Rowby-John Rodriguez (born 27 March 1994) is an Austrian professional darts player who competes 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 Suljoviàfor Austria. A former PDC Tour Card holder, he was the beaten finalist at the 2022 European Darts Matchplay â on the PDC European Tour â and is a two-time winner on both of the second-tier PDC circuits â the PDC Challenge Tour and the PDC Development Tour.
In 2010, as a 16-year-old, Rodriguez won the Austrian National Championship, beating Franz Thaler 5âÂÂ0 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 5âÂÂ3. However, after all four events had been played Rodriguez had done enough to finish ninth on the QâÂÂSchool Order of Merit and earn a two-year tour card. His first PDC major was the UK Open where he was knocked out 5âÂÂ1 by Tony Randall in the first round.
In May, Rodriguez reached the final of the PDC World Youth Championship where he lost 6âÂÂ4 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 Suljoviàand 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 6âÂÂ1 to Ian White. His play throughout the year earned him a debut in the European Championship where he lost 6âÂÂ2 to Robert Thornton in the opening round. At the Grand Slam, Rodriguez beat world number three Adrian Lewis 5âÂÂ2 in his opening group game before losing 5âÂÂ1 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 3âÂÂ0 down to level at 3âÂÂ3, he lost 5âÂÂ3.
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 3âÂÂ0 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 4âÂÂ1 in the final. Rodriguez and Suljoviàwere 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 Suljoviàat the 14th Players Championship to play in his first PDC Pro Tour semi-final, where he lost 6âÂÂ2 against Jelle Klaasen. A 6âÂÂ4 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 10âÂÂ2 defeat. After losing 5âÂÂ3 to Robbie Green and beating Martin Phillips 5âÂÂ2 at the Grand Slam, Rodriguez needed a win over Phil Taylor to qualify for the last 16, but he lost 5âÂÂ2.
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 6âÂÂ1 by Adrian Lewis and he lost 6âÂÂ2 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 Suljoviàeliminated Italy and Singapore to ensure Austria played in their first World Cup quarter-final, where Suljoviàwas whitewashed by Phil Taylor and Rodriguez lost 4âÂÂ1 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 6âÂÂ4, before being thrashed 6âÂÂ0 by Joe Cullen in the second round.
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 Suljoviàthrashed Adrian Lewis 4âÂÂ0 and Rodriguez lost 4âÂÂ1 to Chisnall, before Austria were defeated 4âÂÂ2 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.
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 3âÂÂ1 and thus won a match for the first time at a World Championship. In the second round, he then lost to Cristo Reyes 3âÂÂ2, 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 Suljoviàfor 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, Suljoviàfirst defeated Michael Smith 4âÂÂ3 before he lost to Rob Cross by the same score. In the doubles England won 4âÂÂ3.
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.
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 6âÂÂ5 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 Suljoviàfor Austria in the 2021 PDC World Cup of Darts. In the first round, the pair defeated the Philippines 5âÂÂ1 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 Suljoviànarrowly lost to Brendan Dolan, Rodriguez beat Daryl Gurney 4âÂÂ2. Suljoviàand Rodriguez then won 4âÂÂ3 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 4âÂÂ1 win in his singles match while Suljoviàdid the same. This meant Austria reached the final for the first time. However John Henderson and Peter Wright from Scotland won 3âÂÂ1 in the final.
Rodriguez qualified for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts by 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 10âÂÂ2.
In the 2022 PDC World Championship Rodriguez won against Nick Kenny 3âÂÂ0 in the first round, but was whitewashed by Luke Humphries 3âÂÂ0 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 8âÂÂ7. 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 SuljoviÃÂ were the runners-up, reaching the final where they lost to England.
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.
PDC European Tour
PDC Players Championships