Joe Cullen (darts player)

Joe Cullen (born 13 July 1989) is an English darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won three Youth Tour tournaments in his early career and has qualified for the PDC World Championship nine times, winning only twice in the first round. Cullen reached his first major quarter-final at the 2016 UK Open and won his first PDC Pro Tour title in 2017.

Joe Cullen
Cullen in 2019
Personal information
NicknameThe Rockstar
Born (1989-07-13) 13 July 1989
Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Home townBradford, Yorkshire
England
Darts information
Playing darts since2006
Darts21g Unicorn Joe Cullen Maestro
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC2008–
Current world ranking21
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 32: 2017
World MatchplayQuarter Final: 2018
World Grand PrixLast 16: 2017
European Ch'shipSemi Final: 2018
UK OpenQuarter Final: 2016
Players Ch'ship FinalsLast 16: 2016, 2018
MastersQuarter Final: 2019
Other tournament wins
Youth Tour (AUT) 2011
Youth Tour (NED) 2011
Youth Tour (IRL) 2011

European Tour Events

European Darts Matchplay 2019

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2017 (x2)

Career

Early career

He first came to prominence in 2008 when he qualified for the UK Open. He defeated Mark Stapleton and Dennis Smith before Chris Mason defeated him in the last 64. Following his performances at Bolton, he joined the PDC circuit. He also reached the final of the New Kids on the Oche tournament, losing to Arron Monk.

In 2009, Cullen decided to leave his job as a postman to concentrate on a career in darts.[1]

Cullen had another decent run at the 2010 UK Open. He knocked out Darren Latham and Mike Nott before losing to Mervyn King, again in the last 64. Later that year, he defeated Phil Taylor in the last 16 of the John McEvoy Gold Dart Classic in Killarney, eventually losing in the quarter-finals to Colin Osborne.[2]

Cullen qualified for his first PDC World Darts Championship in 2011. He lost narrowly to Terry Jenkins by 3 sets to 2 in the first round. In April, Cullen reached his first PDC Pro Tour final at the sixth UK Open Qualifier in Barnsley, losing 6–1 to Taylor.[3]

2012

He reached the final of the PDPA World Championship Qualifier, where he was beaten 5–3 by Arron Monk.[4] The result meant that he qualified for the preliminary round of the 2012 World Championship, where he beat Oliver Ferenc of Serbia by 4 legs to 2.[5] He played number 10 seed Terry Jenkins in the first round for the second successive year and was beaten 3–0, winning just three legs in the match.[6] In April, he earned a place in the Austrian Darts Open by defeating Sam Hill and John Bowles in the UK qualifier.[7] He played Brendan Dolan in the first round and won 6–4,[8] and then continued his run by beating Simon Whitlock 6–4, despite his opponent hitting a nine darter.[9] Cullen defeated Mark Walsh to make the quarter-finals, where he was this time on the wrong end of a 6–4 scoreline as he lost to eventual winner Justin Pipe.[10] Cullen's best result of the season came a week after this as he won through to the semi-finals of the final UK Open Qualifier, but was then whitewashed 6–0 by Pipe.[11][12] He also qualified for the third European Tour event, the European Darts Open and beat Jenkins 6–1 in the first round in Düsseldorf, before losing to Johnny Haines 6–5 in round two.[13]

Cullen reached the last 16 of the UK Open with victories over Jim Walker (9–4) and Colin Lloyd (9–8),[14] but then let a 4–0 and 5–1 lead against Jamie Caven slip to lose 9–8.[15] He qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time and lost to Pipe 10–4 in the first round.[16]

2013

Cullen qualified for the 2013 World Championship by finishing 36th on the 2012 ProTour Order of Merit,[17] claiming the fifth of sixteen spots that were available for the highest non-qualified players.[18] He lost 3–0 to John Part in the first round, with the Canadian's superior finishing being the difference between the players.[19] Cullen was ranked world number 41 after the tournament.[20] He lost 9–5 to Lee Palfreyman in the third round of the UK Open.[21] At the Austrian Darts Open Cullen beat Kim Huybrechts 6–4 and then averaged a stunning 111.84 average in seeing off Stuart Kellett 6–1.[22] He reached the quarter-finals of this event for the second year running by surviving one match from Raymond van Barneveld to win 6–5, but was then beaten 6–0 by Mervyn King.[23] Cullen reached three other quarter-finals in floor events during the year but lost in each one.[24]

