Joe Cullen claims the Players Championship 16 title a week after his father suffered a heart attack

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The Bradford ace's love of the Barnsley Metrodome - where he also took victory in April - continued as he defeatied Zoran Lerchbacher 6-4 in the Players Championship 16 final to pick up the £10,000 first prize.

Cullen had withdrawn during last week's European Darts Open event in Leverkusen to return to the UK after his father suffered a heart attack, but after seeing him on the road to recovery enjoyed a memorable success in Barnsley.

Cullen's day was book-ended by tight contests against Austrian aces, with Rowby-John Rodriguez taking him to a deciding leg in the first round.

The 27-year-old then overcame Scotland's Jamie Bain, Belgium's Mike De Decker and Dutch ace Benito van de Pas before coming through an 11-leg quarter-final with Nathan Aspinall.

Cullen then raced past Daryl Gurney in the semi-finals - having previously overcome the Northern Irish ace in the final when he won a Players Championship exactly three months earlier.

Cullen took that form into the early stages of the final, winning the opening leg on double ten, hitting a 102 finish to break and an 11-darter for a three-leg lead.

The next two were shared before Lerchbacher, aided by a key 96 checkout, hit back to level at four-all, but Cullen regained his composure by taking out 60 in leg nine before following up a 180 with double ten to seal the title.

An emotional Cullen dedicated the win to his father, admitting: "He'd be proud of me. Hopefully he's on the mend now, he's back home and obviously things are looking up so I wanted to do it for him.

"I'm just happy to win. I felt comfortable all day but I didn't feel like I was playing well - I just cleaned up the doubles.

"I've never played Zoran before, he's an unexpected finalist and you don't know what to expect so I didn't want to be complacent and I wanted to do the job.

"I think I made it harder than I should have done but I got over the line, so that's the main thing."

Cullen had made his breakthrough into the world's top 32 last year after reaching his first TV quarter-final at the Coral UK Open, and now moves up to a career-high 21st on the PDC Order of Merit.

However, he added: "It's weird - I'm sort-of disappointed with my form this year. Although I'm better off financially on the rankings this year, I felt like I was a lot more consistent last year."

Lerchbacher produced a day of brilliant darts to win through to his first ranking final.

The two-time World Championship qualifier battled past Tony Newell, Robert Owen, Mark Webster and Robert Thornton to reach the quarter-finals, with three of those matches going to a deciding leg.

He then saw off former World Youth Champion Keegan Brown 6-4 and came from behind to edge out Steve Beaton 6-5 in the semi-finals, earning £6,000 for his day's efforts.

Players Championship 16 results (July 9)

Last 128

Richard North 6-1 Simon Whitlock

Kirk Shepherd 6-2 Brian Woods

James Richardson 6-0 Harry Robinson

John Michael 6-0 Ronnie Baxter

Barrie Bates 6-4 Steve West

Andy Boulton 6-5 Andrew Gilding

Steve Beaton 6-5 Simon Preston

Aden Kirk 6-5 Chris Quantock

Ian White 6-3 Kevin Painter

Mick Todd 6-2 Luke Woodhouse

Joe Murnan 6-5 Ronny Huybrechts

Ryan Palmer 6-2 Sven Groen

Rob Cross 6-1 Yordi Meeuwisse

Kevin McDine 6-4 Jonathan Worsley

Jonny Clayton 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Scott Taylor 6-2 Richie Corner

Kim Huybrechts 6-2 Josh Payne

Keegan Brown 6-5 Paul Harvey

Robbie Green 6-4 Antonio Alcinas

Lee Bryant 6-5 Jamie Lewis

Cristo Reyes 6-3 Jimmy Hendriks

Steve Lennon 6-1 Andy Jenkins

Christian Kist 6-4 Craig Gilchrist

Simon Stevenson 6-3 Ritchie Edhouse

Robert Owen 6-5 Alan Norris

Zoran Lerchbacher 6-5 Tony Newell

Mark Webster 6-2 Ross Twell

Jamie Caven 6-5 Vincent Kamphuis

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Mick McGowan

Bryan de Hoog 6-4 Stuart Kellett

Robert Thornton 6-3 Ron Meulenkamp

Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-5 Wayne Jones

Diogo Portela 6-4 Michael Smith

Ryan Searle 6-4 Ted Evetts

Jan Dekker 6-3 Adam Hunt

Peter Jacques 6-2 Berry van Peer

James Wilson 6-2 Jim Walker

Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Martin Schindler

Wes Newton 6-3 Kyle Anderson

Devon Petersen 6-3 Jim Brown

Benito van de Pas 6-3 Andy Hamilton

Callan Rydz 6-2 Madars Razma

Peter Hudson 6-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Darren Johnson 6-3 Steve Hine

