Rowby-John Rodriguez

Rowby-John Rodriguez (born 27 March 1994) is an Austrian professional darts player currently playing in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

Rowby-John Rodriguez
Rodriguez in 2024
Personal information
Nickname	"Little John"
Born	(1994-03-27) 27 March 1994 Vienna, Austria
Home town	Vienna, Austria
Darts information
Playing darts since	2010
Darts	Shot Signature
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Vamos a la playa" by Righeira
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2010–2013
PDC	2013– (Tour Card: 2014-2020, 2022-)
Current world ranking	65 (29 September 2024)
WDF major events – best performances
World Masters	Last 80: 2013
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 64: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022
World Matchplay	Last 16: 2022
UK Open	Last 64: 2021, 2023. 2024
Grand Slam	Last 16: 2021
European Ch'ship	Last 16: 2015, 2022
PC Finals	Last 32: 2016
Other tournament wins
Austria National Championships 2010 Baltic Cup Open 2012 Carinthian Open 2011 PDC Challenge Tour 2013, 2021 PDC Development Tour 2015, 2018
Other achievements
2015 Breaks into the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time

Career

In 2010, as a 16-year-old, Rodriguez won the Austrian National Championship by beating Franz Thaler 5–0 in the final.

At the second event of Q School in January 2014 he stood one win away from joining the PDC but lost 5–3 to Gerwyn Price. However, after all four events had been played Rodriguez had done enough to finish ninth on the Q School Order of Merit and earn a two-year tour card. His first PDC major was the UK Open where he was knocked out 5–1 by Tony Randall in the first round.

In May, Rodriguez reached the final of the PDC World Youth Championship where he lost 6–4 to Keegan Brown at the O2 Arena in London as part of the Premier League finals night. Reaching the final secured him a place in the 2014 Grand Slam of Darts. Rodriguez was now Austria's number two player behind Mensur Suljović and they teamed up at the World Cup of Darts, but lost both their singles matches in the second round against the Belgium brothers of Kim and Ronny Huybrechts. Rodriguez reached the quarter-finals of a Pro Tour event for the first time at the 14th Players Championship defeating the likes of Gary Anderson, Paul Nicholson and Jamie Caven, before losing 6–1 to Ian White. His play throughout the year earned him a debut in the European Championship where he lost 6–2 to Robert Thornton in the opening round. At the Grand Slam, Rodriguez beat world number three Adrian Lewis 5–2 in his opening group game before losing 5–1 to Dave Chisnall. He went into his final group game knowing a win over Brown would see him qualify for the last 16 and, despite coming back from 3–0 down to level at 3–3, he lost 5–3.

2015 season

Rodriguez made his debut at the 2015 World Championship after he qualified through the Pro Tour Order of Merit. However, he ran into an in-form Raymond van Barneveld who hit finishes of 167 and 170 as he restricted Rodriguez to two legs during the match in a 3–0 defeat. Rodriguez averaged 79.22 which was over 20 points lower than his opponent's, but he still broke into the top 64 on the Order of Merit for the first time after the tournament concluded as he was ranked world number 58. He won the opening Development Tour event of the year by beating Jamie Lewis 4–1 in the final. Rodriguez and Suljović were eliminated in the last 16 of the World Cup for the second consecutive year, this time to Germany. From the last 32 onwards he knocked out Kim Huybrechts, Wayne Jones and Mensur Suljović at the 14th Players Championship to play in his first PDC Pro Tour semi-final, where he lost 6–2 against Jelle Klaasen. A 6–4 win over Christian Kist saw Rodriguez make the second round of the European Championship in which he could only average 73.43 against John Henderson in a 10–2 defeat. After losing 5–3 to Robbie Green and beating Martin Phillips 5–2 at the Grand Slam, Rodriguez needed a win over Phil Taylor to qualify for the last 16, but he lost 5–2.

