Rob Cross (darts player)
Rob Cross | |||||||||
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Personal information | |||||||||
Nickname | Voltage | ||||||||
Born | [1] 21 September 1990 Pembury, Kent, England | ||||||||
Home town | Edenbridge, lives in Hastings | ||||||||
Darts information | |||||||||
Playing darts since | 2001 | ||||||||
Darts | Target | ||||||||
Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||
Walk-on music | Hot Hot Hot by Arrow (with intro from Baba O'Riley by The Who). | ||||||||
Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||
BDO | 2015 | ||||||||
PDC | 2017– | ||||||||
Current world ranking | 3 | ||||||||
WDF major events – best performances | |||||||||
World Masters | Last 48: 2015 | ||||||||
PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||
World Ch'ship | Winner (1): 2018 | ||||||||
World Matchplay | Last 16: 2017 | ||||||||
World Grand Prix | Last 32: 2017 | ||||||||
UK Open | Last 16: 2017 | ||||||||
Grand Slam | Quarter Final: 2017 | ||||||||
European Ch'ship | Runner Up: 2017 | ||||||||
Premier League | 2018 | ||||||||
PC Finals | Semi Final: 2017 | ||||||||
Masters | Last 16: 2018 | ||||||||
Other tournament wins | |||||||||
Players Championships
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Other achievements | |||||||||
2016 Finishes first on PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit
2017 Breaks into the top 32 on the PDC order of merit for the first time (debut year on circuit) 2017 Breaks into the top 4 in the PDC order of merit for the first time |
Robert “Voltage” Cross (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events, where he is the reigning PDC World Darts Champion, following his victory over Phil Taylor in January 2018. Cross won the World Championship on his debut, having turned professional just 11 months prior to the event.
BDO career
2015
In October 2015, Cross attempted to qualify for the 2016 BDO World Darts Championship, where he was knocked out in the last 64 by Tony Martin.[2] He also competed in the 2015 World Masters, losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 48.[3]
PDC career
2016
Cross competed in the 2016 UK Open as an amateur Riley qualifier; making it to the last 32 before falling to world number one Michael van Gerwen, who achieved a nine-dart finish in the process.[4][5] Following this, he competed in the PDC Challenge Tour, winning three of the 16 events and ultimately topping the Order of Merit, consequently earning a Tour Card for the 2017 PDC Pro Tour.[6][7]
2017
At the 2017 UK Open, Cross reached the fifth round before being knocked out by eventual winner Peter Wright.[8] The following week, he won his first PDC title by defeating Mervyn King 6–5 in the final of the third Players Championship.[9] His first year on the tour continued as he won the 12th event with a 6–5 victory over Ian White, who missed five darts for the title.[10] Cross then beat Peter Wright 6–2 in Players Championship 19 in Dublin and quickly added his 4th Players Championship (PC21) with a 6–3 win against Adrian Lewis to move into the top 32 for the first time.
Cross reached the final of two events in the 2017 PDC European Tour, the German Darts Grand Prix and the European Darts Trophy, both times losing to Michael van Gerwen.[11][12] He reached his first premier event final in October at the 2017 European Championship, again losing to van Gerwen.[13]
2018
Cross made his World Championship debut in 2018 as the 20th seed, reaching the final against Phil Taylor following wins over Seigo Asada, Michael Smith (in which Cross survived two match darts), John Henderson, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen (in which Cross survived six match darts). In the final he defeated Taylor, who had previously announced that he would retire after the tournament,[14] 7–2 in sets.[15] He is the only man in the history of the game to survive match darts in two different rounds and then go on to win the World title.[16] Winning his first World Championship meant that he finished at number 3 in the PDC Order of Merit at the end of his debut season on the professional circuit.
World Championship Results
PDC
- 2018: Winner (beat Phil Taylor 7–2)
Performance timeline
Tournament | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|
PDC World Championship | DNP | W | |
The Masters | DNP | ||
UK Open | 4R | 5R | |
Premier League Darts | DNP | ||
World Matchplay | DNP | 2R | |
World Grand Prix | DNP | 1R | |
European Championship | DNP | F | |
Grand Slam of Darts | DNP | QF | |
Players Championship Finals | DNP | SF |
Performance timeline legend | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DNP | Did not play in the event | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (RR = Round robin) |
QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
Career finals
PDC major finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Legend |
World Championship (1–0) |
Other (0–1) |
Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] | Ref. |
Runner-up | 1. | 2017 | European Championship | Michael van Gerwen | 7–11 (l) | [13] |
Winner | 1. | 2018 | World Darts Championship | Phil Taylor | 7–2 (s) | [17] |
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
Personal life
Cross was an electrician before turning professional. His nickname of "Voltage" comes from his former profession.[10] He has three children.[18]
References
- ^ "Rob Cross". PDC. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "2015 BDO World Championship Qualifiers Results". DartsDatabase.
- ^ "2015 World Masters Results". DartsDatabase.
- ^ "UK Open amateurs Rob Cross and Barry Lynn make impression in Minehead". Sky Sports News.
- ^ "2016 Coral UK Open Fourth Round". PDC. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ "Cross and Searle Secure Tour Cards". PDC. 13 September 2016.
- ^ Kiernan, Matthew. "The 2016 UK Open Rileys Qualifiers – What Happened Next?". Rileys Sports Bars.
- ^ "2016 Coral UK Open Day Two". PDC. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ^ "Players Championship Three Latest". PDC. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
- ^ a b "Cross Edges White For Second Title". PDC. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ "Imperious Van Gerwen's German Glory". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
- ^ "Van Gerwen Seals 20th Euro Tour Title". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ^ a b Allen, Dave. "Four-Some Van Gerwen's European Glory". PDC. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
- ^ PA Sport (27 January 2017). "Darts legend Phil Taylor announces 2017 will be his last on PDC circuit". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ^ "The trip that turned Rob Cross from pub player to world darts champion". Guardian. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Rob Cross beats Phil Taylor 7-2 to win PDC World Darts Championship – as it happened". Guardian. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "PDC World Darts 2018: Rob Cross beats Phil Taylor 7–2 to win title". BBC Sport. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ Prenderville, Paul (2 January 2018). "Rob Cross won the World Darts title but who is he and how has his spectacular year unfolded?". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
External links
- Player profile for Rob Cross from Dartsdatabase
- Official website