-0 Matthew Dennant
Sebastian Bialecki 6-3 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Mike De Decker 6-5 Thomas Lovely
Rob Owen 6-3 William O’Connor
Gary Anderson 6-0 Ryan Searle
Joe Cullen 6-4 Luke Humphries
Christian Kist 6-2 Brendan Dolan
Kevin Doets 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
James Wade 6-2 Dylan Slevin
Last 16
Gian van Veen 6-3 Dom Taylor
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Lukas Wenig
Luke Littler 6-2 Scott Williams
Damon Heta 6-3 Martin Lukeman
Mike De Decker 6-3 Sebastian Bialecki
Rob Owen 6-5 Gary Anderson
Joe Cullen 6-2 Christian Kist
Kevin Doets 6-5 James Wade
Quarter-Finals
Gian van Veen 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
Luke Littler 6-1 Damon Heta
Mike De Decker 6-2 Rob Owen
Joe Cullen 6-3 Kevin Doets
Semi-Finals
Gian van Veen 7-6 Luke Littler
Joe Cullen 7-5 Mike De Decker
Final
Joe Cullen 8-7 Gian van Veen
