# Rowby-John Rodriguez

Rowby-John Rodriguez (born 27 March 1994) is an Austrian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Little John", he was runner-up at the PDC World Cup of Darts in both 2021 and 2024, partnering Mensur Suljović for Austria. A former PDC Tour Card holder, he was the beaten finalist at the 2022 European Darts Matchplay – on the PDC European Tour – and is a two-time winner on both of the second-tier PDC circuits – the Challenge Tour and the Development Tour. He reached the last 16 at the European Championship in 2015 and 2022, as well as at the 2021 Grand Slam and 2022 World Matchplay.

## Career

In 2010, as a 16-year-old, Rodriguez won the Austrian National Championship, beating Franz Thaler 5–0 in the final.
At 2014's Q-School Rodriguez was one win away from winning a card on Day 2 but lost to Gerwyn Price 5–3. 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. 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 in form, loses his 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 to Cristo Reyes 3–2, missing match darts.
Having retained his Tour card once again, Rodriguez reached the last 16 of Players Championship 6. However he lost in the first round once again at 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 defeated Michael Smith 4–3 before he lost to Rob Cross by the same score. In the doubles England won 4–3.
However, due to his lack of success on the 2020 PDC Pro Tour, Rodriguez failed to qualify for the other majors and lost his Tour Card.

### 2021: A year without a Tour card

Rodriguez qualified for the final stage at Q-School 2021, but did not do enough to win the Tour card back. However, Rodriguez still qualified for the 2021 UK Open, where he won matches for the first time. He beat Brian Raman in the first round and Kevin McDine in the second round before defeating Josh Payne 6–5 in the third round. He lost to Jonny Clayton in the fourth round.
As a call-up for Players Championship events, filling in virtue of his 2021 Challenge Tour Order of Merit ranking, Rodriguez made several round of 16 appearances, and thus qualified for the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship via the ProTour Order of Merit Ranking.
Rodriguez once again played alongside Mensur Suljović for Austria in the 2021 PDC World Cup of Darts. In the first round, the pair defeated the Philippines 5–1 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 beat Daryl Gurney 4–2. Suljović and Rodriguez then won 4–3 in the doubles to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
Austria faced the England team of James Wade and Dave Chisnall, Rodriguez averaged 102 in a 4–1 win in his singles match while Suljović did the same. This meant Austria reached the final for the first time. However John Henderson and Peter Wright from Scotland won 3–1 in the final.
Rodriguez qualified for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts virtue of being a runner-up at the 2021 World Cup, beating Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting in the group stage to qualify for the knockout phase. In the round of 16 he was beaten by James Wade 10–2.

### 2022–2024

In the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship Rodriguez won against Nick Kenny 3–0 in the first round, but was whitewashed by Luke Humphries 3–0 in sets in the second round, which meant he finished 65th on the Order of Merit, one place outside the top 64 required to keep his Tour Card. As a result, he had to take part in the PDC Q-School in January 2022, where he regained his Tour card via the European Q-School Order of Merit.
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. Rodriguez made his first final at a Euro Tour tournament, defeating 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, Rodriguez missed a match dart in the deciding leg and Humphries therefore won 8–7. Rodriguez withdrew from the next European Tour event, the 2022 Hungarian Darts Trophy, for family reasons.
At the 2022 Players Championship Finals he lost to Joe Cullen in the first round. At the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship he lost to Lourence Ilagan in the first round.
On the 2023 European Tour, 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.

## Personal life

Rodriguez is of Filipino descent. His older brother, Roxy-James Rodriguez, is a former professional darts player. His younger brother, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, is also a darts player.

## 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 | World Cup of Darts | Austria | Mensur Suljović | England – Luke Humphries and Michael Smith | 6–10 (l) |
* ↑ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets, (m) = score in matches.

## 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 | DNQ | 1R | 2R | 4R | 3R | 4R | 4R |
| World Matchplay | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | DNQ |
| European Championship | DNP | 1R | 2R | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | DNQ |
| Grand Slam of Darts | DNP | RR | RR | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | DNQ | RR |
| Players Championship Finals | DNP | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | DNQ | 1R | 1R | 1R | DNQ |
| Non-ranked televised events |||||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | DNP | 2R | 2R | QF | QF | DNP | DNP | QF | F | 2R | RR | F |
| World Series of Darts Finals | NH | NH | 2R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | DNP |
| PDC World Youth Championship | 2R | F | 2R | QF | 2R | RR | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| BDO Ranked televised events |||||||||||||
| BDO World Championship | DNQ | DNQ | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC |
| Winmau World Masters | 3R | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | PDC | 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 1R | WIG 1R | LEI 2R | LEI 1R | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | WIG 4R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | LEI 1R | LEI 2R |
* ↑ Not a Tour card holder
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 | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | NYF | Not yet founded |