2014

Cullen qualified for the 2014 World Championship through the ProTour Order of Merit once again and faced Peter Wright in the first round.[25][26] Cullen took out a 147 finish to level the opening set with Wright on 12 but lost the decider and also lost the final leg in the second set and was beaten 3–0.[27] He missed out on playing in the UK Open for the first time in his career as he failed to advance beyond the last 128 in any of the six qualifiers.[28] At the 11th Players Championship of the year he reached the semi-finals of a ranking PDC event for the first in over two years, where he was defeated 6–3 by Gary Anderson.[29] Cullen won through to the same stage of the 16th event with impressive victories over Dave Chisnall, Andy Hamilton and Michael van Gerwen, but this time lost 6–3 to Brendan Dolan.[30]

2015

Cullen lost 3–1 to reigning champion Michael van Gerwen in the first round of the 2015 World Championship, after every set had gone to a deciding leg which included Cullen missing two darts for the second set.[31] He was knocked out in the third round of the UK Open 9–6 by Eddie Dootson.[32] Cullen lost in the quarter-finals of the first Players Championship 6–0 to Dave Chisnall and had to wait until October for another one. It came at the European Darts Grand Prix after he saw off Antonio Alcinas 6–3, Chisnall 6–2 (with an average of 103.58) and then averaged an outstanding 110.16 in defeating Raymond van Barneveld 6–2.[33] However, in the quarters he averaged just over 20 points less during a 6–4 loss to Mensur Suljović.[34] Cullen's third and final quarter-final of 2015 was at the 19th Players Championship after he ousted Ronnie Baxter, Ian White, Jamie Caven and Steve West, before losing 6–4 to Stephen Bunting.[35]

2016

He took the final qualifying spot from the Pro Tour Order of Merit for the 2016 World Championship, but lost in the opening round for the sixth year in a row as he won just two legs during a 3–0 defeat to Jelle Klaasen.[36][37] At the UK Open Cullen beat Mark Frost 9–1, Alan Norris 9–6 and Stephen Bunting 9–7 to play in his first major quarter-final.[38] He produced a fightback from 9–3 down to Peter Wright, but would lose 10–7 with an average of 101.83, his highest in a televised match to date.[39][40] This began a rich vein in form for Cullen as he reached the semi-finals of the first Players Championship event (lost 6–3 to Wright) and the same stage of the German Darts Masters (lost 6–1 to Michael van Gerwen after whitewashing reigning world champion Gary Anderson 6–0 in the quarters).[41][42]

Cullen's second ever PDC final came at the ninth Players Championship, but he was thrashed 6–0 by Benito van de Pas.[43] Another came at the 11th event and he was left waiting for his first professional title as Ian White won 6–3.[44] Cullen qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time in four years and lost 10–5 to Wright in the opening round.[45] Cullen made his debut at the World Grand Prix and he won the first set against Simon Whitlock, before losing six of the next seven legs to bow out.[46] After seeing off Chris Dobey 6–2 at the European Championship he was heavily beaten 10–3 by Phil Taylor in the second round.[47] A 13 dart leg from Cullen saw him squeeze past Anderson in to the quarter-finals of the non-ranking World Series of Darts Finals, where he lost to Wright in a televised match for the third time in 2016, this time 10–7.[48] Cullen eased past Steve Brown 6–1 and Rowby-John Rodriguez 6–0 at the Players Championship Finals, but then averaged 71.13 as Raymond van Barneveld knocked him out 10–2 in the third round.[49]

2017

After breaking into the top 32 on the Order of Merit during 2016, it meant Cullen was a seeded player at the World Championship for the first time in his career. He beat Corey Cadby 3–1 in the first round to pick up his first-ever win at the tournament at the seventh time of asking. Cullen averaged 100.88, but went on to lose 4–0 to two-time winner of the event Adrian Lewis in the next round.[50][51][52]

Cullen claimed his first PDC title in April at the eighth Players Championship. He was 4–1 up in the final, before Daryl Gurney squared the match at 5–5. Gurney missed one match dart and Cullen won on double four and said afterwards that he had relied on his natural talent in the past, but in the last year he had also been working very hard on his game.[53]