2016 season

Rodriguez hit the first 170 finish of the 2016 World Championship, but lost each of the three sets played against Dave Chisnall in the first round by deciding legs. He reached the quarter-finals of the first UK Open Qualifier, but was beaten 6–1 by Adrian Lewis and he lost 6–2 to Lee Evans in the second round of the main event. Rodriguez was defeated in the final of three Development Tour events in 2016.

Rodriguez and Mensur Suljović eliminated Italy and Singapore to ensure Austria played in their first World Cup quarter-final, where Suljović was whitewashed by Phil Taylor and Rodriguez lost 4–1 to Adrian Lewis. A couple of quarter-finals out of the 20 Players Championship events qualified him for the Finals and he beat Ronny Huybrechts 6–4, before being thrashed 6–0 by Joe Cullen in the second round.

2017 season

Rodriguez squared his first round match with Dave Chisnall at the 2017 World Championship at two sets apiece, but lost all three legs of the decider. Austria played England in the quarter-finals of the 2017 World Cup for the second successive year. Mensur Suljović thrashed Adrian Lewis 4–0 and Rodriguez lost 4–1 to Chisnall, before Austria were defeated 4–2 in the decisive doubles match.

On the last weekend of the PDC Development Tour Rodriguez reached the final twice and won one of them 5:4 against Luke Humphries. This was enough to qualify for the 2017 PDC World Youth Championship, but after winning only one match there, Rodriguez missed out on qualifying for the other Majors, including the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship. However, he was able to defend his Tour Card via the rankings.

2018-2020: Downturn and loss of the Tour Card

His form improved a little in 2018, when he qualified three times for the European Tour, but only won one match in the 2018 Dutch Darts Championship, won the fifth tournament on the PDC Development Tour and reached the final of the eleventh tournament.

In October he defeated his brother Rusty-Jake Rodriguez in the final of the South East European Qualifier for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship. Before that, however, he was eliminated in the group stage of the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship. After reaching the last 16 of the Players Championships and the third round several times, he qualified for the 2019 Players Championship Finals but lost in round one to Danny Noppert.

In the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship Rodriguez met Ricky Evans in round one. Rodriguez won 3:1 and thus won a match for the first time at a World Championship. In the second round, he then lost 2:3 to Cristo Reyes despite having match darts.

Having retained his Tour card once again, Rodriguez reached the last 16 of Players Championship 6. Rodriguez lost again in round one of the 2019 UK Open.

Rodriguez reached another round of 16 on the tour at the 2019 Dutch Darts Masters, where he lost to Mervyn King in a last-leg decider. He even reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 Austrian Darts Championship after defeating Josh Payne, Daryl Gurney and Mike De Decker before losing 5-6 to Peter Wright.

Thanks to these successes, Rodriguez qualified for the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship via the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit, but was unable to win a set against Philippine qualifier Noel Malicdem.

At the 2020 UK Open Rodriguez didn't win a match for the fourth time. During the break forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodriguez took part in the first PDC Home Tour. Rodriguez also returned to the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts after a two-year break and reached the quarter-finals with Mensur Suljović for the third time. The pair started the tournament with a 5-2 win over the USA, after which they beat José de Sousa and José Marquês from Portugal. In the quarter-finals, again against England, Suljović first won 4:3 against Michael Smith before Rodriguez lost to Rob Cross by the same score. In the doubles, it turned out that the match went the full distance of 21 legs, with England winning the doubles 4:3.

Due to his lack of success on the Pro Tour, however, he failed to qualify for the other majors. Rodriguez lost his Tour Card after the 2020 season.

2021: A year without a Tour card

Rodriguez qualified for the final stage at Q-School 2021, but it wasn't enough to win him the Tour card back. However, Rodriguez still qualified for almost all of the 2021 Players Championships and the 2021 UK Open, where Rodriguez won matches for the first time. He beat Brian Raman in the first round and Kevin McDine in the Second round before also succeeding in the Third round. Here he won 6-5 against Josh Payne before losing to Jonny Clayton in the Fourth round.

