BOLTON darts ace Joe Murnan had the biggest win of his career on Sunday when he took his first PDC ranking title.

The victory in the Players Championship in Crawley – which included many of the world's best players including Phil Taylor – earned the local man the £10,000 first prize.

He beat number seven seed Vincent van der Voort, youngsters Adam Hunt, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Josh Payne on his way to the quarter-finals where he knocked out Premier League star Stephen Bunting.

A 6-3 win against Daryl Gurney put him in the final where he beat another Premier League ace, Dave Chisnall 6-4.

The victory marked a turnaround in fortunes for the Bolton ace who lost his PDC Tour Card at the end of 2014.

He bounced back from that setback with a good performance in the German Darts Championship in February and rises from his pre-weekend 73rd world ranking into the top 64 as well as climbing up the Pro Tour Order of Merit into the provisional qualifying places for the World Matchplay this summer.