Josh Rock managed to win the seventeenth Players Championship tournament of the season on Friday night. He overcame Joe Cullen 8-6 in the final and captured his third PDC ranking title after a drought.
Rock began the tournament with an easy 6-1 win over Aden Kirk. He then defeated Owen Roelofs (6-4), Scott Williams (6-2) and Niels Zonneveld (6-4) to force a clash with Gary Anderson. The Scot was beaten 6-5, after which Ross Smith was also beaten 7-6. Rock turned a 1-3 deficit into a 6-3 lead against 'Smudger'. Smith came back to 6-6, but then Rock decided the game with an 11-darter.
Cullen won two of the first three legs in the final, but then had to watch as four legs in a row went to Rock. Then Cullen managed to come back to 6-6, but then Rock decided the match with a 12-darter (with 170 finish) and a 16-darter.
"I knew [the 170] had to go and it went, thankfully!" said Rock. "In my first year I had my first title and last year I had five finals and lost all five. This year I've had three finals and won two, which is a better record thankfully!
The title moved Rock up to seventeenth in the world rankings. The Northern Irish darter is only two thousand pounds away from a debut in the global top-16.
"Obviously I'm here to win and everybody else is here to win, but I'm going to keep pushing because I want that top 16 place and even after that top ten. I believe I'm good enough because obviously I can beat the best players. I know if I believe in myself - which I do - I'll get into the top two in the world."
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