Former world champion Rob Cross crowned himself the PDC Players Championship 1 champion after defeating Joe Cullen 8-3 in the final in Wigan.

The 34-year-old secured his 22nd PDC title of his career, earning £15,000 for the day’s work, and claimed his first floor tournament victory since 2023.

Cross doubles his title tally in 2025 after winning the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters, where he prevailed against Stephen Bunting 8-5 in the final.

The action in Wigan marked the return of the PDC ProTour after a multi-month break. Cross entered the tournament as the number 16 seed, and this title win will solidify his seeding for the upcoming European Tours.

The three-time televised ranking winner kick started his day with a convincing win over Robert Owen, winning 6-2. He averaged 91.84, which was inferior to Owen’s 93.15, but took out timely 110 and 106 finishes to get over the line.

Cross defeated Owen Bates 6-2 in the second round, matching his first-round scoreline, but showed improvement in his overall performance to secure a more comfortable victory. With an average of 97.33 and winning every leg in 17 darts or fewer, Cross proved too strong for Bates to handle.

His game didn’t dwindle for his third round clash with James Hurrell, instead it got stronger. He crafted together an impressive 104.53 average, a massive improvement from the previous two games. At one point, Hurrell formulated a 4-2 advantage, Cross responded by holding throw before winning three further legs in a row by completing 14, 13, and 12 dart legs.

Carl Sneyd was no match for Voltage in the Last 16 matchup, but Cross’ biggest threat of the day arrived in the quarterfinals encounter with the inform Dutchman, Jermaine Wattimena. Cross was 5-2 up but his opponent fought back superbly to force a last leg decider, but was unable to stop his rival. Cross posted a nervy 17 darter to progress on, but averaged a below par 89.51.

As usual and one of Cross’ biggest strengths was on display once more, as he fights back after facing adversity. He recovered to produce his best two performances of the day in the semifinals and the final against Andrew Gilding and Cullen, respectively.

In the semi-final, after failing to get out of the traps well and was 3-0 down, Cross produced seven unanswered legs to reach the final. Aside from one leg where he checked out in 19 darts, the other six legs came in under 15 darts, in addition to posting 128 and 108 checkouts.

He was untroubled in the final against Cullen, this time racing into a 3-0 lead. Despite Cullen’s attempts to level the game after winning the next two, Cross kept his game at a high standard and won all eight legs in under 15 darts.