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
Personal information
Nickname"Little John"
Born (1994-03-27) 27 March 1994
Vienna, Austria
Home townVienna, Austria
Darts information
Playing darts since2010
Darts26g Red Dragon Signature
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Ruby" by Kaiser Chiefs
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2010–2013
PDC2013–
Current world ranking71 1 (3 January 2021)[1]
BDO majors – best performances
World MastersLast 80: 2013
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 64: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019
Grand SlamGroup Stages: 2014, 2015
European Ch'shipLast 16: 2015
UK OpenLast 96: 2016
Players Ch'ship FinalsLast 32: 2016
Other tournament wins
Austria National Championships 2010
Baltic Cup Open 2012
Carinthian Open 2011
PDC Challenge Tour 2013
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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4] His first PDC major was the UK Open where he was knocked out 5–1 by Tony Randall in the first round.[5]

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.[6][7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]

2015 season

Rodriguez made his debut at the 2015 World Championship after he qualified through the Pro Tour Order of Merit.[13] 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.[14][15] He won the opening Development Tour event of the year by beating Jamie Lewis 4–1 in the final.[16] Rodriguez and Suljović were eliminated in the last 16 of the World Cup for the second consecutive year, this time to Germany.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20]

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.[21] 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.[22][23] Rodriguez was defeated in the final of three Development Tour events in 2016.[24]

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.[25] 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.[26]

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.[27] 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.[28]

World Championship results

PDC

Performance timeline
Tournament2014201520162017201820192020
PDC World Championship DNQ 1R 1R 1R DNQ 2R 1R
UK Open 1R DNQ 2R DNQ 1R 2R
European Championship 1R 2R DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts RR RR DNQ
Players Championship Finals DNQ 2R DNQ 1R DNQ
Non-major televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts 2R 2R QF QF DNP QF
World Series of Darts Finals NH 2R Did not qualify

Personal life

Rodriguez' older brother Roxy-James Rodriguez also plays darts and reached the last 16 of the European Darts Trophy in 2014.[29] His other younger brother, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez is also a darts player and made his PDC European Tour debut in the 2017 Austrian Darts Open.[30]

References
  1. "PDC Order of Merit". PDC.tv. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  2. "2010 Austria National Championships Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  3. "2014 PDC Tour Card Qualifying School Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  4. "2014 PDC Qualifying School Day Four". PDC. Archived from the original on 19 January 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  5. "Coral UK Open - Friday Afternoon". PDC. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  6. "Keegan Brown claims world youth champion darts crown". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  7. "Unicorn World Youth Joy For Brown". PDC. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  8. "bwin World Cup of Darts Second Round". PDC. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  9. "Mighty Mike Claims Crawley Crown". PDC. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  10. "888.com European Championship Day One". PDC. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  11. "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam Day One". PDC. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  12. "SINGHA Beer Grand Slam - Monday". PDC. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  13. "William Hill World Champs Field". PDC. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  14. "William Hill World Championship Day Five". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  15. "Order of Merit on 5 January 2015". PDC. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  16. "Coventry Crowns For Rodriguez & Van Peer". PDC. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  17. "bwin World Cup of Darts Quarter-Finals". PDC. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  18. "ProTour Joy For Klaasen In Wigan". PDC. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  19. "Unibet European Championship Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  20. "2015 Grand Slam Of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  21. "William Hill World Championship Day Six". PDC. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  22. "Lewis Powers To Wigan Title". PDC. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  23. "2016 Coral UK Open Day One". PDC. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  24. "Rowby-John Rodriguez 2016". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  25. "2016 PDC World Cup of Darts Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  26. "2016 Players Championship Finals Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  27. "William Hill World Championship Day Eight". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  28. "Dutch Delight In Betway World Cup of Darts". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  29. "European Darts Trophy Draw & Qualifiers". PDC. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  30. "2017 Austrian Darts Open day one". PDC. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
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