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

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

player who plays 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 World ...

(PDC) events. He became the 2018 PDC World Darts Champion following his victory over Phil Taylor. Cross won the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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 The 2016 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 39th World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the 31st staging at the Lakeside Country Club at Frimley Green. The defending men's champion was Scott Mitc ...

, where he was knocked out in the last 64 by Tony Martin. He also competed in the 2015 World Masters, losing to

Darius Labanauskas Darius Labanauskas (born 26 July 1976) is a Lithuanian professional darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. In 2015, he was the WDF world number 1. Career BDO Labanauskas is a three-time Lithuania National Ch ...

in the last 48.

PDC career

2016

Cross competed in the

2016 UK Open The 2016 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the fourteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competing in a single eliminat ...

as an amateur

Rileys Rileys is a British sports bar chain. Once a division of the Riley sporting goods company, it currently is an independent entity with headquarters in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. At its peak, the chain boasted 165 locations. Historically ...

qualifier; making it to the last 32 before falling to world number one

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

, who achieved a

nine-dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly an ...

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 The 2017 Coral UK Open was a darts tournament staged by the Professional Darts Corporation. It was the fifteenth year of the tournament where, following numerous regional qualifying heats throughout Britain, players competing in a single eliminatio ...

, Cross reached the fifth round before being knocked out by 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

debut in 2018 as the 20th seed, reaching the final against Phil Taylor following wins over

Seigo Asada is a Japanese professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career BDO Asada won the Japan Open in 2012 by beating Osamu Niki in the final. He won the tournament for the second time in 2014, beating Katsu ...

, Michael Smith (in which Cross survived two match darts), John Henderson,

Dimitri Van den Bergh Dimitri Van den Bergh (born 8 July 1994) is a Belgian professional darts player who currently competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a two-time World Youth Champion and the 2020 World Matchplay champion, after beating Gar ...

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 different 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 The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded fo ...

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 Micheal Van Gerwen 10–6 in the final. He had made two previous World Series finals that year :

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

2019

In defence of his world title at the 2019 World Championship, Cross lost 4–2 in the fourth round to

Luke Humphries Luke Humphries (born 11 February 1995) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship. Career Humphries won five PDC Development Tour titles in 20 ...

. Rob Cross made his 3rd major final and 6th televised final at the 2019 UK Open in Minehead. Cross was eventual runner-up at the tournament, as he lost heavily to

Nathan Aspinall Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 UK Open with a 170 checkout in the final leg against former World Champion Rob Cross. ...

. Cross made his second televised final of the year (4th major, 7th televised) at the

2019 Premier League Darts The 2019 Unibet Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the fifteenth edition of the tournament. The event began on Thursday 7 February at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle and ended with the ...

. After finishing 2nd in the league format, Cross went to the O2 in London for the Play-Offs. He took on

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

in the semi-final and was successful in victory. He then took on World Number One,

in the final. He eventually lost the tournament by 11–6. He won the World Matchplay against Michael Smith by beating him 18–13 in legs. 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 Chris Dobey (born 31 May 1990) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career His first major TV appearance came in the 2015 UK Open where he lost 5–1 in the first round to N ...

Krzysztof Ratajski Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 1 January 1977) is a Polish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2017 World Masters. Ratajski also pl ...

Stephen Bunting Stephen Bunting (born 9 April 1985) is an English professional darts player who competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Nicknamed The Bullet, Bunting won the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship and is a twice former Wor ...

and

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Gurney is a winner of two majors, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017 in his native Ireland, and the P ...

, (from 15–9 down in the semi-finals). Cross reached his 4th World Series Final at the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters. He lost to winner

Damon Heta Damon Heta (born 10 August 1987) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the Brisbane Darts Masters in 2019 and also, in pair with Simon Whitlock, World Cup of Darts in 2022. H ...

in a last leg decider 8–7. On 27 October 2019, Cross won his 3rd major PDC title, the European Championship, beating

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Stephen Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. Nicknamed "The Iceman", he competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), where he is cu ...

11–6 in the final in Göttingen, Germany.

2020

Cross had a poor showing in the 2020 World Championship, losing to

Kim Huybrechts Kim Huybrechts (born 16 November 1985) is a Belgian professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He made the final of a major TV event, the 2012 Players Championship Finals, losing to Phil Taylor 13 ...

3–0 in the second round. At the

World Series of Darts Finals The World Series of Darts Finals is a non-ranking darts tournament held by the Professional Darts Corporation. It is classed as a PDC premier event. The tournament was held annually in November, but in 2020, it moved to September, and moved to O ...

he beat Michael Smith and

en route to the final, before eventually succumbing to

2021

Cross suffered another early exit at the 2021 World Championship, losing to

Dirk van Duijvenbode Dirk van Duijvenbode (born 30 June 1992) is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is known for his energetic walk-on, combined with hardstyle music. More recently, he has become known for ...

3–2 in the second round. Cross won his 4th PDC major at the 2021 European Darts Championship beating

in the final 11–8.

2022

At the 2022 World Championship, Cross started his campaign with a 3–1 win against

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

. In the next round he beat

in a last set decider, before eventually succumbing 4–3 to Gary Anderson in the fourth round.

Personal life

Cross spent the majority of his early life living in

Edenbridge, Kent Edenbridge is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. Its name derives from Old English ''Eadhelmsbrigge'' (meaning "Eadhelm's Bridge"). It is located on the border of Kent and Surrey, on the upper floodplain of the ...

. He was an electrician before turning professional. His nickname, "Voltage", comes from his former profession. He also goes by the name Humpty Dumpty, resembling his lack of hair and inconsistent play. His darts career started as a darts team player in the Powder Monkey, Wallsend.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2018: Winner (beat Phil Taylor 7–2) * 2019: Fourth round (lost to

2–4) * 2020: Second round (lost to

0–3) * 2021: Second round (lost to

2–3) * 2022: Fourth round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4) * 2023: Fourth round (lost to

2–4)

Performance timeline

''PDC European Tour''

Career finals

PDC major finals: 9 (4 titles, 5 runners-up)

PDC World Series finals: 4 (1 title, 3 runners-up)

PDC team finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

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 People from Pembury World Series of Darts winners World Matchplay (darts) champions European Championship (darts) champions PDC World Cup of Darts English team