Joe Cullen won his second PDC title of 2022 by winning Players Championship 3 on Saturday. The latest Premier League player came through the 128-player field to win his first ProTour event of the year in addition to his Master’s victory at the end of January.
Cullen didn’t play his best darts on Saturday but did enough to win in Wigan with the “Rockstar” defeating arguably the player of the day: Damon Heta 8-4 in the final averaging 95.35.
The 31-year-old Winmau thrower was strong coming into the tournament after his final appearance at the Premier League on Thursday. It was his doubling that proved decisive in beating Heta including a 115 check out in the eleventh leg, finishing on double eighteen to break the throw and throw for the match. He went out to close the match on double five and win the £12,000 ranking money.
Cullen did find good form in his quarter-final with Portugal’s number one Jose de Sousa, with the Bradford man averaging an impressive 101.49 in beating the Portuguese. It was very much a case of getting the better of the man in front of him for Cullen, with an 89.63 getting him through his semi-final against the inexperienced Connor Scutt who reached a notable Semi-final in only his third Pro Tour event after coming through Q school earlier on this year.
Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen improved on last week’s display in Barnsley with an impressive semi-final appearance for the former world champion, which included a 6-3 win against his former world cup of darts partner: Raymond van Barneveld. Van Gerwen came up against a very strong Damon Heta in the semi with the Australian averaging 109.03 in his 7-4 win over the dutchman.
Van Gerwen did put in some impressive performances of his own in Wigan with a 107.40 average in the last 16 as he beat another fellow countryman in Niels Zonneveld. Zonneveld impressed last week by reaching the quarter-finals, but it was going to be a very tough ask for him to repeat the trick coming up against a rampant MVG.
There was yet another strong performance for Daryl Gurney who yet again made the last 16 of the event but it was the same old story for the Northern Irishman with another defeat against Joe Cullen but so far, a very good start to 2022 for Gurney.
Jamie Hughes continued his steady recovery from arm surgery to reach the last 16 and is looking more comfortable each week.
The Players Championship continues Sunday with event four completing the weekend’s schedule in Wigan as the world’s best challenge to win more ranking points, qualification slots and serious prize money.
—–ENDS—–
Lead image: PDC
Words: Harry Masterson
Darts World Magazine (Issue 577) and 2022 bundle offers
Subscribe or purchase your copy
