Joe Cullen claimed that his Hungarian Darts Trophy success came as a surprise on Sunday night, as he celebrated his fourth PDC title of 2022 in Budapest.
Cullen produced a clinical display to dispatch William O’Connor in Sunday’s showpiece, closing out an 8-2 success at the BOK Sportcsarnok to clinch his third European Tour title.
The 33-year-old was not at his blistering best for large parts of the weekend, recording battling 6-4 wins over Martin Lukeman, Jim Williams and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez to progress to the latter stages.
Cullen then survived three match darts in the penultimate leg of his semi-final clash against Dave Chisnall, firing in a 12-darter to prevail with a 98 average and six 180s.
The Masters champion had suffered four consecutive defeats on the European Tour prior to this weekend, but he breezed past O’Connor to secure his 11th senior PDC title in the Hungarian capital.
“I didn’t expect it, but I’m over the moon,” said Cullen, who averaged over 97 to scoop the £25,000 top prize.
“Budapest is another fantastic country that we come to. I’ve been lucky to get to Australia and New Zealand, so to come to Budapest and win is brilliant.
“In my first three games I was terrible and a bit lucky to get through all three of them.
“Then I turned it on a little bit in the semis and I think I was pretty decent in the final.
“I kept Willie at bay, because I’d seen how well he played over the weekend and I knew that’s what I had to do.”
O’Connor claimed a host of major scalps in Budapest, defeating four of the world’s top 16 to catapult himself into the provisional qualification places for the 2022/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship.
Having beaten host-nation qualifier Pal Szekely in his opener, the Irishman dumped out Dimitri Van den Bergh, Michael Smith, Jose De Sousa and Nathan Aspinall to pocket the £10,000 runner-up prize.
“If you had told me before this weekend that I would get to the final, I would have been ecstatic,” said O’Connor, who was featuring in his first European Tour final since July 2018.
“To play darts in front of this fantastic crowd in Budapest was amazing. It’s one of the best crowds I’ve ever seen.
“It is not nice losing in any final, but I don’t mind losing to Joe.
“He is one of the best guys in the game and I wish him all the best in the future.”
The PDC European Tour continues with the Interwetten German Darts Open in Jena from September 9-11, as 48 players compete in the £140,000 event.
The tournament will be broadcast live on PDCTV, exclusively on DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and through bookmakers’ websites worldwide.
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