It's hats off to Joe Cullen!
The Team Unicorn ace has done it again, winning on the Pro Tour for the second time in three months.
And Cullen's rapid rise up the rankings continues. He is now up to No.21 in the world and chasing down a spot in the elite top 16. He is also up to 12th on the Pro Tour Order of Merit.
Cullen beat surprise finalist Zoran Lerchbacher 6-4 in the final of Players Championship 16 in Barnsley on Sunday....and it was an emotional day and victory for the Team Unicorn star.
Last weekend he had to rush home from the Euro Tour event in Germany after his father suffered a heart attack.
"Thankfully he is getting better," Joe said. "It has been a difficult time for all the family and I won this for my Dad. He will be very proud."
"It is great to win again. I felt comfortable all day and the fact that I'd didn't know much about Zoran helped. He is a very good player but under pressure I found the doubles when it mattered."
The day started with a 1st Round win in a last leg decider against Rowby-John Rodriguez....then came victories against Jamie Bain, Mike de Dekker and Benito van de Pas before Cullen edged out Nathan Aspinall 6-5 in the quarter-finals.
He was a 6-2 winner over Daryl Gurney in the semi-finals and raced into a 3-0 lead against Lerchbacher in the final with the help of a 102 finish and a classy 11 darter.
Lerchbacher managed to fight back to level the final at 4-4 but Cullen kept his cool and won those two crucial legs, hitting a 180 and D10 to seal the win.
Also on Sunday, Unicorn youngster Keegan Brown enjoyed his best run for some time as he reached the quarter-finals before losing 6-4 to Lerchbacher.
Ian White reached yet another quarter-final but then lost 6-4 to Steve Beaton.
On Saturday, Team Unicorn Aussie ace Kyle Anderson celebrated his call-up to the World Series Triple Header Down Under next month with a run to the semi-finals.
He was unlucky to lose 6-5 to eventual winner Darren Webster, who beat Gurney 6-1 in the final.
Dimitri van den Bergh was a quarter-finalist and Devon Petersen made it through to the last 16.
Unfortunately Unicorn star Chris Dobey has just missed out on qualification for the World Matchplay. Justin Pipe's run to the semi-finals on Saturday saw Dobey edged out.
Story from STUART PYKE in Las Vegas
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC
