Robert Cross (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

player who competes in

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

(PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number eight; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2018 and 2019. Nicknamed "Voltage", Cross is a former PDC World Champion, defeating Phil Taylor in the 2018 World Championship final after turning professional less than a year beforehand. He has won three other PDC major titles: the 2019 World Matchplay and the European Championship in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. He has also won five

World Series of Darts The World Series of Darts is a series of darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Beginning in 2013, the World Series has comprised between two and seven tournaments across the world, where a mixture of the top-ranked P ...

titles. Cross has won a total of twenty-one PDC titles in his professional career; sixteen ranking and five non-ranking. Before turning professional he reached the last 32 at the UK Open, losing there to

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player, who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number three; he was ranked world number one from 20 ...

, and won four titles on the PDC Challenge Tour in 2016, which earned him his PDC Tour Card.

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. He also competed in the 2015 World Masters, losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 48.

PDC career

2016

Cross competed in the 2016 UK Open as an amateur Rileys qualifier; making it to the last 32 before falling to world number one

, who achieved a nine-dart finish in the process. 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.

2017

At the 2017 UK Open, Cross reached the fifth round before being knocked out by the eventual winner Peter Wright. The following week, he won his first PDC title by defeating Mervyn King 6–5 in the final of the third Players Championship. His first year on the tour continued positively, winning the 12th event with a 6–5 victory over Ian White, who missed five darts for the title. Cross then beat Peter Wright 6–2 in the 19th Players Championship 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. He reached his first premier event final in October at the 2017 European Championship, again losing to van Gerwen.

2018

Cross made his PDC World Darts Championship debut as the 20th seed. He reached the final at the event, beating Phil Taylor 7–2 on New Year's Day 2018, following wins over Seigo Asada, Michael Smith (in which Cross survived two match darts), John Henderson, Dimitri Van den Bergh and

(in which Cross survived six match darts). In the final he defeated Taylor, who had previously announced that he would retire after the tournament, 7–2 in sets. He is the only player to have survived match darts in two rounds and then go on to win the World title. Winning the World Championship meant that he finished at number 3 in the PDC Order of Merit and earned automatic qualification for the 2018 Premier League Darts. Cross was tipped by a few pundits to have an off year as they thought that the pressure of being world champion would get to him, despite this he made a good showing on his Premier League debut making it to the semi-finals. However, he only won one players' championship title in comparison to 2017 where he won 4, he won players' championship 13 by defeating Peter Wright in the final and he won his first World Series event which was the Brisbane Darts Masters by defeating Michael Van Gerwen 10–6 in the final. He had made two previous World Series finals that year:

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and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

2019

In defence of his world title at the 2019 World Championship, Cross lost to Luke Humphries 4–2 in the fourth round. Cross made his 3rd major final and 6th televised final at the 2019 UK Open in Minehead. Cross was the eventual runner-up at the tournament, as he lost to Nathan Aspinall 11–5. Cross made his second televised final of the year (4th major, 7th televised) at the 2019 Premier League Darts. After finishing 2nd in the league format, Cross went to the O2 in London for the Play-Offs. He took on James Wade in the semi-final and was successful in victory. He then took on World No. 1,

in the final, losing 11–6. He won the World Matchplay, defeating Michael Smith 18–13 in legs in the final. Cross became only the fourth player to ever win the World Championship and World Matchplay (previously achieved by Phil Taylor,

and Gary Anderson). On his way to the final he beat Chris Dobey 10–3, Krzysztof Ratajski 11–5, Stephen Bunting 16–14 and

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty-five; he reached a peak ranking of world number thre ...

17–15, (from 15–9 down in the semi-finals). Cross reached his 4th World Series final at the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters. He lost to Damon Heta in a last leg decider 8–7. On 27 October, Cross won his 3rd PDC major title, the

European Championship, beating

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. He competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world ...

11–6 in the final.

2020

Cross was eliminated in the second round of the 2020 World Championship, winning only two legs in a 3–0 loss to Kim Huybrechts. At the World Series of Darts Finals, Cross beat Michael Smith and James Wade en route to the final, before eventually succumbing to

. Cross and Michael Smith, representing England, reached the final of the World Cup of Darts, where they were defeated 3–0 by Wales (Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton).

