Cullen won his first PDC major title at the 2022 Masters, defeating Dave Chisnall in the final. This qualified him for the 2022 Premier League Darts where he finished as runner-up. Cullen has won ten ranking PDC titles in his professional career.
Career
Early career
Cullen first came to prominence in 2008 when he qualified for the UK Open.[2] 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.[3]
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.[4]
Cullen qualified for his first PDC World Darts Championship in 2011. He lost narrowly to Terry Jenkins 3–2 in sets 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.[5]
2012
Cullen reached the final of the PDPA World Championship Qualifier, where he was beaten by Arron Monk 5–3.[6] The result meant that he qualified for the preliminary round of the 2012 World Championship, where he beat Oliver Ferenc 4–2 in legs.[7] He played the 10th seed Terry Jenkins in the first round for the second successive year and was beaten 3–0, winning just three legs in the match.[8][9] In April, he earned a place in the Austrian Darts Open by defeating Sam Hill and John Bowles in the UK qualifier.[10] He played Brendan Dolan in the first round and won 6–4,[11] and then continued his run by beating Simon Whitlock 6–4, despite his opponent hitting a nine darter.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14][15] 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.[16]
Cullen reached the last 16 of the UK Open with victories over Jim Walker (9–4) and Colin Lloyd (9–8),[17] but then let a 4–0 and 5–1 lead against Jamie Caven slip to lose 9–8.[18] He qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time and lost to Pipe 10–4 in the first round.[19]
2013
Cullen qualified for the 2013 World Championship by finishing 36th on the 2012 ProTour Order of Merit,[20] claiming the fifth of sixteen spots that were available for the highest non-qualified players.[21] He lost 3–0 to John Part in the first round, with the Canadian's superior finishing being the difference between the players.[22] Cullen was ranked world number 41 after the tournament.[23] He lost 9–5 to Lee Palfreyman in the third round of the UK Open.[24] 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.[25] He reached the quarter-finals of this event for the second year running by surviving one match dart from Raymond van Barneveld to win 6–5, but was then beaten 6–0 by Mervyn King.[26] Cullen reached three other quarter-finals in floor events during the year but lost in each one.[27]
2014
Cullen qualified for the 2014 World Championship through the ProTour Order of Merit once again and faced Peter Wright in the first round.[28][29] 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.[30] 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.[31] 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.[32] 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.[33]
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.[39][40] 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.[41] 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.[42][43] 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).[44][45]
Cullen's second ever PDC final came at the ninth Players Championship, but he was thrashed 6–0 by Benito van de Pas.[46] Another came at the 11th event and he was left waiting for his first professional title as Ian White won 6–3.[47] Cullen qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time in four years and lost 10–5 to Wright in the opening round.[48] 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.[49] After seeing off Chris Dobey 6–2 at the European Championship he was heavily beaten 10–3 by Phil Taylor in the second round.[50] 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.[51] 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.[52]
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.[53][54][55]
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.[59]
Cullen competed in his debut season in the Premier League in 2022; he finished 4th in the table and qualified for finals night on the last night of league play, by defeating Peter Wright in his final match. On 13 June, at finals night in Berlin, Cullen defeated Jonny Clayton 10–4 in the semi-finals to secure a place in the final against Michael van Gerwen, which he lost 11–10 after missing a match dart.
Cullen reached the fourth round of the 2024 World Championship, where he faced Luke Humphries. Tied at 3–3 in sets, Cullen missed two darts at double 18 to win the match. The winner was decided in a sudden death leg, with Humphries hitting double 10 to win the final set 6–5 in legs and eliminate Cullen in a dramatic 4–3 victory.[73]
Cullen qualified for the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship as the number twenty-three seed. He received a bye to the second round as a top-32-seeded player. In the second round, Cullen whitewashedWessel Nijman 3–0 in sets, but lost to Gerwyn Price in a sudden death leg in the third round.[77] Cullen had trailed 3–0 but won the next three sets to level the match at 3–3 to force the last-set decider. The match was described as a "thriller" and an "Alexandra Palace classic".[78][79][80]
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(2 February 2025) [1] 
