Rob Cross picked up his second PDC title of the year on Monday, after defeating Joe Cullen 8-3 in the final of Players Championship One, as the 2025 PDC Pro Tour season commenced at the Robin Park Leisure Centre, Wigan.
Cross, the winner of the Dutch Darts Masters last month, picked up a first Pro Tour title since May 2023, as he reached the final firstly by recording victories against Rob Owen, Owen Bates, James Hurrell, Carl Sneyd, Jermaine Wattimena and Andrew Gilding, to set up a clash with Cullen.
The floor event season kept up the 2024 pattern of lower ranked players performing above expectations as Luke Woodhouse, Darryl Pilgrim and Richard Veenstra reached the later stages. Meanwhile the day saw a number of high-profile first round casualties, including four Former PDC World Champions in Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Michael Smith and Raymond Van Barneveld.
The final began with Cross racing into a 3-0 lead, with winning legs coming in 11,15 and 14 darts respectively, before Cullen ended Voltage’s run by picking up his first leg of the tie in Leg Four with a 16 darter. Cullen then followed up with a 20 break of throw, before Cross won back-to-back legs in a total of 27 darts to move 5-2 up in a race to eight.
An 18 dart hold of throw from Cullen in Leg Eight proved to be his final leg won in the tie, as Cross rattled off three successive legs and sealed the victory in Leg 11 with a 15 darter to pick up a tenth Players Championship victory of his career as well as the £15,000 top prize.
Cullen’s run to the final saw ‘The Rockstar’ record a succession of victories on the day against Greg Ritchie, Scott Williams, Luke Littler, Gian Van Veen, Richard Veenstra and Luke Humphries, before being denied by Cross.
Elsewhere, there were Quarter Final runs for Former European Championship Semi Finalist Luke Woodhouse and Darryl Pilgrim, who was competing in his first Pro Tour Event since winning his Tour Card at Qualifying School last month.
The PDC Pro Tour double header concludes on Tuesday with Players Championship Two taking place in Barnsley, with the 128 players returning to compete for a further £125,000 in prize money, with play beginning at 13:00 GMT.
Play will be broadcasted across four streaming boards on PDC.TV and various bookmaker websites worldwide, with all live scores and results on tv.dartconnect.com.
Players Championship One
Last 16
Rob Cross 6-3 Carl Sneyd
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Ross Smith
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Jonny Clayton
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Wessel Nijman
Joe Cullen 6-5 Gian Van Veen
Richard Veenstra 6-2 Danny Noppert
Luke Humphries 6-4 Mike De Decker
Darryl Pilgrim 6-5 Damon Heta
Quarter Finals
Rob Cross 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
Joe Cullen 6-4 Richard Veenstra
Luke Humphries 6-1 Darryl Pilgrim
Semi Finals
Rob Cross 7-3 Andrew Gilding
Joe Cullen 7-6 Luke Humphries
Final
Rob Cross 8-3 Joe Cullen
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