World Championship record

PDC

Performance timeline
Tournament2008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020
PDC World Championship Did not qualify 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R
The Masters Not held Did not qualify QF 1R
UK Open 3R 1R 3R 4R 5R 3R DNQ 3R QF 5R 3R 4R 5R
World Matchplay Did not qualify 1R Did not qualify 1R 1R QF 1R 2R
World Grand Prix Did not qualify 1R 2R 1R 1R
European Championship Did not qualify 2R 1R SF 2R
Players Championship Finals Did not qualify 3R 1R 3R 2R
Performance Table Legend
W won the tournament RU runner-up SF lost in the semi-finals QF lost in the quarter-finals #R
RR
L#		 lost in # round
round robin
last # stage
DNP Did not participate DNQ Did not qualify NH Tournament not held NYF Not yet founded
gollark: On new users' things.
gollark: So it just crashed horribly.
gollark: I switched over the database structure for it a few days ago, but forgot to actually test whether the migration code works (by doing nothing) if the previous databases don't exist.
gollark: Also, funnily enough, I accidentally managed to break the achievement system on my website for several days without noticing.
gollark: Or both.

References
  1. "Joe Cullen profile". Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  2. Anderson Takes Killarney Glory Archived 19 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
  3. Taylor Takes Qualifier Six Win Archived 20 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
  4. "PDPA World Championship Qualifier". PDC. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  5. "World Championship - Night Six". PDC. 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  6. "Gary Anderson survives Jyhan Artut scare". BBC Sport. 20 December 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  7. "European Tour 1 - UK Qualifier". PDC. 13 April 2012. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  8. "European Tour Event One Draw". PDC. 13 April 2012. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  9. "Austrian Darts Open Day Two". PDC. 28 April 2012. Archived from the original on 1 May 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  10. "2012 PDC European Tour Vienna Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  11. "2012 UK Open Qualifier Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  12. "Joe Cullen 2012". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  13. "2012 PDC European Tour Dusseldorf Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  14. "2012 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  15. "Speedy Services UK Open RD5". PDC. Archived from the original on 11 June 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
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  18. "2013 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
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  20. "Order of Merit on 1 January 2013". PDC. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  21. "Speedy Services UK Open - Friday". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  22. "Austrian Darts Open - Saturday". PDC. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  23. "Austrian Darts Open - Third Round". PDC. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  24. "Joe Cullen 2013". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  25. "2014 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  26. "Ladbrokes World Championship Schedule". PDC. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  27. "Ladbrokes World Championship Day One". PDC. 14 December 2013. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013.
  28. "Coral UK Open Field Confirmed". PDC. 23 February 2014. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  29. "Brilliant Anderson Storms To Victory In Coventry". PDC. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  30. "Deadly Dolan's Dublin Delight". PDC. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  31. "William Hill World Championship Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  32. "2015 UK Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  33. "European Darts Grand Prix Third Round". PDC. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  34. "Gutsy Huybrechts' Sindelfingen Glory". PDC. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  35. "2015 PDPA Players Championship Coventry Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  36. "2016 PDC World Championship Qualifiers". Darts Database. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  37. "William Hill World Championship Day Seven". PDC. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  38. "2016 Coral UK Open Fifth Round". PDC. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  39. "2016 Coral UK Open Quarter-Finals". PDC. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  40. "Joe Cullen Televised Averages". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 12 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  41. "Wright Edges Lewis For PC1 Victory". PDC. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  42. "2016 PDC German Darts Masters Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  43. "Brilliant Benito Claims Second Triumph". PDC. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  44. "White Denies Cullen For Barnsley Win". PDC. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  45. "BetVictor World Matchplay Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  46. "Unibet World Grand Prix Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  47. "2016 European Championship Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  48. "Ladbrokes World Series Finals Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  49. "2016 Players Championship Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  50. "William Hill World Championship Day Five". PDC. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  51. "On target: Adrian Lewis next on horizon for Bradford's Joe Cullen". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  52. "William Hill World Championship Day Nine". PDC. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  53. "Cullen's Maiden Title Delight In Barnsley". PDC. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
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