Joe Cullen 6-5 Rowby-John Rodriguez

Jamie Bain 6-3 Mark Walsh

Mike De Decker 6-1 Chris Dobey

Michael Barnard 6-0 Matthew Dennant

Richie Burnett 6-5 Jelle Klaasen

Terry Roach 6-5 Dennis Smith

Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Matt Clark

Brendan Dolan 6-2 Mark Barilli

Ricky Evans 6-2 Mervyn King

Ryan Meikle 6-3 Martin Lukeman

Justin Pipe 6-3 William O'Connor

Jeffrey de Graaf 6-4 Stephen Burton

Daryl Gurney 6-1 Paul Nicholson

Matthew Edgar 6-4 David Pallett

Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Terry Temple

Max Hopp 6-2 Ray Campbell

Darren Webster 6-1 Maik Langendorf

Ryan Harrington 6-5 Mickey Mansell

John Henderson 6-5 Paul Rowley

Callum Loose 6-4 John Bowles

Last  64 

Kirk Shepherd 6-4 Richard North

John Michael 6-5 James Richardson

Andy Boulton 6-2 Barrie Bates

Steve Beaton 6-1 Aden Kirk

Ian White 6-2 Mick Todd

Ryan Palmer 6-4 Joe Murnan

Rob Cross 6-3 Kevin McDine

Scott Taylor 6-2 Jonny Clayton

Keegan Brown 6-1 Kim Huybrechts

Robbie Green 6-4 Lee Bryant

Cristo Reyes 6-3 Steve Lennon

Christian Kist 6-4 Simon Stevenson

Zoran Lerchbacher 6-5 Robert Owen

Mark Webster 6-1 Jamie Caven

Stephen Bunting 6-2 Bryan de Hoog

Robert Thornton 6-5 Jeffrey de Zwaan

Ryan Searle 6-5 Diogo Portela

Jan Dekker 6-5 Peter Jacques

Nathan Aspinall 6-5 James Wilson

Wes Newton 6-2 Devon Petersen

Benito van de Pas 6-1 Callan Rydz

Darren Johnson 6-0 Peter Hudson

Joe Cullen 6-3 Jamie Bain

Mike De Decker 6-5 Michael Barnard

Terry Roach 6-4 Richie Burnett

Brendan Dolan 6-4 Vincent van der Voort

Ryan Meikle 6-1 Ricky Evans

Jeffrey de Graaf 6-5 Justin Pipe

Daryl Gurney 6-2 Matthew Edgar

Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Max Hopp

Darren Webster 6-4 Ryan Harrington

Callum Loose 6-4 John Henderson

Last 32 

Kirk Shepherd 6-4 John Michael

Steve Beaton 6-2 Andy Boulton

Ian White 6-1 Ryan Palmer

Rob Cross 6-3 Scott Taylor

Keegan Brown 6-5 Robbie Green

Christian Kist 6-4 Cristo Reyes

Zoran Lerchbacher 6-2 Mark Webster

Robert Thornton 6-5 Stephen Bunting

Jan Dekker 6-3 Ryan Searle

Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Wes Newton

Benito van de Pas 6-5 Darren Johnson

Joe Cullen 6-2 Mike De Decker

Brendan Dolan 6-2 Terry Roach

Ryan Meikle 6-2 Jeffrey de Graaf

Daryl Gurney 6-1 Jermaine Wattimena

Darren Webster 6-1 Callum Loose

Last 16

Steve Beaton 6-1 Kirk Shepherd

Ian White 6-4 Rob Cross

Keegan Brown 6-3 Christian Kist

Zoran Lerchbacher 6-5 Robert Thornton

Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Jan Dekker

Joe Cullen 6-3 Benito van de Pas

Brendan Dolan 6-3 Ryan Meikle

Daryl Gurney 6-4 Darren Webster

Last Eight

Steve Beaton 6-4 Ian White

Zoran Lerchbacher 6-4 Keegan Brown

Joe Cullen 6-5 Nathan Aspinall

Daryl Gurney 6-4 Brendan Dolan

Last Four

Zoran Lerchbacher 6-5 Steve Beaton

Joe Cullen 6-2 Daryl Gurney

Final

Joe Cullen 6-4 Zoran Lerchbacher