On the Pro tour, Rodriguez then achieved some respectable successes, including several round of 16 appearances, and thus achieved a place in the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit, which guaranteed him a place in the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship.

Rodriguez once again played alongside Mensur Suljović for Austria in the 2021 PDC World Cup of Darts. In the First round, the pair won 5-1 against the Philippines before winning both their singles matches against Kim Huybrechts and Dimitri Van den Bergh from Belgium in the Second round. They faced Northern Ireland in the quarter-finals and while Suljović narrowly lost to Brendan Dolan, Rodriguez levelled that defeat by winning 4-2 against Daryl Gurney. Suljović and Rodriguez then won 4:3 in the doubles to reach the semi-finals for the first time.

However, the team from England, who Rodriguez had lost to in his last three World Cup appearances, were awaiting there. However, James Wade and Dave Chisnall proved to be beatable, with Rodriguez in particular drawing attention to himself in the duel against the latter with an average of 102. Both won 4:1 and so Austria reached the final for the first time. There, however, John Henderson and Peter Wright from Scotland were one size too strong and won 1:3.

Nevertheless, Rodriguez qualified for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts as a finalist in a major tournament, beating Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting in the group stage to qualify for the knockout phase. In the round of 16, however, he was beaten by James Wade 2:10.

2022- : Back on Tour

In the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship Rodriguez first won against Nick Kenny 3:0, but had to accept a whitewash in sets in round two against Luke Humphries, which meant he missed the Tour card by one place in the Order of Merit. As a result, he had to take part in the PDC Q-School in January 2022, where he regained his Tour card via the Order of Merit there.

He then performed well in the European Tour events. He reached the quarter-finals of both the 2022 Czech Darts Open and the 2022 European Darts Grand Prix.

2022 European Darts Matchplay

Rodriguez made his first final at a Euro Tour tournament by beating Danny Noppert, Gerwyn Price, Gabriel Clemens, Nathan Aspinall and Madars Razma at the 2022 European Darts Matchplay in Trier. In the final he met Luke Humphries, who already won three Euro Tour tournaments earlier that year. Rodriguez missed a match dart in the deciding leg, after which the Englishman won with 8-7.

At the 2022 Players Championship Finals he lost in round 1 against Joe Cullen, as well as at the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship against Lourence Ilagan. On the European Tour 2023, he only played in three tournaments and thus only reached 75th place in the European Tour Order of Merit. He was the only Austrian to qualify for the 2023 Players Championship Finals.

In the 2024 World Cup of Darts, Rodriguez and his Austria teammate Mensur Suljović were the runners-up, reaching the final where they lost to England.

World Championship results

PDC

• 2015: First round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 0–3)
• 2016: First round (lost to Dave Chisnall 0–3)
• 2017: First round (lost to Dave Chisnall 2–3)
• 2019: Second round (lost to Cristo Reyes 2–3)
• 2020: First round (lost to Noel Malicdem 0–3)
• 2022: Second round (lost to Luke Humphries 0–3)
• 2023: First round (lost to Lourence Ilagan 2–3)

Career finals

PDC team finals: 2 (2 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team	Teammate	Opponents in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2021	World Cup of Darts	Austria	Mensur Suljović	Scotland – Peter Wright and John Henderson	1–3 (m)
Runner-up	2.	2024				England – Luke Humphries and Michael Smith	6–10 (l)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNP	DNQ	1R	1R	1R	DNQ	2R	1R	DNQ	2R	1R	DNQ
UK Open	DNP	1R	DNQ	2R	DNQ		1R	2R	4R	3R	4R	4R
World Matchplay	DNQ									2R	DNQ
European Championship	DNP	1R	2R	DNQ						2R	DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts	DNP	RR	RR	DNQ					2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNP	DNQ		2R	DNQ	1R	DNQ		1R	1R	1R
Non-major televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts	DNP	2R	2R	QF	QF	DNP		QF	F	2R	RR	F
World Series of Darts Finals	NH		2R	Did not qualify								DNP
PDC World Youth Championship	2R	F	2R	QF	2R	RR	DNP
BDO Ranked televised events
BDO World Championship	DNQ		PDC
Winmau World Masters	3R	PDC
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	N/A	58	41	41	59	72	88	71	65	51	49