2021

Cross suffered another early exit at the 2021 World Championship, losing to Dirk van Duijvenbode 3–2 in the second round. Cross won his fourth PDC major title at the 2021 European Championship, beating

in the final 11–8 to win the tournament for a second time.

2022

At the 2022 World Championship, Cross started his campaign with a 3–1 win against Raymond van Barneveld. In the next round, he beat

in a deciding set, finishing the match with a 170 checkout. He was defeated 4–3 by Gary Anderson in the fourth round. Cross was unsuccessful in his defence of the European Championship, losing to James Wade 6–5 in the first round. Cross reached the final of the Players Championship Finals but lost 11–6 to

2023

At the 2023 World Championship Cross reached the fourth round, losing to Chris Dobey 4–2. He was the runner-up at the Masters where he again lost to Dobey. After seven previous losses in

PDC European Tour The PDC European Tour is a series of darts tournaments held across Europe organized by the Professional Darts Corporation. Starting in 2012 with five events, the number of events has steadily risen with eight held in 2013 and 2014, nine in 2015, 10 ...

finals, Cross won his first European Tour title at the , defeating Luke Humphries 8–6 in the final. He also won back-to-back titles on the 2023 World Series of Darts, winning the New Zealand Darts Masters and the New South Wales Darts Masters. At the Grand Slam, Cross was the runner-up, losing the final to Luke Humphries 16–8.

2024

At the 2024 World Championship, Cross whitewashed Thibault Tricole in his second-round match 3–0, won against Jeffrey de Graaf 4–2 in the third round, whitewashed Jonny Clayton 4–0 in the fourth round and came back from four sets down to defeat Chris Dobey 5–4 to reach the semi-finals. He lost his semi-final to Luke Littler 6–2. In May, Cross defeated Luke Humphries 8–6 in the final of the Baltic Sea Darts Open to win his second European Tour title. He also won the US Darts Masters, winning a last-leg decider to beat

8–7.

2025

Cross suffered an early exit at the 2025 World Championship, losing 3–1 to Scott Williams in the second round. Cross won his fifth World Series title at the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters, defeating Stephen Bunting 8–5 in the final. It was his first World Series title in Europe. He was victorious in the first Pro Tour event of the year, Players Championship 1, with a 7–3 win over Andrew Gilding in the semi-finals before beating Joe Cullen 8–3 in the final. Cross achieved his first televised nine-dart finish on night five of the 2025 Premier League in his 6–5 semi-final loss to Nathan Aspinall. He finished the league stage of the Premier League in seventh place on 14 points.

Personal life

Cross spent the majority of his early life living in Edenbridge, Kent. He was an electrician before turning professional. His nickname, "Voltage", comes from his former profession. In June 2025, Cross was disqualified from being a company director for five years for failing to pay more than £450,000 in taxes. The

Insolvency Service The Insolvency Service is an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade with headquarters in London. It has around 1,700 staff, operating from 22 locations across the UK. The Insolvency Service administers compulsory company liq ...

found that he had withdrawn over £300,000 from his company that should have gone to creditors.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2018: Winner (beat Phil Taylor 7–2) * 2019: Fourth round (lost to Luke Humphries 2–4) * 2020: Second round (lost to Kim Huybrechts 0–3) * 2021: Second round (lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode 2–3) * 2022: Fourth round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4) * 2023: Fourth round (lost to Chris Dobey 2–4) * 2024: Semi-finals (lost to Luke Littler 2–6) * 2025: Second round (lost to Scott Williams 1–3)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 11 (4 titles)

PDC World Series finals: 11 (5 titles)

PDC team finals: 1

Performance timeline

PDC European Tour PDC Players Championships

Nine-dart finishes

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Rob 1990 births Living people English darts players Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders PDC world darts champions Sportspeople from Pembury World Series of Darts winners World Matchplay (darts) champions European Championship (darts) champions PDC World Cup of Darts English team Darts players who have thrown televised nine-dart games