Josh Rock

Josh Rock
Personal information
Full nameJoshua Rock
Nickname"Rocky"[1]
Born (2001-04-13) 13 April 2001 (age 23)[2]
County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Home townBroughshane, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Darts information
Playing darts since2016
Darts24g Mission
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Welcome To The Party" by Dj Krissy
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC2022–
(Tour Card: 2022-)
WDF2021
Current world ranking18 Steady (24 November 2024)[3]
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 16: 2023
World MatchplayLast 32: 2023, 2024
World Grand PrixLast 32: 2023, 2024
UK OpenLast 32: 2024
Grand SlamQuarter Final: 2023
European Ch'shipLast 16: 2022
PC FinalsLast 32: 2023
MastersLast 24: 2024
Other tournament wins
Youth events
PDC Development Tour 2022 (x5)
PDC World Youth Ch'ship 2022

European Tour Events

Dutch Darts Championship 2024

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2022
Players Championship (LEI) 2024
Players Championship (MK) 2024
Other achievements
2022 Breaks the record for the highest average in a PDC World Youth Championship final with an average of 104.13.

Joshua Rock (born 13 April 2001) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the current Dutch Darts champion.

In his debut year at the international level, he won the 2022 PDC World Youth Championship. He is also the first player to throw a televised nine-dart finish in their debut year at the Grand Slam of Darts, achieving the feat against Michael van Gerwen at the 2022 event.

Career

In 2021 he reached a final in Irish Classic and lost 3–5 to Shaun McDonald. He defeated on the way to the finals some high-rank players like Brian Raman. Beside he played himself into the quarter-finals of the Irish Open.[clarification needed] At this tournament he reached one of the highest average in the history of tournaments organized by the World Darts Federation, beating Nick Fullwell 4–0 in third round with 111.33 average.

At Q-School in 2022, Rock won his Tour Card on the final day of qualifying by defeating his fellow countryman Nathan Rafferty, earning a two-year card on the PDC circuit.[4] He played on the PDC Development Tour for the first time in February, and reaching three finals in his first three events and winning two of them. In November, Rock achieved his first televised 9-dart finish in the last 16 of the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts, in an eventual 10–8 defeat to Michael van Gerwen.[5] Later that month, Rock won the PDC World Youth Championship by beating Nathan Girvan 6–1 with an average of 104.13, a record for a World Youth final.[6]

2023

In his debut at the 2023 World Championship, Rock beat José Justicia, Callan Rydz and Nathan Aspinall before losing 3–4 to Jonny Clayton in the fourth round.

On the 2023 PDC Pro Tour, Rock reached the final of 4 Players Championship Events and the Austrian Darts Open.

At the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, Rock won Group B with wins against Chris Dobey, Jonny Clayton and Berry van Peer and reached the quarter finals with a 10–5 win over Krzysztof Ratajski.[7] Rock lost in his quarter-final match 16–15 to James Wade.[8]

In December, at the 2024 World Championship, Rock suffered a shock 3–1 second round defeat to Berry van Peer.[9]

2024

On the 2024 PDC Pro Tour Rock reached the final of Players Championship 7, losing the final to Chris Dobey 8–4.[10][11]

On the PDC European Tour, Rock reached the quarter-final stage at both the 2024 German Darts Grand Prix (ET2) and the 2024 European Darts Grand Prix (ET4). Rock lost 6–5 in deciding legs in both quarter-finals, to Gerwyn Price at ET2 and Gary Anderson at ET4.[12] In May Rock won his first European Tour title, beating Jonny Clayton 8–4 in the final of the 2024 Dutch Darts Championship (ET7).[13]

World Championship results

PDC

Performance timeline

Tournament 2022 2023 2024
PDC Ranked televised events
World Championship DNQ 4R 2R
UK Open 1R 3R 5R
World Matchplay DNQ 1R 1R
World Grand Prix DNQ 1R 1R
European Championship 2R 1R 1R
Grand Slam of Darts 2R QF RR
Players Championship Finals 1R 2R
PDC Non-ranked events
Masters DNQ 1R
World Youth Championship W QF DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking (PDC) 36 21

PDC European Tour

Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2022 IDO
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
ADO
2R
EDO
QF
CDO
1R
EDG
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
HDT
QF
GDO
1R
BDO
DNQ
GDT
QF
2023 BSD
DNQ
EDO
QF
IDO
3R
GDG
2R
ADO
F
DDC
3R
BDO
SF
CDO
3R
EDG
3R
EDM
3R
GDO
SF
HDT
2R
GDC
2R
2024 BDO
2R
GDG
QF
IDO
3R
EDG
QF
ADO
3R
BSD
2R
DDC
W
EDO
3R
GDC
WD
FDT
3R
HDT
QF
SDT
SF
CDO
2R
Performance Table Legend
W Won the tournament F Finalist SF Semifinalist QF Quarterfinalist #R
RR
L#
Lost in # round
Round-robin
Last # stage
DQ Disqualified
DNQ Did not qualify DNP Did not participate WD Withdrew NH Tournament not held NYF Not yet founded

Nine-dart finishes

Josh Rock televised nine-dart finishes
Date Opponent Tournament Method Prize
17 November 2022 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2022 Grand Slam of Darts 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12

References

  1. ^ "Josh Rock - "Rocky"".
  2. ^ "Josh Rock - Mastercaller".
  3. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  4. ^ Gill, Samuel (15 January 2022). "Josh Rock seals final outright Tour Card with victory over Rafferty to finalise 2022 PDC UK Q-School". DartsNews. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Josh Rock: Antrim man's nine-darter as Van Gerwen gets fright in Grand Slam match". BBC Sport. 18 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  6. ^ Gill, Samuel (27 November 2022). "Rampant Rock eases past Girvan, breaks average record with 104 in winning 2022 PDC World Youth Championship". DartsNews. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Josh Rock: Northern Irishman reaches quarter-finals at Grand Slam of Darts". BBC Sport. 16 November 2023.
  8. ^ "Grand Slam of Darts: Luke Humphries edges Gary Anderson in a classic as James Wade beats Josh Rock". Sky Sports. 18 November 2023.
  9. ^ Gill, Samuel (23 December 2023). "Berry van Peer stuns Josh Rock, dumps out former World Youth champion at World Darts Championship". DartsNews. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  10. ^ "Chris Dobey wins Players Championship 7 on day of nine-dart finishes in Leicester". Sky Sports. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  11. ^ Gorton, Josh (8 April 2024). "Delight for Dobey with PC7 success in Leicester". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  12. ^ "Gary Anderson wins first PDC European Tour darts title in over a decade with victory over Ross Smith". Sky Sports. 22 April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  13. ^ "Dutch Darts Championship: Michael van Gerwen falls in semi-finals as Josh Rock wins first European Tour title". Sky Sports. 26 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.