2015 Breaks into the top 64 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time
Rowby-John Rodriguez (born 27 March 1994) is an Austrian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.
Career
In 2010, as a 16-year-old, Rodriguez won the Austrian National Championship, beating Franz Thaler 5–0 in the final.[2]
At 2014's Q-School Rodriguez was one win away from winning a card on Day 2 but lost to Gerwyn Price 5–3.[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]
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]
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.
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.
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.[31]
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.[32] His younger brother, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, is also a darts player and made his PDC European Tour debut in the 2017 Austrian Darts Open.[33]
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