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2014	GDC DNP	DDM DNP	GDM DNP	ADO DNP	GDT DNP	EDO DNP	EDG 3R	EDT DNP
2015	GDC DNQ	GDT 1R	GDM 1R	DDM 2R	IDO 3R	EDO 2R	EDT 3R	EDM QF	EDG 1R
2016	DDM 2R	GDM DNQ	GDT 1R	EDM 2R	ADO 2R	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ	EDG DNQ	GDC 2R
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM 3R	GDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	ADO 1R	EDO DNQ	DDM 2R	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG 1R	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM 1R	GDT DNQ	DDO DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDC DNQ	DDC 2R	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2019	EDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	GDG DNQ	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM 3R	DDO DNQ	CDO 1R	ADC QF	EDM DNQ	IDO DNQ	GDT DNQ
2020	BDC 1R	GDC DNQ	EDG DNQ	IDO DNQ
2021	HDT DNQ	GDT DNQ
2022	IDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	GDG DNQ	ADO 2R	EDO 2R	CDO QF	EDG QF	DDC DNQ	EDM F	HDT WD	GDO DNQ	BDO DNQ	GDT 2R
2023	BSD DNQ	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	ADO 1R	DDC DNQ	BDO DNQ	CDO 1R	EDG DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDO DNQ	HDT 3R	GDC DNQ
2024	BDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	ADO DNQ	BSD DNQ	DDC DNQ	EDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	FDT DNQ	HDT DNQ	SDT DNQ	CDO DNQ

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
2011	HAL DNP	HAL DNP	DER DNP	DER DNP	CRA DNP	CRA DNP	VIE PR	VIE DNP	CRA DNP	CRA DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	NUL DNP	NUL DNP	ONT DNP	ONT DNP	DER DNP	DER DNP	NUL DNP	NUL DNP	DUB DNP	DUB DNP	KIL DNP	GLA DNP	GLA DNP	ALI DNP	ALI DNP	CRA DNP	CRA DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP
2014	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	CRA DNP	CRA DNP	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	CRA 1R	CRA 2R	COV 1R	COV 4R	CRA 1R	CRA QF	DUB 3R	DUB 3R	CRA 1R	CRA 1R	COV 2R	COV 3R
2015	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	COV DNP	COV DNP	COV DNP	CRA 2R	CRA 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG SF	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	DUB 1R	DUB 2R	COV 3R	COV 2R
2016	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	COV 1R	COV 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR QF	DUB 2R	DUB 1R	BAR QF	BAR 1R
2017	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	MIL 1R	MIL 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	WIG DNP	WIG 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	DUB 1R	DUB 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R
2018	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 3R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	DUB 1R	DUB 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R
2019	WIG 1R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	DUB 1R	DUB 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R
2020	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 1R	NIE 2R	NIE 3R	NIE 3R	COV 1R	COV 3R	COV 1R	COV 1R	COV 1R
2021	BOL 2R	BOL 1R	BOL 2R	BOL 3R	MIL 3R	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	MIL 3R	NIE 4R	NIE 4R	NIE 2R	NIE 4R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 3R	COV DNP	COV 1R	COV 1R	COV 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R
2022	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	NIE 2R	NIE 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	NIE 1R	NIE 3R	BAR 3R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R
2023	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 3R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 2R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R
2024	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	LEI 3R	LEI 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	WIG	WIG	MIL	MIL	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG	LEI	LEI

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

Personal life

Rodriguez is of Filipino descent. His older brother, Roxy-James Rodriguez, is a former professional darts player who reached the last 16 of the European Darts Trophy in 2014. His younger brother, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, is also a darts player and made his PDC European Tour debut in the 2017 Austrian Darts Open.

External links

• Player profile for Rowby John Rodriguez from Dartsdatabase